How to run a Fundraising Race Night
- using money & cash prizes

Here we shall demonstrate how to raise over £1500,  in just a couple of hours starting with absolutely nothing!

The demo will illustrate the financial workings of the race night but is also useful to illustrate how one of our Race Night events can be organised even when the fundraising element is of little or no concern.

For the demonstration we shall assume that there will be 8 races shown during the event.

Well hold on to your shells 'cos here we go . . .

Introduction Sources of Funds

There are six main sources of funds for the Race Night, three before the event:

• Race sponsorship
• Snail sponsorship
• Admission ticket sales

and three at the event:

• Tote or 'betting' tickets
• 'Lucky Dip'
• Auctioning the snails

We shall deal with each of these in turn below.

Step 1: Race Sponsors

Action: Your team encourage local businesses to support your fundraising effort by sponsoring and naming one of the races. You also ask them to donate a prize for the sponsor of the winning snail in their race. Perhaps a 'gift voucher' or a sample of their produce.  You point out that:

• their race name will be in the DVD throughout their entire race
• their race name will be printed on every betting ticket
• their name and their race name will be printed on every race card
• they will be provided with complimentary entrance tickets and a VIP table at the event

All this is excellent promotion and advertising for your race sponsors.

Result: You received sponsorship of £25 per race and a small prize for the sponsor of each winning snail.

Well done! Your fundraising is underway - you have raised £200 funds. 

Note: For larger or more prestigious events you can ask for £50 to £100 sponsorship per race. Try to make the race name amusing and try to incorporate the name of the race sponsor into it for promotion.  See sample race names.

Step 2: Snail Sponsors

Action: Your team encourage friends and colleagues to sponsor and name a snail to support your fundraising. We suggest that you allocate this task to 8 people, asking each to find sponsors for the 8 snails in one race. You point out to each snail sponsor that:

• their snail name will be in the race night video
• our on-screen talking parrot will introduce their snail by its name
• their snail name will show on the 'betting' tickets
• their own name will be in the video
• their own name and their snail name will be printed on every race card
• they will receive a prize if their snail wins the race

Result: Congratulations!  You got 64 snails sponsored at £5 each, raising another £320 of funds.

You fundraising event is looking good.  You have now raised a total of £520

Note: Print out a sponsorship collection form for each race to collect sponsors.  £5  is common to name and sponsor a snail. See sample snail names.  Though a fully personalised pack is preferable you can also order a less expensive pack and ask everyone to sponsor a snail already named by us, these 'default snail names' are shown on our race card information sheet.   

Step 3: Pay for your Race Night

Action: Our Snail Racing Race Night packs are priced from £99.00 but we shall, for the sake of this demo, assume that you order our largest and most personalised pack at £217. This provides everything you need for up to 80 people. We will also assume that you order 100 admission tickets at £25, an extra set of betting tickets at £22.50 and eight sets of Lucky Dip (or Quinella) tickets at £3 a set giving a total cost of £288. When you place your order in our online shop you can type in all your race names, race sponsors, snail names and snail sponsors during the ordering process.

Result:  You pay out £288.  Thank you! 

You have now made £232 profit and from here its plain sailing! 

 Step 4: Admission tickets / advertising

Action: To ensure good attendance at your fundrasiing event you:

• make posters to advertise your Race Night (see our poster template )
• sell the admission tickets or charge an entrance fee on the door
• advertise your event in your local press (optional).

If you advertise your Snail Race Night please be sure to include any other attractions in the advertisement e.g. a bingo game, food, bar, prizes, fun.

Result: You sell all of the 100 entrance tickets before the event at £5 each and raise £500

Congratulations!  So far you've succeeded in raising £732 of funds and the event hasn't even started yet!

Note:  Many people prefer not to charge for admission because it can deter attendance.  An alternative is to sell race cards (which we can supply) on a voluntary basis as people arrive.  If you do charge admission then you must make sure that you cover the cost of any food or other attraction that you provide and try to keep the cost reasonable to encourage attendance.

Step 5 The 'Betting'

Action: At the event you get a member of the audience to break the security seal on the video / DVD, start the video and get the show moving!

At your 'tote' table, marked with the snail ID numbers (provided), your team sell 'betting' tickets for the snails at £1 each. When the betting is closed you use the tabulator form (provided) for adding the total takings for each race, say £200, deduct a proportion for your good cause, say 50% (i.e. £100), and then divide the remainder (i.e. £100) equally by the number of tickets you sold for the winning snail.  So if you sold 10 tickets that's £10 for each.  It really is that easy!

Result: Congratulations!  You sold an average of £2's worth of tickets per head per race taking £200 per race. From the £1600 taken from all the eight races you paid out £800 i.e. 50% to winners and made £800 profit.

Your fundraising event is raking it in.  You've now raised £1532  of funds and there's more to come!

Note: A ticket price of £1 is normal. Don't be tempted to lower the price, it just means that you'll just sell more tickets!

Step 6: 'Lucky Dip' tickets

Action: You appoint one person to sell a set of 28 lucky dips in every race. There is only one winning ticket in each set.

Result: Congratulations! You sold the 28 tickets for each race at £2 each, and paid the delighted winner in each race the sum of £25.  In total you took £448 and paid out £200 raising £248.

Congratulation! Your fundraising effort is a tremendous success. So far you have raised £1780 funds.

Note: For events with 100 or more players it is good to have at least one set of these tickets per race. For fewer player (say 40 - 60),  we suggest you have a lucky dip in just half of the races.

Step 7: Auction of the snails

Action: Before the last race, you pause the video / DVD and hold an auction to 'sell' each of the snails to a snail 'Owner'.  You sell each to the highest bidder and use the Fundeo auction form to keep track of the bids. You add the total of all the bids, keep half for your 'good cause' and give the other half as a prize to the 'owner' of the winning snail. (Please note: You can still get the snails named and sponsored in this race. It may be helpful to consider the snail 'sponsors' as the 'trainers' of the snails).

Result: Congratulations! You auctioned each of the snails at an average of £30 per snail. Your total auction takings were £240. You paid out £120 to the delighted owner of the winning snail and raised an extra £120 funds.

You've now raised a total of £1900

Note: An average of £30 per snail is common for a boisterous night. Try to encourage people to bid by 'table' to share costs and obtain higher bids.

Summary:

You deserve applause!

• everyone had fun
• the sponsors were delighted
• some of the winners had windfalls
• a healthy profit was made on the refreshments
• you staged a professional event!
• everyone wants more Fundeo Snail Racing soon
• and your fundraising efforts are rewarded -you've raised £1900 !

Table: Fundraising results - source of funds & running total (in £ and US $)

Final Word

Does it sound easy?  Well, it is - but do try to share the work of getting sponsors. Please look at our fundraising tips which might help you.

Whatever happens, we believe that our personalized packs with Peedy the parrot, will make your fundraising easy; allow you to organise a risk-free event and give you the best possible chance to meet your objectives - the rest is up to you!

Please bookmark this page then go to our online shop and order your snail racing pack!
Good luck !