January 22, 2023 ––– TO ALL BCCF CHOIRS

Among all the things keeping choirs busy in the fall, one was our Raffle, which was drawn at the end of November, and brought $16,000+ income to 21 of our BCCF choirs, and $5,000 in prizes to winners all over the province.

So why are we doing another Raffle so soon?

For more than thirty years, we held the Raffle in the Spring, and did the big draw at the Chorfest conference.  We all know what happened in 2020;  we were lucky to be allowed an extension of the license, and we had a fall draw. Even more fortunately, we had transitioned to an online system with RaffleNexus, so choirs unable to meet in person during pandemic year were still able to raise funds to meet their needs. In 2021 and in 2022 we repeated the fall Raffle campaign and November draw.  

But we have heard from a number of choirs that spring is a better time for this than the fall – applications had to be in when choir registration was still unknown and it was hard for boards to plan. So our 2023 Raffle is reverting to spring.  We are not limited to a Chorfest draw date, since the draw is electronic, and we don’t need to allow quite so much time to receive and process tickets, since most of the work is done online.

So the proposal is

• Raffle contracts to be in by Saturday 25 February 2023

• Application made to Gaming;  usually take 6-8 weeks (sometimes less)

• Selling window 8 April – 31 May 2023

• Thursday 1 June online ticket sales close; any paper tickets must already be returned

• Draw Wednesday 7 June, 2023

• First pay-out by end of June; final payout a.s.a.p, depending on choirs getting paperwork to the BCCF office.

If your choir took part in the fall raffle, they may also do so with this spring one – there will not be a raffle in the fall of 2023, so spring of 2024 would be your next opportunity.

Please take this letter to your choir board and ask them to give some thought to participating. This is a no-risk, low-labour venture – participating choirs take 60% of the gross, and from the remaining 40% BCCF does all the administration and funds the CASH PRIZES.  In fact, this is more a fundraiser for choirs than for the BCCF!

We are going to repeat the formula from the past fall – tickets are $5 each, or you can buy a “deal” package of 5 tickets for $20. If you opt for an all-electronic version, there is no handling cash or tickets;  the choir coordinator’s job is just to remind participants to sell.  For choirs that want it, paper tickets are available (with the concomitant extra work!) or you can opt for a hybrid model.  We suggest that you decide what income you want to bring in, and work with me to put together a ticket combination that will do that.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

We will look forward to hearing from you by Saturday 25 February.

Brigid Coult

BCCF Project Manager