I agree with this statement “i dont want to come off as an a$$hole, but if it puts a financial strain on someone to purchase a $5 ticket instead of a $1 ticket they might be in the wrong hobby”.
That been said, IMHO I think most of us in this hobby could probably afford to buy whatever is necessary to maintain our hobby and all/any product is available one mouse click away. I for one rather see the raffle $ go into something special like some kind of coral, a frag from a rare coral or something like that. Every week or month a member can offer up a special piece and the $ goes to support and improve the club. The donor feels like he is contributing, the raffle buyers are contributing as well and the winner gets a special piece that he can’t get anywhere else around here.
I don’t know much about corals but it looks like that there are a whole huge variety out there but not many stores around here carries a whole bunch of them even more so when it comes to fish.
When I go to the store out here, I’m always disappointed in their fish stock and it doesn’t look any better when it comes to corals but every store carries the same old dry goods. I want to come home with that special fish or coral… dry goods I can order on line. Live stuff I want to see with my own two eyes before buying.
You offer something special in the meeting for raffle and after seeing it, see how many people are willing to cough out some dough to get it !!
what about buying a mother colony, doing a frag demo with it then raffling it off… 300 for a decent size colony, maby 20 frags if small… so minimum i see is getting all the money back… or most of it…
it would be very challenging and expensive to purchase an aquacultured colony of that size. As for a wildcaught colony, personally, its not something i would like to have the club support.
Maybe you and I simply have different opinions about what a raffle is, but i dont think the objective of a raffle is for everyone to get their money back. A raffle is a fundraiser, with its primary purpose being…wait for it…raising funds lOl
Ya we have different views, i believe raffles arent to raise funds, i feel every doller going into the raffle should be spent again, but as seeing as that is the really only source of income the club has i can see why it could be fore raising funds
I would just add, that some consideration is needed for many of our university student, high school and other members who might have a tight budget. They should all have affordable access to some or all of the raffles. The way Marty manages the several raffles in the DSAS club meetings is a FREE door prize raffle ticket for anyone walking through the door for one batch of prizes. PAID registered members get to toss their duplicate membership card into a bucket for another raffle. And then the open ticket purchase for the general raffle. which could be the $5 raffle. I like the idea of a PAID member, gets a free ticket to a raffle and then also anyone SHOWING UP gets a chance too! Something like that seems to make it fair, and accessable for all to some level.
Like they say, membership has it’s privileges. And also just showing up to the meeting. Either a member or someone new thinking of joining. You might go home with a prize. and that is nice too. But most important meet the group, have some snacks and good conversations about our hobby.
another way members can help out with the raffle is to make raffle donations. how many of us have something laying around that we just dont need or want anymore? i have donated a few things that i did not need or want just to clean out my fish closet. what about that frag you were selling for 10 dollars…donate it. most of the older members here just give stuff away to other members out of kindness. the more you help out and perticapate in the club the better it gets. see you all monday
i dont think that will work for several reasons. the main problem is that if you dont want it, chances are niether will anyone else. as far as the frags, i will use an example. what would be the attraction of having someone donate an ORA green birdsnest for the frag raffle when anyone knows they could simply trade for that frag? if we relied on member donations there would be almost 0 appeal because everyone would either have it or know where they could get it. the only exception would possibly be if someone got something new that no one has and made the donation privately before making it available for trade. not to mention that i feel relying on donations could conflict with trading and trading based events.
at this point, we will see how it goes. if Marty says we brought in more money with the new system compared to the old one, then we will move forward and have something even better planned for the January meeting. if its a disaster, we can go back to the old way and put our energy into something different.
after listening to everyones ideas, ive thought of another possible incentive that might make things more appealing. we dont know yet if it will be tried this monday and will likely play it by ear.
for those that spend $20 on tickets(the avg price of one frag) not only will you get a 5th ticket free but a “golden” ticket as well but not the Willie Wonka kind The ticket will be entered into a special drawing that will only have members taht spent $20 or more. Effort will be made to make sure that the special prize is as universal as possible and worth at least 2X the cost of tickets. The most obvious choice would be a $50 gift certificate for an LFS or online sponsor but there could be others. I dont see many member participating so if say only 3 people buy $20 worth of tickets they will not only have 5 chances to win something nice in the regular raffle but a 33% chance of winning something that will more than double their donation with a cash equivalent. again, these are just ideas. we will find out monday how everything shakes out.
Is this for the meeting on the 16th?
I work nights so I’m screwed either way.
When you say “member” does that just mean someone thats a member on this forum? Or is there some dues I’m supposed to be paying to participate? I take it I’m not a member just some guy that posts here?
Hopefully not all of the future meetings will not be on a weeknight, or i could never go.
I should be able to make it to the one on Saturday though.
Yes, the majority of meetings are on monday nights. I also work every monday night, but hey, thats what half days are for ;D
To answer your question, there is a distinction between premium and registered. The difference will become more clear as we move into the new year and make some changes that make it more beneficial to be a premium member as opposed to a registered member. What wont change is that everyone is welcomed to our meetings, member or not, and everyone can buy a raffle ticket and win. These things will not chance. Of course we encourage membership and active participation but it is not mandatory by any means. Right now the yearly dues are $10.
May i ask why one meeting is saturday and the other is monday night? I dont have the freedom of taking half days for meetings personally. You said the majority will be Monday nights, will there still be saturday meetings also?
No sense in joining if i cant go to meetings and reap the benefits, although $10 a year is nothing.
May i ask why one meeting is saturday and the other is monday night?
i dont have a good answer other than this is very unusual.
You said the majority will be Monday nights, will there still be saturday meetings also?
as counterintuitive as it might sound, past polling and experience has shown that weekends are consistently less popular than weeknights for meeting availability. it seems to come up every year, and im sure this year will be no exception, but as it stands, i dont forsee the meeting times or days changing. Saturday gettogethers are rare, and when we do have them, they are typically for events and trips, not regular meetings.
Regular trips and events will be a priority for us this year. I think its a good way of mixing things up as far as meeting days and places(read Down South!!) are concerned. However, consistent quality and participation at regular meetings is step one.
yes. one regular meeting a month,except for summer, is the way its always been. Jon and the others have made effort to host non-regular meetings throughout the year such as the one last month at the Fishbowl, and this one at Armco, and we will try to do the same.
The ticket will be entered into a special drawing that will only have members taht spent $20 or more. Effort will be made to make sure that the special prize is as universal as possible and worth at least 2X the cost of tickets. The most obvious choice would be a $50 gift certificate for an LFS or online sponsor but there could be others. I dont see many member participating so if say only 3 people buy $20 worth of tickets they will not only have 5 chances to win something nice in the regular raffle but a 33% chance of winning something that will more than double their donation with a cash equivalent. again, these are just ideas. we will find out monday how everything shakes out.