Quiz nights are the highest-margin event most PTAs and clubs ever run — low costs, willing crowd, no stock to shift. Yet plenty barely break even, usually because the committee misread which part of the night is the business. Here's the anatomy.
Eighty people at £5 is £400 — which sounds like the profit until the hall (£60), prizes (£70), refreshments stock, printing and the quizmaster's bottle of thanks eat half of it. Think of entry as the cost-covering layer: it should clear every fixed cost on a realistic attendance guess, so the night is safe before anyone buys a raffle strip. If it doesn't, the entry fee is too low or the costs have crept — the planner makes that visible before you book anything.
Raffle stock is donated (local businesses say yes remarkably often to a school's polite letter), tickets are £1 impulse buys in a room full of people already in a giving mood, and a decent table sells 150+ strips. Near-zero cost, £150+ in — the raffle regularly out-profits the quiz it's attached to. Put your most charming committee member on ticket sales during the interval, not on the door. One caution: raffles at events can fall under lottery rules (incidental lottery limits on prize spend, tickets sold at the event only) — a ten-minute read of the current guidance keeps it comfortably inside the lines, and that's the organiser's job to check.
Tea, cake and a modest bar (venue licence permitting) add a third income stream — but only if stocked like a bonus, not a banquet. Donated cakes and a £50 float of drinks at fair prices adds £100+; catering ambitions add stress and leftovers. The refreshments rule of thumb: if planning them takes longer than the quiz, you've overbuilt them.
Prize inflation ("shall we do £100 cash?") — a £30 hamper and glory motivate teams identically; big prizes only shrink the cheque you hand the school. Free entries spreading beyond the quizmaster. Attendance optimism — pricing the night against 100 people who turn out to be 60. Plan on last year's number; be delighted, not rescued, by growth.
General guidance from published fundraising practice, August 2026. Licensing (lotteries, alcohol) is the organiser's responsibility — check current official guidance. CAAC.