We've only ever taken the actual expenses for each shoot out of the entry fees.(actually, we tend to lose a bit of money on each shoot) We caught the mostflak for the Carpbusters tourney and yetwe paid out more than 100% of entry fees. [:@] I think the State shoot last year cost us close to $250.00 for food, ramp fee, insurance, sanctioning and trophies. Witha $20 entry fee per person and lots of two people teams, the payout isn't going to be huge. At the Billy Davis we paid out over 80% of the entry fees. This year it should be easily 90% because we had a donation from the Trotters towards this year's trophies. Big fish pots have always been 100% payout.
The club has does have enough money to eat all of the tourney expenses but most officers have not supported doing that or raising entry fees.That was the reason a survey was sent out. The majority of the respondents wanted more door prizes but didn't care about payout. (most folks who come to the tourneys won't place in the money so it's not a surprise)I also heard from our top shooters that they cared more about the trophies and bragging rights than payout. So that's that's why we had 3 fulldoor prize tables at our tourneys and made up over 20 trophy plaques.
Balancing the wants of the small, just-getting-started guys and those of the hardcore tournament chasers is a challenge. The small guys get discouraged easily if they think they're not getting anything out of a tournament other than donating money to some other shooters. Having food, door prizes and theyouth trophies helps keep it a bit interesting for the small guys.We're constantly working on ideas on how to keep it a good experience for everyone. Ideas are always welcome.
Last year the deer classic cost us 500.00 between booth fees and electricity. Not having that expense this year really puts us ahead already.
I'm not sure there's an advantage of one big raffle or having a couple different ones. Having the raffles broken upat the shoots means we can sell tickets before the tournaments and also sell tickets right at the tourneys. I've noticed we sell more tickets if we can get right in people's faces.
Some of the items that we've gotten for prizes would not have been given to us by the companies for free or cost if they knew we were just turning around and selling them on the market. That's why they need to be raffled.
(That AMS slottedretriever is not one of them tho'. We should sell it for whatever we can get. )
Luke, I'm pretty sure we have the money you need available now. When were you thinking of doing your fundraiser?
..and I'll show you the ropes... duct tape, zip ties, baling twine.... whatever you need, as long as you can take the reins.
