The 9th Annual Climate XChange EV Raffle — Expense Details

Climate XChange budgets for two kinds of expenses for the Eighth Annual Climate XChange EV Raffle (the Raffle): variable expenses and fixed expenses.

Variable Expenses

Variable expenses are costs that we incur for each ticket sold.  All of our variable expenses are set by entities and relationships that we must use or abide by and over which we have no negotiating leverage. Here is the list of those expenses:

  • Massachusetts Tax, by law @ 5% of gross (M.G.L. c. 271, s. 7A)
  • Credit card processing fees @ ~3% of ticket price for tickets sold via credit cards

Our credit card payment processor is Stripe, which provides us an aggregate price of 2.9% per transaction plus 30 cents per transaction. In short, on average, 8% of a ticket’s price goes to these per-ticket expenses.

Fixed Expenses

The Raffle also has fixed expenses. These expenses are sums that we spend regardless of how many tickets we sell.  For instance, if we take out an advertisement in the Wellesley Townsman newspaper, we might spend $500. If we only sell 2 tickets, we can’t ask the Townsman for our money back or for a cheaper rate. That $500 is gone. Here are the fixed expenses that we’ve budgeted for:

  • Advertising
  • Marketing
  • Website, Database & Payment Processing
  • Materials & Supplies (e.g., ticket stock)
  • Legal
  • Accounting & Audit
  • Launch & Drawing

Climate XChange People Have No Direct Benefit From The Raffle

With all this talk of expenses, here is something we very much want you to know: No one affiliated with Climate XChange benefits in any personal, direct way from this Raffle. There are no hidden fees, commissions, bonuses, incentives or anything like that. Besides not being the right thing, those things are illegal for a Massachusetts-based raffle. A portion of funds raised may be used to pay staff salaries, which is a necessary part of pursuing our mission. CXC Board Members, ordinary members, and volunteers are all unpaid.

Raffle Expenses Do Double-Duty With Our Mission

We would also like you to know that we view a substantial portion of our expenses as doing double duty: raising attention for Climate XChange and its climate policy work through the mechanism of this Raffle itself while also raising funds for our mission. For a large number of people, the attention we draw with the Raffle may be the only time they pay attention to the issue of climate change and the tools we can use to find just and equitable solutions for communities that have been impacted by the accumulation of heat-trapping gasses in our atmosphere. We think of the money we spend on the unusually generous prize pool, advertising, marketing, much of the website, and the launch and drawing as double duty money. In this regard, we believe that it is sensible to think of many of our Raffle expenses as being directly related to our educational mission.