For over a decade, we have held our semi-annual Membership Drives, one in the winter and one in the summer. The Membership Drives have evolved over the years, resulting in a complete revamp of the system last year when we added two tiers of prizes. This revamp was a direct result of feedback from our members. In addition to the feedback we received to change up our giveaways, one of the comments most often heard was the desire for more visibility in the process. And that is just what we’ll be giving you in this article.
Each Membership Drive is planned out months in advance. Between the PHAs and our management team, they review which hunts were most popular in the last drive and also brainstorm new and exciting hunts to add to the next drive. Together, they decide what to offer in the Membership Drive, keeping to a relatively set budget. This includes reaching out to our Endorsed Outfitters to provide top of the line outfitted hunts with outfitters we know and trust. We want to ensure the hunts we are giving away are going to be exciting, enjoyable dream hunts for the lucky winners.
On top of deciding on the hunts, this team also looks at what products we want to offer as prizes. This entails our Advertising Coordinator reaching out to our Endorsed Advertisers to partner with them to offer great new products within the actual drawings and as add-ons for weekly and monthly giveaways. This allows us to offer more prizes than just the regular hunt giveaways. We appreciate our members and want to offer them every opportunity to win something special for their next hunt.
Within the new overhaul of the Membership Drives, we have done away with hard copies of tickets and turned towards a more electronic system, which greatly reduces the possibility of errors. Each participant’s entries are kept track of online on our website and within our Membership Database. With the Huntin’ Fool website, participants are able to login and see which hunts they have entries in.
When an order comes through to us online, over the phone, or through the mail, it is recorded in our Membership Database and in the participant’s profile on our website. This is where the entries are stored until the day of the drawing. On the drawing day, each entry is individually printed out and readied for the drawing. Each hunt is given a specific color of paper, and the entries for a specific hunt are all the same color. This is one more way we ensure all entries are put into the correct bin. We have one giant drawing bin that is filled with one group of hunt entries, the bin is spun around multiple times, a winner is drawn, the giant drawing bin is emptied, and then the process is repeated for the next hunt/prize. We have done our best to make our drawings as fair and accurate as possible.
Recently, we have started showing our drawings live on Facebook. This is to bring more visibility to our Membership Drives and to help our members feel even more a part of the drawing. While we can’t all fit in the common area at the Huntin’ Fool office, technology allows us all to be a part of it together. If you want to watch the live drawing of the current Winter Membership Drive, be sure to check out the Huntin’ Fool Facebook page on March 6th. The exact time of the drawing will be announced once we are closer to the drawing day.
While the Membership Drives certainly act as a fundraiser for us and grow our membership, we love being able to offer our members the chance to win hunts they would never otherwise have the chance to go on. One of the most exciting parts of the Membership Drive is when we call the winners. After all of the winners have been drawn, the entire Huntin’ Fool office congregates together to listen as each winner is called. The winner is put on speakerphone, and the emotions we hear during these calls are what keep us putting these Membership Drives together. From expletives to tears, we know how happy the lucky winners are just from hearing their reactions. That is what we truly love to gain as an outcome from our Membership Drives.
We look forward each year to bringing something new and exciting in our Membership Drives to our members. If you have any questions about our Membership Drives, please call us. We’re happy to answer any and all questions. Also, if you’d like to get entered into our current Membership Drive, go to our website or call our office at 435-865-1020 to get your entries. We can’t wait until March when we get to call all of the lucky winners of our 2018 Winter Membership Drive.
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