BBB Raises Concerns About Dream House Charity Raffle

Recently, I got a large color postcard in the mail advertising a “dream house raffle.” The card urged me to enter for a chance to win a $1.8 million house or a lesser amount in cash. Chances are, you got one, too, or you saw the ad in the newspaper or on television.

The card carried the return address of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and included a picture of former Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith.

I was skeptical about the card – and I wasn’t about to shell out $150 for a single raffle ticket. The Better Business Bureau also wanted to know more about this offer, especially since several other “dream house” raffles have not gone off as advertised in recent years.

The BBB found that the rules for the raffle allow the promoters to avoid giving away the house if they don’t sell enough tickets. The amount of money won is in part dependent on how many tickets are sold and could be significantly less than $1.3 million. To find out about the rules, you have to visit a raffle website because the information isn’t on the postcard.

The BBB also has run into a brick wall when attempting to obtain financial information from the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, a Colorado-based charity that says it coordinates and promotes wheelchair basketball around the world. The BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance has asked to evaluate the charity, but it has not responded to requests for information.

More details on the BBB’s investigation of the raffle, the charity and affiliated companies are in today’s BBB press release.

The lesson from this is that people should investigate any raffles offered by charities and ask for information on how much money the charity will receive from the raffle and how it will use the money. Ticket buyers, like other donors, should expect a charity to be transparent about how it obtains and uses money.

Other BBB tips include:

• Go to a charity’s website and read about its work. Contact the BBB for a Charity Review by going to www.bbb.org or calling 314-645-3300.
• Spend only what you can afford to lose.
• Ask whether the charity is using a professional fundraiser to assist in the raffle. Ask how much of the ticket price will actually go to the charity for its programs.
• Know your odds of winning.  The charity should be able to tell you the chances of winning any individual prize.
• Find out when the winners will be announced and make sure the drawing is held at that time.
• If you are interested in ensuring that the charity gets the largest percentage of your money, it is always best to make a direct contribution to avoid fundraising expenses.

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