October Raffle

[shelbiesdaddy]

Hey Club!

We took in $118.00 from the raffle.:dance:

I would like to thank everyone who either donated items or purchased tickets.

The acan and mushroom that I won look great.:)

[boviac]

Congrats Dan! Thanks again for the update, handout on the pro's/con's of non-profit, and coordinating the raffle, ticket sales, etc. Very cool you won the acan and mushroom.

It's believe some of the items won were worth way more than any one person bought in raffle tickets so there were some pretty happy winners out there.

This is a great way to gather more and more people to the club and really push the club to the next level. Thanks again everyone.

[PlayWithBob]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10964151#post10964151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boviac
<snip> so there were some pretty happy winners out there.
<snip>

That would be me for one. A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated stuff.

I'm happy to share my good fortune with the little ponape birdsnest. Once it gets big enough to frag, there will be more frags in the raffle!

[Twisted]

The only concern I had on the raffle, was the "Winning your own item" problem that we discussed. We did not encounter it last night which was great. But for some reason it kept bugging me, it didn't seem like it would be too fair, if you won, and it happened while it was your item being raffled, that you would get nothing more then a chance to win something else. The probability of your ticket showning up again are pretty low.
So I was wondering how it would work if you actually just got the next thing that would have been up, the way the Dan and Mellisa lined everything up before hand would have made it a pretty feasible idea, and would still be random, while winning would remain winning.
Otherwise I see a lack of donations due to a concern for not getting anything when your ticket was drawn, and it just happen to be during an item you donated.

My wife actually made the suggestion and I thought it sounded more reasonable, so just something to think about. I didn't put a lot of thought into it, so there could perhaps be a downside to that idea?

[shelbiesdaddy]

The only downside that I can see is if you win your own item on the last draw. Then again, that can only happen once per raffle.

[kyletech]

make the last item a dry good or something donated by a store. The ods of drawing your own ticket on your own item are low and on the last item are even lower.

[Twisted]

Good point Matt. If you make the last item one of the ones bought with the previous raffle money, then that would cure that.

[shelbiesdaddy]

I like it. We'll see what the rest of the board members think.

[boviac]

Yes, Thanks for the suggestions. We'll bring them up with the next officer's meeting. I agree without any further debate, which of course I welcome, that the suggestion by Brian (or his wife) is a good one. During the raffle announcements, I simply stumbled upon the ticket resubmit into the bin option as an opportunity to win again without a lot of forethought. But since it was already a winner I agree it should go to the next available item. And with that having the last item be a store donated or club purchased item solving this issue for the final item is great.

What did everyone think about the change in ticket prices to a flat $2 from the $1 with scaling bonuses for larger dollar amounts spent? Personally, I like the latter for the greater incentive to win also benfits the club with more dollars earned. But if people are just going to drop $10 or $20 or more and don't really care then I can see the $2/ticket staying.

However, there was a time at MARS where with the final prize being some sort of small tank (nano) I'd see some people load up with like $40 or more in raffle tickets just for the increased chance to win the tank. I know we're no where there yet but I like the incentives buy more raffle tickets. Just my two cents... :)

[Twisted]

The $1 dollar to $2 dollar increase didn't bother me, but the theory sounded a bit flawed. If the first raffle made $100 dollars, and this raffle made $118 then there wasn't much of an increase in money comming in.
And in theory it seems if 100 tickets are sold and I spend $10 dollars on tickets, I have a 1 in 10 chance to win, at $2 dollars a ticket only 50 tickets are sold which means I bought 5 tickets and still gives me a 1 in 10 chance to win.
Well if my math is correct anyways. So it seems to me that if we remain at $2 dollars a ticket, or $1 dollar a ticket won't matter, we just need to find a way to generate more ticket sales.
While something like a nano tank would increase sales, the sales would not only have to cover the cost of the purchase of the tank, but generate money towards the next raffle.
I think wholesale cost on a 8 gallon oceanic bio-cube was around $150 <pulling that from memory, maybe wrong.> So if you got a store to sell you one for cost, you spent $150, that is about $40 over what the raffle made last meeting, and leaves no room for extra item purchases.
That means you would have to sale $40 worth of ticket, and another $100 dollars worth just to reach our current average on raffle sales, so 70 tickets at $2, or 140 tickets and $1.
With the last meeting haveing approx. 20 people that would mean each person would have to buy 7 tickets at $1
But if you can amp them up and get them all to buy 10 tickets at $2 we would be at $400 which would be +$360 in the till from sales after you return the $40 from the cube purchase....


Did I just take this like three paragraphs too far, or is it just me?

[missyshrout]

I agree with the idea of keeping the ticket price at $2 but was wondering how we can get more people to the meeting to generate more money.

Besides considering charging for our memberships we may need to consider fund raisers or something? I don't really know how that would work, just kind of throwing ideas out there. If we could find a cheap way to advertise the club besides the lfs maybe we could get more interest. Also, on the Chico Reef Club Site there are alot more people signed up than there are coming to the meetings.

I am sure that people think that meetings may be silly, but you do learn new things, and as a newbie, it really helps to have more information from people that have already tried the same things that you are doing.

Chris, your idea about the business cards was great. So since I have been rambing along again I would like to propose another officers meeting to discuss attracting more people to the club.

Time and place to be determined later.

[iairj84]

I plan on coming to meetings but I dont see initially why someone would want to pay without first getting to see what the club is about. I wouldn't want to pay any fees at least initially but wouldnt mind supporting something if I was getting something out of it (not physical things per-se, knowledge as well.) I think charging to be in the club is not necesarily a bad idea I can just see it shoo'ing more people out the door. This hobby eats enough of our budgets already.

That being said the raffles seem like a steal, one could spend $10 or so on tickets and get a frag worth a lot more than that. I know when I get my tank running I will look forward to these things. I wouldn't make tickets any more expensive $2 seems about right but may I ask why $2 not $1 when the sales were just about the same from the 2 meetings?

[boviac]

iairj84,

Welcome to Reef Central!

Thanks for your interest to come to the Chico Reef Club meetings and participate in the raffle. First, anyone is welcome to attend the meetings and find out what we are all about. And currently we do not have a paid membership requirement - yet. However, once we create a membership program, this will most likely be required to participate in raffles, frag swaps, etc.

So far this club consist of people just like you who simply had the drive and vision to see how much more productive we could be if we could organize and share information locally. We all have varing degrees of reef experience as well as leadership experience so please feel free to come and participate.

To answer your question about the $2 increase from the first meeting. A little background: The September meeting was the first meeting we had a raffle and that idea was going back and forth in my mind for about a month. The afternoon before the September meeting, one LFS donated a SEIO powerhead, then another a Koralia, other members dontated some frags and fish, and we were off. I am a member of the Sacramento MARS club and simply copied their raffle rules. $1/each ticket or $10/12 tickets and $20/25 tickets. But due to the confusion of the whole first raffle thing and some confusion about the above incentives, some buying an excessive amount of tickets over others and winning too often, and blah blah blah... :o Anyway, at our officers meeting after that Sept meeting, it was suggested and we agreed ticket prices were to be set at $2 and after seeing some of the discussion here I agree that's where it should stay for now. I agree too that tickets shouldn't be more than $2 for our current raffle items.

And yes, anyone who delves into the reef hobby knows how it can sap ones cash flow. (Who has cash flow?) :rolleyes: But that's exactly what this club is about. We want to help inform you so what you buy is the best purchase for you from livestock to hardware. The extra knowledge you can gain from the club could help provide the difference between a successful ecosystem for your aquarium habitants and disaster - ok just kidding, kind of :strooper: . Further, we've already seen what being a club member can provide - just ask those that attended the NorCal Frag Swap earlier this month down in Dixon. Also, the Sacramento club brings in key speakers to their meetings.

Right now, at the CRC meetings we're having volunteers take turns researching or participating in a topic and then folllowing up next meeting with a brief (or detailed ;) ) presentation to those present at the meetings. In the future we're hoping to have a late winter/spring frag swap, get a standing say 10% discount from participating LFS (Tanks, salt, etc - not included) as well as we've seen steeper discounts on 'after-meeting' LFS sales :eek2:. Also, we're hoping to get some books donated to the club library so people can check them out for the month. Traditionally, we've concluded the meetings and drove to someone's tank on display that night. In general, the meetings start at 7pm and go to around 9+pm with the tank viewing. I know I've mentioned a lot here but I wanted to point the direction of where we are and what we want to do and try to answer the big question, is paying for membership in the club worth it? :D

HTH

[boviac]

Melissa,

I agree we've got something going now because we're getting the same people coming back. Now we just have to let all those people that came before know and I know there are a lot of tanks out there. I did a bike ride last night and lots of people had their blinds open and I saw lots of aquariums and by the lighting, my guess were many were salt if not reefs. I could be a salesman for the club if only I had those cards. I started creating them on Saturday but wasn't sure if I wanted to get 250 cards that said we meet at roundtable pizza if that isn't going to work.

As far as the number of people on the CRC site, I've requested that info from Kane but so far received nothing. Also everyone, if you're signed up at the CRC site, you'll probably receive an email on around Friday, Oct 19 that the upcomming CRC meeting is on November 9. That's left over from the last Sunday of the month date/time. This is another thing I've requested be changed to be sent out around the first friday of the month, November 2 for this upcoming meeting. We'll see.

Yes, I agree another officer's meeting would be a good idea. I however, recomend we coordinate it via email rather than this forum.

[iairj84]

Thanks Boviac,
It makes more sense now to charge a little bit for the membership, if only for the raffle and swap. One could see large benefits in just doing that, assuming the price is right. I personally see benefit in it I was just trying to be the devils advocate for a minute there :)

The ticket idea makes a little more sense now. Their would theoretically be less tickets in the pot, so less of the same people would win every time.

I like the idea of the discounts at the LFS's in town here (who wouldn't) I could see that as helping take the sting off of membership fees for some, as Lord knows we all spend a little to much in the the hobby :D

[Twisted]

Hey Chris, other things to consider with membership, is the chance to get in on club organized group buys. I know some clubs atleast a couple times a year talk to one of the stores about getting a really good discount on salt, test kits, etc...
When a store buys in bulk they usually get a big discount, ig we get a store willing to pass that discount onto us if we organize the funds and pay in advance it should be easy.
Same goes with anything when it comes to dry goods.

[PlayWithBob]

Kane is is Mexico for the next week or so.

I wonder if we change from a raffle to a silent auction if we would raise more funds.

Bob

[Twisted]

Not a bad idea to kick around. I went to a storage unit lein sale a couple months ago. The passed out papers to everyone that had a list of storage units for auction. No bid wars or anything, you just write down what you are willing to pay for it and the person in charge reads all the bids and tell the highest bidder they won.
Ofcourse that only works on donated materials, because nobody is going to offer retail prices as a bid.

[Twisted]

Another idea to kick around, but what about a small version of the coral farmers market, we could rent a facility, then rent booth spaces for vendors, maybe have a booth of our own to join the Chico Reef Club.
and then have a nice swap meet area for people to sell thier used equipment.

[Twisted]

And if we decide to instate our non-profit status, maybe we could put together a nice nano tank, fully stocked and put it on display somewhere like the Mall, or a major retail place and sell raffle tickets to the general public to win it. This would not only publicize the club, but increase funds.

[boviac]

Wow Twisted... someone's had some quality time to think! Great Ideas... we'll have to consider them more. T

he coral farmer's thing I think might be a bit too big for us right now. We know the SoCal Coral Farmer's Success as well as Reef-A-Palooza. But I've heard that the NorCal event had some trouble. Plus, I saw what happened when MARS did the WMC - there were more presenters and vendors than visitors or participants. And it only cost $100.

Nonetheless, I like the way you think! :D What we really need is a way to get our club to be out in the mainstream more so we can increase membership numbers. All that you proposed surely points in that direction.

[shelbiesdaddy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10975545#post10975545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boviac
I could be a salesman for the club if only I had those cards. I started creating them on Saturday but wasn't sure if I wanted to get 250 cards that said we meet at roundtable pizza if that isn't going to work.


I could have used some of those cards today. I talked to a couple people who were very interested.

[kinghokus420]

i talked to rob at UP and he agreed to a "10% discount on next visit" flyer with the club name on it. now we just need to get rick, jody and whoever? at pet works to do the same. the mall tank may be a cool idea too but i think the fluctuating temps and lack of "security" on such a small and valuable object may be iffy(if stocked). kids have hands with pennies and parents dont watch them. hmm maybe try to get one of the shops to donate a small bit of interior window space? who knows someone with a business in the mall?

another thing we should look at is, using our own site, RC is great but when someone looks at the CRC site it is DEAD. very very little to no traffic.
IMO we should use RC for posting big announcements and our own site for random BS chatter.


who's up for another officer meeting? my house as usual is available. or the park again. im game for wherever.