Hi Jill, a few questions on this. They may appear âdumbâ however I donât like to make assumptions.
1. Will the draw be open to non-AIS people? Iâm thinking BCIS members may be interested however most are not currently AIS membersâsame with Canadian affiliate members.
I don't see why not. Maybe if a non-member wins they will join!!
2. What if the âwinnerâ is a person who is travelling âsingleâ and sharing a room? Will their roommate enjoy the âfreeâ room and registration?
I think this should be up to the winner. They can invite whomever they want to share their room and the second registration. That person could be an AIS member or not, a significant other, a relative, whomever.
3. If the person is staying 6 nights, will the 6th night be their own responsibility?
Yes, the prize includes 5 nights. If we continue with this, I plan to get a gift certificate from the Hotel for the 5 nights, which the winner will present at check out. That way it is worth only the cost of the room and tax. The winner will be responsible for any other charges, such as food, movies, parking, and additional nights.
4. If the person is staying 4 nights, will this technically reduce the value of the prize and the AIS expense?
This is a tougher question. My initial opinion on this is that the winner needs to book 5 nights. I really don't want to get into partial refunds or anything else with the hotel frankly.
5. Will the prize be paid for in US or Cdn funds? The prices listed are CDN however the conversion to US makes the value of the prize lower (right now a small difference but who knows by 2011).
The American Iris Society would pay for the prize in Canadian dollars. I imagine the AIS will use its credit card to charge the 5 nights room at the hotel and get the gift certificate in exchange. And the AIS will pay for the 2 registrations directly to the Canadian Convention Registrar as any other registrant will. That brings up a good point. It will be a lot easier for non-Canadian registrants to the Convention to pay for their registraiton with a credit card rather than getting a money order in Canadian dollars. Also the Canadian Convention won't have to pay a conversion fee for those people that send in checks in non-Canadian $. I will ask Ted Baker about this in another email.
6. The number of tickets to be sold (340) assumes everyone will buy one at $5. I have spoken to two people and both said they would buy $20 worth given itâs an AIS fundraiser. We only need 85 people to buy $20 worth to break even. Should we be optimistic and hope this will be the case?
I am getting other responses that indicate people will be more likely to buy a block of 7 tickets at $20. In my opinion, this makes it an attractive thing that will raise money, but I still need more opinions from other regions (Hint Hint to all of you out there that I haven't heard from)
7. The 2011 AIS National Convention Publicity Committee has arranged for a promo table in Madison. Would it be appropriate to sell these tickets at this table? As Iâll be âman-ingâ the table Iâm willing however does it have to be approved by anyone e.g. Ted Baker?
Ted and I have been corresponding about the Fundraiser and if there is room at the 2011 promo table, I would appreciate your help in selling tickets. I plan to spend some time there too if we go forward with the Fundraiser and I will be getting other people to help when the table is manned (womanned???)...Thank you for volunteering.
8. Given your answer to Will Plotnerâs comment about âlottery/draw/raffleâ licenses, is the AIS expecting each Region/Affiliate to buy a license in order to sell or will participation in the sale of these tickets be voluntary?
Really good question. Right now, I can certainly understand if a Region or affiliate does not want to spend the money to get a permit for a Fundraiser that won't benefit their group directly, i.e., the ticket money is going directly to AIS.
I would promote this as a volunteer activity for all Regions/affiliate/sections. If it is possible to sell tickets directly at Regional and affiliate functions between now and Feb 15, 2011, Fantastic. If not, then AIS would appreciate the Regions and affiliates knowing about the Fundraiser and passing this info on to their groups. ...We have a mockup flyer ready to go which can be emailed/printed for passing out at Region/affiliate/Section functions. People interested in buying tickets could get them directly from me.
9. If groups want to be creative in there âsellingâ techniques to avoid a license, will the AIS work with them to make this work? This issue wonât go away whether itâs a US Convention or the 2011 Convention.
I and I think I speak for the AIS Board here too, want everything related to any raffle Fundraiser to be legal and above board. Selling tickets at the Region, affiliate, section level is strictly voluntary as I mentioned above. We will have a permit to sell tickets in Madison. I will file for a California permit for the AIS to sell them directly from my house.
I think thatâs enough for now, donât you?!
Look forward to hearing from you,
Kate Brewitt
AIS Region 16 RVP
2011 AIS National Convention Publicity Chair
From: owner-aisdiscuss@aisboard.org [mailto:owner-aisdiscuss@aisboard.org] On Behalf Of Jill Bonino
Sent: March 30, 2010 2:46 PM
To: AISDiscuss
Subject: [AISdiscuss] 2011 Convention Fundraiser
The Board approved the following motion at the Nov Strategic Planning meeting:
"That we have a fundraiser raffle for registration and lodging at the convention hotel for two people for the 2011 Convention for five nights during the conventions"
Rita, Jody and I have been working out the details and logistics for selling tickets for this and have come to a crossroads. Will we sell enough tickets to make this a Fundraiser or will AIS lose money on it? Should AIS go forward with this Fundraiser or cancel it?
Below are the details of what we have so far:
Cost of Prize:
Cost of 2011 Registration registration (approx)......$325 x2 = $650
Cost of 5 nights (dbl occupancy) at The Fairmont Empress Hotel at $139 plus 12% tax each night.......$778.40
Total Prize Cost (approx).................$1,428.40
Cost of printing tickets
2,000...........$161.92
3,000...........$205.03
4,000...........$244.65
5,000............$222.00
I will donate the cost of postage to mail tickets initially to the Regions for sale if we decide to do it.
Price for Tickets
1 for $5
3 for $10
7 for $20
We initially talked about starting sales at the Madison Convention and then continuing through the Regions and Affiliates in the Fall. We could also still get tickets out to the Regions in the next two weeks for their individual Region Spring mtgs. We would draw the winner no later than Feb 15, 2011, so the winner has three months to get a passport and plane ticket and we can publicize the winner in the April 2011 Bulletin.
Now, the above cost figures assume that we do not get any comped rooms from the Convention Hotel to use for the Fundraiser.
At estimated total costs of $1,700, we would have to sell 340 tickets to break even.
This email is going to all RVPs, Section Presidents, Board members and Committee Chairs
Do you think your affiliates and Regions will be interested in a prize like this?
Will people be excited about winning a prize worth $1400 to go to the Canadian Convention?
After already sending out letters asking for Donations, will the Regions/affiliates feel we are just trying to suck more money out of them?
Should this Fundraiser perhaps be tried for a domestic Convention to see if there would be more interest?
Will enough tickets be sold to make this a Fundraiser for AIS?
The mock up of the tickets is done, the flyer is drafted...BUT before we go ahead with this, I need your opinion about whether you think this is a viable way to raise money for The American Iris Society?
Time is of the essence. If we go forward with this we need to get the tickets, flyers printed and get the tickets out to the Regions as soon as possible.
Please let me know if this is a worthy project as soon as possible.
Thank you for your input....
Jill
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