Raffles are a tried and true way to not only raise money for your charity or organization but also as a means of business promotion in your local community. Finding ways to make a raffle exciting, however, can be difficult. A reverse raffle is a twist on a traditional one that brings a new level of excitement and community involvement to the process. Learning how to hold a reverse raffle is easy.

Decide what your two raffle prizes will be. The first you can think of as a kind of "grand prize" that only one person can win. The second is a prize that can be given to 10 people but is equal in total value to the grand prize (if you split that value ten times). A cash prize is the easiest to work with. To show you how to hold a reverse raffle we will use an example of a grand prize of $10,000 or ten prizes of a $1,000 each.

Select and arrange for a venue to hold that prize drawing in that can seat as many people as you plan on selling raffle tickets to. Make sure your raffle tickets list the time and date of the drawing along with directions to the venue as well as an explanation that this will be a reverse raffle drawing. Sell your tickets, for our example we will assume that you sell 300 tickets.

On the night of your drawing, begin to draw and announce the tickets drawn. The first 290 tickets that you draw are eliminated from the raffle. Set ten folding chairs in front of the room and ask the last ten ticket holders to come and sit in those chairs.

Ask the ten ticket holders if they would like you to draw another ticket and eliminate one of them from winning, or would they like to split the grand prize among themselves (in actuality, the 2nd grand prize of $1,000 each). If they want to take the prize, distribute the money. If they opt to have you draw another eliminating ticket, do so and announce the number. When that person has left his seat, offer the choice again to the remaining ticket holders adjusting the amount they will all win to include the extra $1,000 evenly split among them. Repeat this process until only one person (the grand winner) is left, or the group decides to split the money.