Royal Columbian failed while other hospital fundraisers succeeded
By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun
The Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation is considering pulling out of the home lottery fundraising market after losing $3 million in its inaugural B.C. Vacation Home Lottery this year.
The foundation is one of six charities running home lottery fundraisers in the Lower Mainland in 2011, creating intense competition for donor dollars.
But while the RCH Foundation suffered significant losses, at least two other charities - the joint Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Foundation, and the BC Children's Hospital Foundation - have been successful so far.
Both have already held money-making lotteries this year and are carrying through with plans to run second lotteries in 2011.
As for the possibility of a lottery next year, RCH Foundation president Adrienne Bakker said, "I'd never say never but I'd say we wouldn't be going back next year."
Willie Lee, an account executive with Edmonton-based lottery management firm CalderBatemen, which ran the B.C. Vacation Home Lottery for the RCH Foundation, said it will be a tough decision. "The market right now doesn't seem positive to go in based on the competition."
The RCH Foundation had offered three vacation dream homes - in Kelowna, Whistler and Parksville - among 1,743 prizes totalling $3.2 million in this year's home lottery.
Yet only 44,000 of 120,000 $100 tickets were sold, a dismal showing for the foundation's reentry into the market after its joint venture with Surrey Memorial ended in 2007.
"We didn't quite meet our targets or what we were expecting," Lee said. "It was an unfortunate situation; we really did what we could partway through the campaign to make it work."
As for why the lottery didn't do as well as expected, the foundation's vice-president Laurie Tetarenko said it could have been increased competition, online gambling or the fact lottery buyers are "more cautious about their discretionary spending."
Maybe, she said, the prizes "didn't have the same type of appeal [as the other lotteries]."
The RCH Foundation decided to re-enter the home lottery market this year because there were fewer charities seeking donor dollars and it believed the vacation homes would be a unique offering for ticket-buyers, Tetarenko said.
Lee said extensive research and focus groups showed there was high consumer interest in a vacation home over a "primary home in south Surrey or White Rock," which were offered by the more established lotteries.
Tetarenko said the foundation also believed there would be less competition running the lottery earlier in the year.
However, the home lottery was held at the same time as the BC Children's Hospital's Choices Lottery, followed by the Variety Children's Charity. And it appears the more established charities were an easier sell.
BC Children's Hospital Foundation spokesman Stephen Forgacs said the Choices lottery, which offered a country estate in Langley as one of its grand prizes, sold out, reaping more than $2.6 million in net revenue. The charity is now in the midst of running its Dream Home Lottery, which has a choice of five prizes including a condo in False Creek. Last year's Dream Home lottery also sold out, raising $2.4 million.
The foundation is one of six charities running home lottery fundraisers in the Lower Mainland in 2011, creating intense competition for donor dollars.
But while the RCH Foundation suffered significant losses, at least two other charities - the joint Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Foundation, and the BC Children's Hospital Foundation - have been successful so far.
Both have already held money-making lotteries this year and are carrying through with plans to run second lotteries in 2011.
As for the possibility of a lottery next year, RCH Foundation president Adrienne Bakker said, "I'd never say never but I'd say we wouldn't be going back next year."
Willie Lee, an account executive with Edmonton-based lottery management firm CalderBatemen, which ran the B.C. Vacation Home Lottery for the RCH Foundation, said it will be a tough decision. "The market right now doesn't seem positive to go in based on the competition."
The RCH Foundation had offered three vacation dream homes - in Kelowna, Whistler and Parksville - among 1,743 prizes totalling $3.2 million in this year's home lottery.
Yet only 44,000 of 120,000 $100 tickets were sold, a dismal showing for the foundation's reentry into the market after its joint venture with Surrey Memorial ended in 2007.
"We didn't quite meet our targets or what we were expecting," Lee said. "It was an unfortunate situation; we really did what we could partway through the campaign to make it work."
As for why the lottery didn't do as well as expected, the foundation's vice-president Laurie Tetarenko said it could have been increased competition, online gambling or the fact lottery buyers are "more cautious about their discretionary spending."
Maybe, she said, the prizes "didn't have the same type of appeal [as the other lotteries]."
The RCH Foundation decided to re-enter the home lottery market this year because there were fewer charities seeking donor dollars and it believed the vacation homes would be a unique offering for ticket-buyers, Tetarenko said.
Lee said extensive research and focus groups showed there was high consumer interest in a vacation home over a "primary home in south Surrey or White Rock," which were offered by the more established lotteries.
Tetarenko said the foundation also believed there would be less competition running the lottery earlier in the year.
However, the home lottery was held at the same time as the BC Children's Hospital's Choices Lottery, followed by the Variety Children's Charity. And it appears the more established charities were an easier sell.
BC Children's Hospital Foundation spokesman Stephen Forgacs said the Choices lottery, which offered a country estate in Langley as one of its grand prizes, sold out, reaping more than $2.6 million in net revenue. The charity is now in the midst of running its Dream Home Lottery, which has a choice of five prizes including a condo in False Creek. Last year's Dream Home lottery also sold out, raising $2.4 million.
"We've never lost money on our home lottery," Forgacs said. "People are certainly motivated by the prizes ... they're clearly interested in the dream of owning one of these homes."
Tetarenko wouldn't comment on the foundation's losses, but insisted that any commitments to the hospital would be covered.
An internal document from RCH said the foundation decided to hold the new lottery because it was on solid footing financially. Tetarenko pointed out that over the past 17 years, the home lottery has raised more than $25 million for hospital equipment.
"We are able to make our obligations to the hospital," Tetarenko said, adding the home lottery is just one way of raising money for hospital equipment. More than $3.1 million was raised last year from direct donations to the RCH Foundation through major gifts for campaigns, direct mail or the Shine gala.
Bakker said the shortfall in ticket sales was surprising given that the research suggested it was "looking like really good timing" to run the lottery and raise much-needed funds for Royal Columbian Hospital, but said she suspects other lotteries are also losing money.
"Royal Columbian has been operating at over capacity for years now; they need a significant expansion," she said. "We launched the lottery to raise money but also to raise awareness that it's one of the two top-tier trauma units in the province."
The hospital accepts a huge share of air ambulance patients, she said. In March, RCH emergency officials moved stretchers into Tim Hortons to treat a crush of overflow patients. "We've been waiting and waiting for government to say Royal Columbian does need an expansion," she added.
The prize homes are usually leased from developers or landowners, using donor contributions. Lotteries must then sell enough tickets to buy all the prizes, including the dream homes, which can often be negotiated at cheaper prices.
The VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation offered its Hometown Heroes Lottery prize winners a choice of one of three homes in south Surrey, Kitsilano or Cultus Lake, or $1.6 million cash. This meant it had to buy only one home, or none if the winner chose the cash.
But the RCH Foundation was required to buy all three homes because they were given away as the main prizes without a cash option. The B.C. Vacation Home Lottery also gave away an earlybird prize of 50 hours on a private jet and $15,000, and loyalty prizes that included $5,000 cash, a trip for two to London, England, and a trip for two to Honolulu, Hawaii.
But it still sold far fewer tickets than expected.
By comparison, the Hometown Heroes lottery, which just wrapped up, sold about 94 per cent of its 390,000 tickets, and raised about $1 million in net proceeds for the B.C. Professional Firefighters' Burn Fund, in spite of some disruption because of the Canada Post lockout at the tail end of the campaign, said Maureen Broadfoot, director of community giving for the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation.
Tetarenko wouldn't comment on the foundation's losses, but insisted that any commitments to the hospital would be covered.
An internal document from RCH said the foundation decided to hold the new lottery because it was on solid footing financially. Tetarenko pointed out that over the past 17 years, the home lottery has raised more than $25 million for hospital equipment.
"We are able to make our obligations to the hospital," Tetarenko said, adding the home lottery is just one way of raising money for hospital equipment. More than $3.1 million was raised last year from direct donations to the RCH Foundation through major gifts for campaigns, direct mail or the Shine gala.
Bakker said the shortfall in ticket sales was surprising given that the research suggested it was "looking like really good timing" to run the lottery and raise much-needed funds for Royal Columbian Hospital, but said she suspects other lotteries are also losing money.
"Royal Columbian has been operating at over capacity for years now; they need a significant expansion," she said. "We launched the lottery to raise money but also to raise awareness that it's one of the two top-tier trauma units in the province."
The hospital accepts a huge share of air ambulance patients, she said. In March, RCH emergency officials moved stretchers into Tim Hortons to treat a crush of overflow patients. "We've been waiting and waiting for government to say Royal Columbian does need an expansion," she added.
The prize homes are usually leased from developers or landowners, using donor contributions. Lotteries must then sell enough tickets to buy all the prizes, including the dream homes, which can often be negotiated at cheaper prices.
The VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation offered its Hometown Heroes Lottery prize winners a choice of one of three homes in south Surrey, Kitsilano or Cultus Lake, or $1.6 million cash. This meant it had to buy only one home, or none if the winner chose the cash.
But the RCH Foundation was required to buy all three homes because they were given away as the main prizes without a cash option. The B.C. Vacation Home Lottery also gave away an earlybird prize of 50 hours on a private jet and $15,000, and loyalty prizes that included $5,000 cash, a trip for two to London, England, and a trip for two to Honolulu, Hawaii.
But it still sold far fewer tickets than expected.
By comparison, the Hometown Heroes lottery, which just wrapped up, sold about 94 per cent of its 390,000 tickets, and raised about $1 million in net proceeds for the B.C. Professional Firefighters' Burn Fund, in spite of some disruption because of the Canada Post lockout at the tail end of the campaign, said Maureen Broadfoot, director of community giving for the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation.
She credits the hospitals' mandate to "look after people all over the province" for the strong support the foundation receives from the public, as well as having 3,000 prizes so everyone gets a shot. The charity plans to run its Millionaire Designer Home lottery, which has been running for 15 years, later this year.
But Broadfoot noted the risks are always there, especially if there are numerous lotteries vying for the same donor dollars at the same time.
There were only six home lotteries this year, with four of them run by two foundations.
In 2007, there were 11 megahome lotteries, from hospital foundations to the Variety Children's Charity and the B.C. Cancer Foundation, registered in the Lower Mainland to sell tickets.
The proliferation at that time resulted in the then-Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian hospital foundations joint home lottery raising just $1.8 million in 2006, down from $4.6 million in 2003, for much-needed hospital equipment. The foundation, which was the first to run a home lottery, was also the first to leave in 2007 after putting out an urgent call for ticket buyers.
The joint Peace Arch and Delta hospital foundation's Win'Fall lottery, which saw revenues decline in 2005 to $2 million from $2.4 million in 2003, didn't hold a lottery last year and hasn't decided if it will hold one this year. The Win'Fall home lottery had tried to entice ticket buyers by focusing on oceanview dream homes with unique, eco-friendly design features.
But Broadfoot noted the risks are always there, especially if there are numerous lotteries vying for the same donor dollars at the same time.
There were only six home lotteries this year, with four of them run by two foundations.
In 2007, there were 11 megahome lotteries, from hospital foundations to the Variety Children's Charity and the B.C. Cancer Foundation, registered in the Lower Mainland to sell tickets.
The proliferation at that time resulted in the then-Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian hospital foundations joint home lottery raising just $1.8 million in 2006, down from $4.6 million in 2003, for much-needed hospital equipment. The foundation, which was the first to run a home lottery, was also the first to leave in 2007 after putting out an urgent call for ticket buyers.
The joint Peace Arch and Delta hospital foundation's Win'Fall lottery, which saw revenues decline in 2005 to $2 million from $2.4 million in 2003, didn't hold a lottery last year and hasn't decided if it will hold one this year. The Win'Fall home lottery had tried to entice ticket buyers by focusing on oceanview dream homes with unique, eco-friendly design features.
No comments:
Post a Comment