What goes into conducting a raffle?

Our yearly raffle has grown to be one of our most important fundraisers ever, allowing us to continue to demonstrate the impact of aviation on Houston’s history.

While we do have a lot of fun with the raffle, we take it very seriously. Every month, we audit the ticket database against the financial records of all purchases and verify that we have collected all funds for all tickets. On the final month, we audit what is left, and produce a total audit of that year's tickets.

We print out all tickets onto sheets of 10 each, then go through every single sheet, and verify every single ticket in the audit file is present and ensure that every ticket purchased gets checked and put in the tumbler for a chance to win.

On raffle day, our final audit is presented to an independent accounting firm and they audit our audit. Once the accountants have verified all of our records, the ticket stubs go in the tumbler and the accountants lock it until it is time for the drawing.

Throughout the day, anyone is welcome to come by and give the tumbler a spin!

Now comes the fun part - the drawing itself! We typically do this at about 12:00 or 1:00 pm on the raffle day. We address the crowd and build the anticipation. One of our museum board members says a few words about the raffle and thanks the accounting firm for their help.

Then, the big moment arrives. We give the tumbler a few last spins, and a representative from the accounting firm that audits the raffle draws the winning ticket. In recent years, they have picked a random kid from the audience to draw the winning ticket!

No matter how it is done, no museum personnel are involved in the selection of the raffle ticket.

We announce the winner, meanwhile crossing our fingers that they are present! If not, we immediately contact them by phone to inform them of their good luck. To date, we have not had the winner present to claim their prize. It's a fun moment, and the reactions from the winners are priceless.

We hope that this year, the winner will be present at the event and can share the excitement of the drawing with our eager and enthusiastic crowd of visitors and volunteers. Who knows, it could be you! Get your ticket now!