Play for Purpose is an online fundraising raffle that operates in most Australian states and is designed to help sporting groups and not-for-profits. Clubs sell raffle tickets for $10 to their supporters and keep half of the money for their fundraising efforts.
How does Play for Purpose work?
Play for Purpose is a relatively new online raffle platform for sporting clubs and charities. Running raffles are usually expensive and time-consuming, so this not-for-profit enterprise was established to enable registered charities and sporting organisations to build a microsite and fundraise directly through the platform for free.
Currently there are over 140 charities and 210 sporting organisations already partnered with PFP. It is free to join, and once you sign up, your cause gets a private fundraising portal that you share with your supporters, through which they purchase tickets in the raffle.
At the conclusion of the raffle, your cause receives a minimum of 50% of the funds raised by your supporters. For example, if you sell 300 tickets to supporters, your cause will receive $1,500. If you sell 1,000 tickets, you will receive $5,000.
Who can join as a fundraising partner?
To join Play for Purpose as a cause you must be a sporting group registered with the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) or not-for-profit charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
You sign up online and must agree that the funds raised will only be used for charitable purposes – such as advancing the mental or physical health of your community, assisting disadvantaged or marginalised groups or improving community facilities. You can’t use the money to restock your bar or pay off a loan.
You will need to provide your organisation’s details, a one-sentence tagline describing your group, a logo, a few pictures and a 100 word statement about your organisation’s purpose.
Unfortunately, due to the state legislation in Western Australia and Northern Territory, Play-for-Purpose (based in Queensland) cannot operate, which means clubs and charities in those states cannot join, and members of the public living there cannot buy tickets.
How much does it cost to join?
It is free for groups to join as a participating member. Play for Purpose is backed by the 50-50 Foundation and Tabcorp Charitable Games and is 100% not for profit. The cost of the prizes and running the platform are covered by the 50% retained by Play for Purpose, and they do not pass on any admin costs to clubs, so there is literally no cost involved.
How much money can you raise?
There is no limit to how much money you can raise, it is entirely up to your cause how you want to promote the raffle. You can have it as a passive fundraiser, simply sending a single email to supporters, or you can go all out and promote widely on social media and in newsletters. The cause which sold the winning ticket for Draw #4, Act for Kids, had already raised over $25,000 selling tickets for Play for Purpose raffles.
How many raffles are there?
The first raffle was drawn in September 2018 and since then they have been gaining popularity very quickly, with draws in February, April and July 2019.
Play for Purpose will run around 4 raffles every year, and will sell up to 250,000 tickets per raffle. This gives groups around three months to fundraise for each raffle. You can sign up at any time.
If all the tickets sell out for a single raffle, they will draw it early and possibly hold an extra raffle.
What can people win?
The prizes are constantly changing, and might be slightly different for future draws, but 1st prize is always an impressive $250,000 package, and the winner can choose from multiple options, such as a Travel Club voucher, luxury car and boat or a luxury motorhome PLUS $100,000 in cashable gold bullion.
2nd prize is worth $50,000 (such as a luxury car)
3rd prize is worth $20,000 (travel voucher)
4th prize is worth $10,000 (shopping spree)
5th prize is worth $5,000 (sporting experience).
Then there are an extra 7,500+ prizes, all eGift vouchers valued from $20 to $1,000. Play for Purpose says there is a 1 in 34 chance of winning a prize, which are pretty good odds.
Major prize winners will get a phone call and are announced on the website (just one initial and their suburb to protect their privacy) together with the cause they support. Everyone else gets an email with the details of their prize and how to claim it (or you can just enter your ticket number into the website to see if your ticket won).
Worth mentioning
The club that sells the winning ticket will get a bonus $10,000 and there are also incentive prizes for the sporting group and charity who sell the most tickets in each draw.
Members of the public (not those in WA or NT unfortunately) can visit the Play for Purpose website and buy tickets for the next draw at any time. They can simply choose from one of the many clubs and charities to support.
Visit the Play for Purpose website here: https://playforpurpose.com.au/
