Consumer Reports’ Fundraising Gimmicks

Christian Evaluators
You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.Yogi Berra (allegedly)

The other day, I received a mailing from Consumer Reports. It was soliciting contributions for a raffle fundraiser. The mailing had nine raffle tickets in it. Consumer Reports was requesting that I send back the tickets with a suggested donation of $9 (one dollar for each ticket). The mailing had a lot of paper:

The raffle had a grand prize that would be the choice of an undisclosed, top-rated car or $35,000. There were a number of smaller prizes bringing the total amount up for grabs to about $50,000.

The materials included a lot of gimmicky text:

  • “If you’ve been issued the top winning raffle number, then 1 of those tickets is definitely the winner or a top-rated car — or $35,000 in cash.”
  • “Why risk throwing away what could be a huge pay day?”
  • “There’s a very real chance you could be the winner of our grand prize car!”

Consumer Reports also indicates that they’ll send a free, surprise gift to anyone who donates $10 or more. It feels funny to donate money hoping that I might win more than I donate, but I get it. Fundraising gimmicks work. That said, I get frustrated when fundraising gimmicks are dishonest.

One of the papers in the mailing came folded with print on each side. Here’s the front:

On the other side, I found a letter from someone involved in Consumer Reports’ marketing. The letter argues that it would be silly for me not to find out if I received winning tickets:

It amazes me that among the many people who receive our Consumer Reports Raffle Tickets — containing multiple tickets, mind you, not just one — some choose not to mail them in. And they do this, despite the fact there is no donation required for someone to find out if he or she has won…So when people don’t respond it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.

The multiple tickets bit is silly. It’s like the Yogi Berra line at the opening of the post; cutting a pizza into more slices doesn’t create more food. It doesn’t matter how many tickets I have unless I get more tickets than the typical person.

Come on. Consumer Reports doesn’t care if a non-donor decides not to turn in tickets. What’s the most plausible explanation for why Consumer Reports includes the orange letter? People who would otherwise ignore the mailing sometimes end up feeling guilty enough to make a donation. Checking the “I choose not to donate at this time, but please enter me in the Raffle” box on the envelope doesn’t feel great.

Writing my name on each ticket, reading the materials, and mailing the tickets takes time. My odds of winning are low. Stamps cost money.

Let’s give Consumer Reports the benefit of the doubt and pretend that the only reason not to participate is that stamps cost money. The appropriate stamp costs 55 cents at the moment.1 Is the expected reward for sending in the tickets greater than 55 cents?

Consumer Reports has about 6 million subscribers.2 Let’s continue to give Consumer Reports the benefit of the doubt and assume it can print everything, send mailings, handle the logistics of the raffle, and send gifts back to donors for only $0.50 per subscriber. That puts the promotion’s cost at about 3 million dollars. The $50,000 of prizes is trivial in comparison. Let’s further assume that Consumer Reports runs the promotion expecting that additional donations the promotion brings in will cover the promotion’s cost.

The suggested donation is $9. Let’s say the average, additional funding brought in by this campaign comes out to $10 per respondent.3 To break even, Consumer Reports needs to have 300,000 respondents.

With 300,000 respondents, nine tickets each, and $50,000 in prizes, the expected return is about 1.7 cents per ticket.4 Sixteen cents per person.5 Not even close to the cost of a stamp.

4/12/2019 Update: I received a second, almost-identical mailing in early April.

10/3/2019 Update: I received a few more of these mailings.

Footnotes

  1. The price of a stamp at the time of writing can be seen here.
  2. “Consumer Reports has more than 6 million members who read its print magazine and website.”
    Drawn from a CNBC article (archived here).
  3. Consumer Reports runs multiple fundraising campaigns each year. Presumably, these fundraisers compete with one another. A subscriber who gives during the raffle campaign is probably less likely to give in a subsequent campaign than she would be in the counterfactual scenario where the raffle campaign never occurred. Accordingly, the additional, marginal funding brought in by the campaign may be smaller than the total funding brought in.
  4. 47,000/(300,000*9) = 0.0174
  5. 0.0174*9 = 0.1566

68 thoughts to “Consumer Reports’ Fundraising Gimmicks”

  1. In the most recent mailing. the “CONSUMER REPORTS 2019 RAFFLE”, I noted a gross discrepancy. “What could $60,000 buy you?” in bold orange across the top of an auxiliary slip of paper. Reading down you note
    “… a $500 check every month, all year long, for 10 full years” and later
    “A $60,000 annuity* is a prize that keeps on giving, twelve times a year, all the way ’til 2039.”
    Okay, that’s 20 years !! It kind of voids the entire promise, the way it is composed.
    Or, do they mean that its $120,000 over 20 years?!? lol

    1. I have been a victim of Consumer Reports contest many, many times. I have never been able to find out who, or if anyone won the supposed prizes.
      I figured these contest are a sham to raise money and no prize ever awarded.
      sjr

      1. I’m pretty certain CR actually awards the prizes–after all, if my speculation in this post is even semi-accurate, the prizes are of extremely little value in comparison to how much money the raffles bring in.

        1. Thank you and everyone else who joined the discussion. I had just pulled out my tickets and was looking for drawing dates when I found this site. I, too, have been annoyed by the barrage of useless paper included with the raffle tickets, and the frequency of the mailings. However, I did go to the site that listed the winners and was relieved to see that awards were being made. One interesting thing I noticed: inn the list of Early Bird winners, “Customers” received a larger prize; in most cases they received $3000 vs. the $2500 received by other winners. Is a Customer the same as a Subscriber? That would indicate that these mailings are going to many more folks than just those who subscribe to C R.

          1. Are you sure you were at the real consumer reports site? I can’t find anything about lotteries on their site.

          2. Thank you guys for making sense of this. As a loyal and avid Consumer Reports subscriber, this discussion has let me to make a Consumers Reports (CR) shift. Whereas I will definitely continue my CR subscription,I will save paper. That is because I will no longer be completing my CR Raffle tickets. I am a disabled old man. Back in the day we described ourselves as “Responsible Hippies!”

      2. I actually won $3,000.00 last year. (Right before the pandemic and was able to pay down a credit card which was very helpful.)
        I continue to send them in hoping to win again but realize that I probably won’t.

      5. Consumer Reports has a list of all winners online. They have to announce it by law. Take 30 seconds of time to Google, and you will easily find it.

      6. What I found odd is that there isn’t a date for the raffle drawing. Am I suppose to hold these stubs forever? I paid $27 for a Consumer Reports subscription around Christmas time. I’ve gotten only two magazine and three invoices asking me to pay $21 for the subscription. Wondering if the company is at all legit.

        1. This happened to me as well, so I contacted the company and they confirmed my subscription and sent the missing back issues in the mail.

        2. The latest contest asks you to enter your : “identification #” but they don’t tell you how to find what that is???

  3. I feel the same way as you. Almost every week they are soliciting for money. If it is that expensive to run their tests, then close it down. The government should be funding them.

      1. I am a liberal and I don’t think the government should be funding them. Then, they would be hit on by lobbyists as well as lawmakers promising “well, if you do this, I might be able to get you more funding”.
        Actually this kind of thing is one thing the public (that uses the CR service) should be paying for. To be honest, the $25.00 online subscription is pretty cheap.
        Not sure how much it costs to run the tests but I imagine it gets more expensive every year.
        And, Johnny, you may be using too broad a brush and painting people into groups. You were, however, polite and I appreciate that.

  4. I’ve looked, but I cannot find any publication of the date the raffle ends and when the winner(s) will be announced. That’s standard practice (by law, presumably) for most sweepstakes and contests.

    1. The dates were on the back of the donation form that you send back to CR with your raffle tickets

    3. I agree; nowhere on the tickets or in the paperwork sent does it say when the raffle will be held. How many raffles are there in a year. I received tickets earlier in 2023 that must be sent in by April. Now more tickets that must be sent in by 5/11/23. Is this for the same raffle or another?
      Dale

      1. Very confusing – wish C.R. would do better job as far – A. in big letters write dates from initial date to final date when raffle is on.. B. once raffle is over and winner is known (this raffles are going on year after year) – they should include – print winners in one of the publications they send out to subscribers .

  5. In the version I received, the official rules on the back of the sheet with tickets clearly states “Sweepstakes beginning 1/1/2020 and ends on 12/31/20” plus info about how and when winners are determined, and how and when winners are notified. The materials also clearly say “No contribution, donation or payment is necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes”. I don’t understand how Consumer Reports benefits from running these sweepstakes at the estimated cost. Do only subscribers get these mailings?

  6. I’m a little perturbed. I recieved one of these in Nov 2019 and thought, “eh, $10 isn’t too bad, I’ll help them out. Plus, I’ll get a surprise gift! It’s probably just an extra book from them or something, but that’s fine.” Well, it’s now January 2020 and I have yet to see a winners list or free gift, BUT I did receive another set of raffle tickets for the 2020 raffle! Guess I’ll be going on the website to not recieve any more tickets!

    (Btw, it’s cr.org/fundraising if anyone needs it)

    1. Thank you for that address I’m going to opt out also. Consumer reports are making money off of their subscriptions so how can they Also be a nonprofit who needs donations to operate??? That right there is pretty fishy.
      Also they run articles on all the sweepstakes scams going on and yet they are participating as well!! Bye bye consumer reports, are used to think they were a quality organization and now I’m not so sure!!!

  7. Testing the products they report on in their magazine surely costs in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, plus they do not accept advertising nor do they accept goods from the manufacturers, nor can manufacturers pay to have their products tested. Consider only the dozens (100’s?) of cars, trucks, and SUV’s alone they purchase to evaluate, plus the laboratories, testing equipment, the expert personnel required to design and operate the testing equipment, conduct the tests – and write up the results in a manner somewhat comprehensible to the rest of us. That said, I’m sick of the 4 or more time a year raffles. I believe there is one for winter, spring, summer and fall, as well as an annual giveaway. I give when I can, not because I’ve received yet another wad of paper touting yet another raffle, but perhaps they’re useful in reminding me to do so once in a while.

    As to the legitimacy of the raffles, I have faith that CR delivers. You can write for a list of winners, or find them online at: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/09/consumer-reports-sweepstakes-winners/index.htm Best wishes,

  8. They say winners will be notified by mail yet they don’t ask for an address. just a name. Let’s say you are not a subscriber and your name is John Smith. If John is the winner how do they know where to send the notice that he won??????????

    1. @ Bob, because they know who they mailed which ticket numbers to. Once they select a ticket, they look up who the winner is by the ticket number. So if your neighbor got your letter and put their name on the ticket, you would still be the winner if that ticket was selected.

  9. Must be a scam, all 9 tickets have same number so really you have just one chance, if at all??

    1. You still have 9 chances to win as long as all 9 tickets are in the (BOX). The number is to reference your name.

  10. The numbers on my ticket stubs do not match the numbers on my “bonus” form as required in the instructions.
    I also have not received a “free gift”.
    In a misguided attempt to raise a little money you have apparently alienated many donors by choosing an incompetent gimmick.
    I will no longer subscribe or donate to Consumer Reports.

  11. I too question if they actually give away a car or $35,000.
    Read the recent contest and it stated you have to transport
    the vehicle from their facility. The date of drawing was not specific,
    in or around.such & such date- a year from now. I’ve sent in several entries.
    The non- disclosed prize for entering early
    is additional numbers. This month, I received a small
    magnetic 2020 calendar. One third into the year and they
    sent out a calendar. What a frigging joke ! I have asked that my
    name/address be removed from their mailing list.

  12. What a scam. Grand prize a top rated vehicle. I will never make a donation again. No drawing date of the contest. No gift and no way to see if you won anything. Attempt from consumers report to get money. Their scam I’m sure only turned people off.

    1. Item 7. on the back of the reply form clearly states: “WINNERS LIST: Visit cr.org/winnerslist for a list of prize winners (available after 5/3/21). Of course it’s an attempt from Consumer Reports to get money. Where do you think the money needed to anonymously purchase millions of dollars of products at retail prices comes from? It comes from subscriptions, donations and grants. Also stated in several places within the materials included with the mailing is, “No contribution, donation or payment is necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.” The entire program is described in detail on the backside of the reply form which had to be sent in to make a donation and enter the sweepstakes. So, what’s up with all the vitriolic comments?

  13. I received a sweepstakes entry today. However, on the back of the return envelope there was this list of items to do, but those items weren’t included:
    Complete and enclose your Car Prize Entry Registration
    Affix green Bonus Prize label to qualify for $5,000 Cash bonus if named Grand Prize Winner
    Keep all your tickets as your receipt

    Please mail before the deadline so we can check your 9 prize numbers

  14. why dont you print the start and end date for your 2020 raffle. How long do I have to hold these tickes

  16. Briana: I received my tickets today (since I had sent the $9) and it said that my free prize was enclosed. I guess my free prize was the enclosed paper on information of healthy ways to eat.

  17. For crying out loud, folks. It is a FUNDRAISER for a nonprofit entity which has done a lot for the consumer over the years. If you don’t wanna play, throw the paper away. Jeez.

  18. Received several of these mailings during this year. Yesterday I received another.
    My concern is that they say they have provided 9 tickets and 9 chances to win.
    But, every raffle ticket has the exact same number. How then can this offer nine chances to win?

    1. The ticket numbers don’t need to be unique for each ticket. The number on your tickets just needs to be unique to you.

  19. I have been playing and donating for years. Never got a reply or answer on who are the winners and how to check for the winners, I think it’s a scam. I am never going to donate again. I can do better things with my money.

  20. I got three (3) sets of these sweepstakes tickets requesting the $9 donation. My husband had just been permanently separated from a 7 month furlough after being employed by his dream company in his dream job. He had just turned 63. We had to turn in our cell phones, his company car and laptop. I had been a member of CR for years and never participated in any of their contests. Suddenly we were needing a vehicle. Our own, although paid off were very old (over 15 years). I filled out all three and sent in three checks for ten bucks each. If you look at the previous winners list, they give no date when the winner is pulled. My envelopes said the Stubbs had to be in br October 29th and the winner would be pulled by November 15th. When I saw nothing posted, I thought oh great, who has my checks?? I’ve emailed CR multiple times?, no response. I’ve left messages with customer service and no response. Their main switchboard receptionist knows nothing about a car raffle or giveaway. When I finally got someone in customer service I was told that they decided to discontinue the raffle, but my donation (that I could not really afford to do) was put to good use. I told the girl that was theft under false pretenses and she hung up on me. Needless to say, if this is true and they are not pulling a raffle winner this month in 2020 I’m putting in a formal complaint with the attorney general of the state of NY and I won’t be renewing either way. Too much runaround.

  21. Fortunately I photographed a copy of the rules before sending my tickets. Here are some dates for the raffle whose deadline for entry was 9/3/20: Between 1/28/21 and 3/31/21, numbers on eligible entries will be compared with prize-winning numbers pre-selected by the computer. Any unclaimed prizes will be awarded about 4/26/21. A Winners List will be available after 5/3/21. With this information, it does seem legitimate; I just wish they would put this information on the back of each ticket, so we would know.

  22. Looking at all the replies, I could divide them into two groups. The first group (let’s call these people the “Skeptics”) recognizes that Consumer Reports is being disingenuous and manipulative, which makes these folks appropriately suspicious. The second group (let’s call these people the “Defenders”) want to excuse CR’s dishonesty with the rationale that CR provides a valuable service and needs donations to supplement what is assumed to be inadequate revenue brought in by subscription renewals. Personally, I’m one of the Skeptics. Despite CR’s assertion that a donation is optional, it’s pretty obvious that they want you to imagine that if you do not donate, your raffle ticket will be discarded, and that is disingenuous at best. Even if the Defenders are right (i.e., that CR needs donations to sustain their operation), CR should respect its subscribers and simply be honest about it. Don’t insult our intelligence by trying to manipulate us with gimmicks. Simply tell us that you need additional funds, and ask us for a donation — or simply raise the cost of the subscription so that everyone pays equally. One thing is for sure: I am loath to reward CR for their gimmickry, and I think it’s pretty evident from the Skeptics that the raffle tarnishes their brand.

    1. Consumer Reports is a reputable and honorable company. No advertising is accepted to ensure the integrity of its ratings. That said, raffle tickets being used to solicit donations are not exactly what you would expect from a company like this. However, the suggestion to instead just raise the price of the subscription may result in the opposite of the intention to raise money for testing, depending how elastic the CR subscriptions are. It already charges a higher subscription fee than most magazines, so an increase in price may lose more funds through lost subscribers than it would gain from the price increase. The other suggestion to simply ask for a donation with no hope of any return on investment (small though it is) will decrease the number of donations, I’m guessing significantly! There is always a segment of the population willing to gamble a stamp and a few dollars to win a substantial prize such as a car. Sweepstakes are a proven strategy to solicit donations and depend on a similar mentality to the lottery ticket gamblers. The only difference is that one knows exactly where the donations are going.

  24. I received a similar mailing for 2021. It’s abhorrent for Consumer Reports, which promotes an image of being concerned for consumers and preventing them from being ripped off, to engage in misleading its members. It causes me to question the integrity of the organization and its offerings.

  25. The rules and Regulations are all in the “Fine-Print” on the back of the form which you have already mailed to them, so of course, you can’t read them now. They are, however, published, so it is your responsibility to read them.

    As far as the number of mailings, and whether they are mailed only to subscribers, you will see that the odds on the Grand Prize ate 1:15,400,000, so obviously they must mail out 15,400,000 entries. If, as stated above, they have 6 million subscribers, then there must be another 9 million or so mailed to non-subscribers.

    That being said, you can’t win if you don’t enter, so moan away. I hope I win, and I hope the car isn’t one used in the crash tests!!!

    1. It’s not a “drawing,” numbers are compared with numbers that were already selected. In 2021, this process occurs from January 27 to March 20, 2022. Any unclaimed prizes will then be awarded by drawings conducted “on or about” April 25, 2022. Winners list is available after May 2, 2022 at cr.org/winnerslist
      I photocopied the official rules off the back of the form that was returned when tickets were mailed.

  27. Oh this is so funny! i thought i was alone in thinking what the hell is all this from CR? i got so many weird mailings from them about this raffle i got annoyed and decided to keep track – is this on the level or what? My respect for CR really went down because of their awful fundraising tactics. it seemed like you needed to apply over and over again to be included in the final drawings! Yuck.

    I have a note in my calendar that says the CR drawing is today! Nada…

    1. Yeah I’m a bit annoyed with the practice. I’ve been happily paying the online subscription for consumer reports for a couple of years and when I first saw the raffle I was like “Sure I’ll send it in, I’ll even put in a small donation”. But then I’d just get another solicitation asking for ANOTHER donation suggesting I match the previous generous donation.

      I admit I did submit one more. But then just kept on getting another, and another. I sent back one more just with the checkbox “I choose not to donate” at this time. But a day after I send it back with I get another one that was clearly already on the way for likely a competing sweepstakes. To which I’m thinking “ENOUGH with this BS”.

      So now I’m at the point where I realize. I don’t use my online subscription to CR THAT much. After all there are other sources for review data like cnet. And their contests seems like a scam so I’m lost respect for them. So now they will lose me as an online subscriber as I can go other places for the info without these “scammy” feeling drawings. It’s just disingenuous for a company that is supposed to be looking out for the consumer who has many people happily subscribing to be pulling out more money in what doesn’t seem transparent. This is one of those things that I can see more elderly people throwing money at continuously forgetting if they donated the first time and deciding they will do it again “just in case”…

  29. I am SOOOOO glad this website exists. I finally went looking for someone to tell me if this CR irritating hope-dashing raffle stuff was real or not. I’m glad to hear it’s real. But they got $30 our of me over the last 4 years and I didn’t even get a tiny gift in the mail. I love the product CR gives us. I have benefited over 40 years from their tests and results. I have used their results every time I consider buying an expensive item. I’ve learned a lot about products before I bought them. And they showed me advertising scams of manufacturers, so I’ve learned a thing or two. But I do feel taken now. Finally I said to myself – geez, when is this car being given away? I can’t keep doing these silly returns of ticket numbers. But look how patient I was. 4 years! Well, CR is a bit tarnished in my eyes now. I’ll still go to the library when I want to check a Buying Guide. I still like the product. But daggone–am I a fool?

  30. Would love to know what folks have received in the pasted for their minimum donation of $10 for the “special gift”. Thanks

    1. If you read the sweepstakes official rules on the back of the form, I think it answers all the questions I have seen about the CR Sweepstakes. I think it is a legitimate sweepstakes, it’s just hard to win (they print the odds on the back of the form based on the number of mailings). But there is one rule that bothers me – under the WINNER NOTIFICATION winners are notified by mail (and you may be required to supply information) and you must reply within seven (7) days of the date that is printed on the notification letter! Who knows what that date on the letter may be? I’ll be optimistic and assume that date is somewhat close to the mailing date, but who knows how long it takes before you actually receive the notification letter in the mail (receipt of my mail isn’t always very timely – sorry USPS)? If you don’t respond in time, you are disqualified, then alternate winners will be selected (but the same rules apply to them too).
      Seems to me, to be fair, they should give you much more time to reply.

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