The Golden Ticket Raffle.
You set the price. You set the goal.
Whether you run a 1,500-person black-tie gala or a 20-kid baseball team, the Golden Ticket Raffle is the fastest way to raise serious money for your nonprofit. Sell low-cost tickets to a real bucket-list trip prize — set your own ticket price, set your own quantity, set your own goal. There's no ceiling on what you can raise. Zero upfront cost. Every trip comes with a full digital media kit so your team can run it from day one.
Big galas. Tiny fundraisers. Same playbook.
Most "raffle fundraiser" advice online assumes you're a giant organization. The Golden Ticket Raffle is the rare fundraising tool that actually scales DOWN as well as it scales UP — because the math works the same whether you sell 50 tickets or 500.
Traditional gala or benefit auction
Add a $100 or $250 Golden Ticket to your existing gala program. Most galas add $15K–$50K with one Golden Ticket — and double it by re-auctioning the same trip after the draw (more on that below).
Schools, PTAs, classroom auctions
Run the Golden Ticket as a 4–6 week pre-event sale via parents, then draw at the school auction or family fun night. Set the ticket price low ($25–$50) for accessibility, or higher ($100) for the parent gala crowd.
Youth sports — baseball, cheer, hockey, soccer, dance
20 kids on a team × 4 tickets each at $100 = $8,000 gross with a single trip prize. Each kid sells to family, neighbors, coaches. The kids do the work, the team hits a real fundraising number, and you owe nothing if the draw doesn't happen.
Churches, parishes, faith-based events
Sell tickets after services for 4–6 weeks, draw at the parish dinner. Pair with our Holy Land or Italy pilgrimage trips for a prize your congregation will care about.
Golf tournaments and country club events
Sell Golden Tickets at registration and at the turn. Draw at the awards dinner alongside hole-in-one prizes. Adds five-figure revenue to a tournament that otherwise nets the green fees only.
Online-only fundraisers — no event at all
Run the Golden Ticket entirely online for 30 days, promote it via email and social with the QR code poster and promo video we provide, and draw on a livestream. Multiple schools and youth teams gross $20K+ this way with zero event costs.
One bidder vs. one hundred ticket holders.
The same luxury trip generates 3× more net revenue when it's the prize in a Golden Ticket Raffle than when it's a single-bidder live-auction item.
You set the price. You set the cap. You set the goal.
Pick the combo that matches your audience and revenue target. Same prize, your call on price and quantity.
Net to mission = gross − HGA's nonprofit cost on the prize the winner picks. Example: with the World Passport as the prize (nonprofit cost $2,995), a $10,000 gross becomes $7,005 net to mission (≈70% margin). Different prizes have different nonprofit costs — your Fundraising Specialist will model the exact net for the package you pick.
Sell the Golden Ticket. Then sell the SAME trip again from the stage.
This is the single highest-leverage move we teach. The Golden Ticket prize is the same trip you can hand the auctioneer for the live auction — so you can do both, in the same night, with the same package, and double or triple the take.
100% pure profit on the ticket sales. Your only cost is the reserve on the prize, paid only after the draw.
74 guests just watched someone walk away with a real trip. They wanted that trip. They're now your warmest possible bidders.
Your auctioneer sells the identical trip to the live-auction room. Every guest who bought a $100 ticket is a primed bidder.$11K–$11.5K total on a single trip. Double or triple the Golden Ticket alone.
Why this works (and why it doesn't cannibalize)
Years of HGA event data show the live-auction sale of a re-listed Golden Ticket prize lands at 70–90% of its standard live-auction price — because the room has just been emotionally primed. The Golden Ticket isn't competing with the live auction; it's WARMING UP the live auction. Your auctioneer's script even acknowledges it: "Twenty-three of you bought a ticket to win this trip and didn't — well, here's your second chance."
The trips that win on stage and on a poster.
Each Golden Ticket prize bundles 3+ bucket-list trips into a single package, and the winner has up to 2 full years to pick which trip they want and book it. These three are the workhorses our nonprofits reach for first. Each comes with the full digital media kit — QR-code poster, photography, promo video, package description, and auctioneer script.
Why the World Passport is a margin monster
The World Passport's nonprofit cost is just $2,995 — flat, whether you sell it as a $50 ticket, a $100 ticket, or a $250 ticket. Sell 100 Golden Tickets at $100 with the World Passport as the prize and you gross $10,000 against a $2,995 nonprofit cost — that's $7,005 net to mission on a single drawing (≈70% margin). It's why so many small schools, sports teams, and first-time fundraisers start here.
You don't write copy. You don't shoot photos. You don't design posters.
Every Golden Ticket prize — and every other trip in our catalog — comes with a turnkey digital marketing kit your committee can use the day you reserve it. This is the difference between "we have a fundraiser idea" and "we're selling tickets tomorrow."
QR-code poster
Print-ready poster with a scannable QR code that takes guests straight to the ticket purchase page from their phone. Hang it at registration, the bar, the silent-auction tables, the bathrooms — everywhere.
High-resolution photography
Professionally shot trip imagery — multiple angles, multiple resolutions, ready for your program, your social posts, your event signage, and the slide loop on the ballroom screens.
60-second promo video
A polished, scroll-stopping video for your social channels and on-screen during the event. Shows the trip experience in motion so guests want it before the draw even starts.
Written package description
Word-for-word program copy your committee can drop directly into the printed gala program, the bid sheet, the website, and the email blast. No writing required on your end.
Verbatim auctioneer script
A line-by-line script your emcee or auctioneer can read from the stage — written by people who do this for a living, designed to drive the energy and close the room.
Social + email assets
Pre-formatted graphics for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, plus email-ready creative your committee can send to the donor list with one click. Designed to drive pre-event ticket sales.
All assets are sent to you as soon as you reserve the trip. Use them for the Golden Ticket Raffle, your silent auction, your live auction, and your program — they're yours.
Five steps from "yes" to drawing.
- STEP 1
Pick your prize
Choose the $100 Golden Ticket, $250 Golden Ticket, or World Passport — packages that bundle 3+ trips behind one prize.
- STEP 2
Set price + cap
$25, $50, $100, $250, $500 — your call. Pick a quantity that matches your goal.
- STEP 3
Get the media kit
We send the QR-code poster, photos, video, description, and auctioneer script the day you reserve.
- STEP 4
Sell tickets
Pre-event, day-of, or both. Online, in person, classroom-by-classroom — however your team works.
- STEP 5
Draw + (optionally) re-auction
Draw live. Then hand the same trip to your auctioneer and run the stack play if you have a stage.
Questions from nonprofit teams, schools, and sports parents
Ready to run a Golden Ticket Raffle for your team?
Tell us your audience size and your fundraising goal — we'll send a one-page Golden Ticket plan with the right prize, the right ticket price, and revenue projections. Zero obligation.
Plan My Golden Ticket Raffle