Houses being raffled to fundraise for charities
Howard Lake | 1 June 2021 | News
Charity raffle prizes are getting bigger! Here are four houses that are currently being offered as raffle prizes to benefit charities.
Some charities have been gifted houses and property in wills, and others benefit from being invited to clear the contents of a deceased donor’s house and selling the contents.
Now, for not much more than the price of a National Lottery ticket, some charities are raising funds from homes through a raffle.
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In fact, the houses are being offered via raffle by their owners either directly or via a specialist platform, with the aim of selling their property and making a substantial donation to their selected charity. The sellers have a target total of course. If that is not reached in terms of the number or value of raffle ticket sales, then the house prize is not allocated, but the charity receives the value of the raffle tickets sold, sometimes with a sum deducted by the raffle prize platform to covers its promotional costs.
Here are four that are currently on offer.
1. CwellynDream, North Wales, in aid of The Children’s Society
CwellynDream2 is, as you might guess, the second house on offer from the same source. In May 2020 the owners launched their competition “for someone to win our lovingly restored stone cottage on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales.”
They successfully exceeded their minimum ticket sales goal in just three months, and announced the winner in September 2020. The competition raised over £65,000 for The Children’s Society.
The second home on offer is the Cefn Isa Farmhouse, a three-bedroom home on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. It too is being sold to raise funds for The Children’s Society.
In the past there have been house competitions or raffles that have attracted attention because they fell foul of the law. The team behind CwellynDream explain on their website how they have ensured that they do meet the requirements of the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority. Indeed, they have now set up their own platform to help others navigate the process, CwellynDream Raffle Management.
Entry is £5 per ticket and requires you to answer a trivia question. The house will be transferred if 130,000 tickets are sold. Currently the sales number stands at 56,000. There are details on how much will be donated to The Children’s Society if the target is not reached. A free postal entry is also possible.
In addition to the £5 entry fee CwellynDream2 invites participants to donate £1 to The Children’s Society’s emergency coronavirus fund.
The closing date is 8 June 2021.
2. Coulsden, Surrey, in aid of Alzheimers Society
The Raffall platform has offered several houses sold to raise funds for charity.
The Coulsden Townhouse in Surrey, is “worth over £700,000” and is being raffled by Yumi (Alexandra) Palmer. She explains: “We had a baby boy in the first lockdown & now in the process of emigrating to Australia. We decided instead of selling the house – let’s give someone the life changing opportunity to WIN our home.”
Their selected charity is Alzheimers Society.
Tickets cost £3 and the owners are aiming to sell 400,000 tickets. The raffle ends on 4 June 2021.
The platform Raffall offers its own additional guarantee for house raffles, namely “if the host fails to provide a prize, the winners will receive a share of the compensation amounting to 75% of all ticket sales”.
3. Arranmore Island house, Donegal, in aid of Pieta
The four-bedroom house is situated on an Island off the west coast of County Donegal in Ireland, and offers views of the Atlantic Ocean.
It is being offered via Raffall, with tickets at £10 each with a target of 60,000 ticket sales.
Five per cent of the host’s revenue will be donated to Pieta.
The raffle ends on 31 July 2021.
4. North Devon house, in aid of NSPCC’s Childline
A £3m clifftop house in North Devon is being raffled via the Omaze platform to raise funds for the NSPCC’s Childline.
The house features five double bedrooms, six bathrooms, an infinity pool and stunning panoramic views of the ocean from its clifftop location. It is situated within Exmoor National Park, 11 miles from Barnstaple. All stamp duty and legal fees are covered, and the lucky winner is free to live in the house, rent it out or sell it.
The campaign will provide a minimum donation to Childline of £100,000 guaranteed and a target donation of £500,000.
There have been three other Omaze Million-Pound House Draws in the UK so far
- Ian Garrick won a million-pound house in Cheadle Hulme, raising £250,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust, with Omaze committing a minimum of one million pounds to the charity over the next 3 years.
- Marilyn Pratt won a £3 million-pound townhouse in London’s Fulham. That campaign raised £1,000,000 for the British Heart Foundation.
- Online entries for the third Omaze Million Pound House Draw closed on 29 May. The Cotswolds home will raise funds for The Prince’s Trust.
James Oakes SVP International at Omaze said:
“Omaze is a win-win for both charities and entrants. By offering an incredible prize like this spectacular coastal house in Devon, we’re giving people the chance to win, while also introducing charities to an audience they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. We’ve found this method of fundraising is making a big difference to causes all around the world.”
Online entries for the Devon house drawn close on 26 September 2021, and postal entries on 28 September 2021.
More Omaze fundraising campaigns
- Star Wars: Force for Change is the campaign you are looking for (21 April 2017)
- Unicef prize draw offers a role in Star Wars: Episode VII (2 June 2014)
- Julia’s House hospice offers evening with Robert Downey Jr on Omaze raffle site (24 March 2015)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.