Throwing this out there - monthly raffle

[thughes]

So your saying a monthly give away assuming we meet donation goal for month lol?

cough...cough...yes...cough...

[usmcveteran]

This reminds me..... I was looking into putting up a goal thing that shows how close we are to monthly goals like I have seen on other websites. I got busy with something else but will look back into that tomorrow.

[camper4lyfe]

I'd be down with this. Maybe not every month, but I could see it quickly becoming an addiction.

[Wildman]

I'm in for 4 tickets!

[phritz]

Love it. I'd be in for sure.

[Cgrutt]

More thinking outloud... How about monthly site karma just for members who donated in prior month. Level of karma depends on contribution level and is determined by USMC or me after the fact. No obligation to donate and no expectation of receiving anything specific at time of donation other than you will be entered into a random drawing the following month for something? I think this works with no tax issues (other than we get taxed on donation received). This seems like normal promotional policies where site gives back a little to its members to express appreciation for support. I'm thinking a nice hunting knife should be our test case for December based upon donations received in Nov...

[usmcveteran]

Just want to look into that a little but think its our best bet C!

ETA: have to look into laws for lotteries, sweepstakes, and giveaways and what defines each

[usmcveteran]

I will do more looking later but looks like only legal way without a bunch of hoops might be doing a contest where winning wins by some type of skill.

Examples in general are:
Best photo
Best recipe
Cutest kid
Something where chance is not involved.

[camper4lyfe]

I'd be curious about how 50/50 raffles work.

[usmcveteran]

Raffles and sweepstakes are legal but looks like a lot of paperwork and laws and permits involved.

[Cgrutt]

I know companies do random giveaways all the time but it might not be linked to contributions or sales. We should find out. Still would like to run a karma for November. May need to open it up to everyone who joined before Dec 1st, which is still OK with me.

[Calculon]

I like the idea and I'd definitely be in!

[usmcveteran]

I know companies do random giveaways all the time but it might not be linked to contributions or sales. We should find out. Still would like to run a karma for November. May need to open it up to everyone who joined before Dec 1st, which is still OK with me.

Giveaways can't be connected with money because then at best its a sweepstakes and worst a lottery.

By choosing winner based on some sort of skill it can be a contest. Which may not need any permits or paper work.

[usmcveteran]

Well did some more looking, if any consideration is given to enter (money, even possibly liking on facebook for example) and the winner is determined by chance it is a lottery and illegal. There are exceptions for Raffles and what not but not sure if we could even do one or want too with all the red tape involved.

We could do a contest though and Donations could be an entry fee then we could award prize or prizes up to $4,999.99 without have to register with state and get a bond to cover value or have cash in special account blah blah blah. The winner would have to be chosen by skill of some sort and not chance though in order for it to be legal.

For example........ First one could be who comes up with best skill ideas as decided by Judges or a poll or whatever lol, Or who can get most referrals to join site during certain time period, Or best shot group, best blog, best whatever really.

From what I have been reading a lot of online sites unknowingly break a lot of these laws. If we do a contest too we have to come up with rules obviously and if we allowed people from other states to enter we would have to research their laws to ensure the contest is compliant with it.

Oh tax wise. We should be good if we did a contest by saying winner is responsible for paying any and all taxes on item. If the prize or prizes total more then $5,000.00 then we would also have to report who won what to the state. So we would want to keep it under that amount (can't imagine it would get over that lol) to avoid those other hassles.

So would people still be interested in Contests instead of raffle?

http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAWS+&QUERYDATA=$$GBS369-E$$@TXGBS0369-E+&LIST=SEA102+&BROWSER=BROWSER+&TOKEN=53081630+&TARGET=VIEW

[Chicken Shoot]

Three more words for you ...... NO PURCHASE NECCESARY!! There ... it's not a raffle. Now just shutup and do this will ya???