Is your club a 501(c)(3) organization? You gotta be careful with fund raisers such as raffles if you aren't. I've done a lot of fundraising for groups and the quick money is in raffles. Go to a local gun dealer and see if he will donate a rifle or shotgun (scoped rifles really sell tickets around here) or at least give you a good price break. Iapproached one gun store owner and he not only donated a .270 with a Leupold but he sold a lot of tickets right at his gun counter and threw in $250 at the end of the raffle. We made a killing (no pun intended) on that one. One tip on raffles....sell them for so much apiece but give a price break for buying groups of 5 or 10. Instead of selling a lot of single tickets, you'll sell them in handfuls.
As far as the old timers in your group, they are just reacting to the realization that they are on the downhill slide and ain't liking it too much....but they are smart enough to allow new members. I'd just butter them up and let them know their value to the club, seek their advice often, and look to the future. You have something there that many aren't fortunate to have. Ray