A Challenge - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

[Vypyrz]

A few other ideas that I've had over the last couple of years are:
1) Change, or stop the auctions. They are always open to the public, but the problem is, the "general public" rarely, if ever, shows up. More times than not, it is just the vendors who show up, and end up buying from each other, and as Skiploder said, they are the ones who end up bearing the brunt of the donations.
My suggestion is, if they want to continue to do the auctions, then conduct them concurrent with the show. Collect the auction donations in the morning, and then auction the items off throughout the day, possibly by silent auction, or some type of raffle.
2) Capitalize on the 50/50. Instead of doing one 50/50 drawing, open to the vendors, why not conduct two or three drawings each day. Most people only spend 1-2 hours at the show, so why not try a 50/50 drawing at 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00. That way, as the crowd changes, people get the opportunity to participate.
3) Put the jar back out. When I first started volunteering, we had a donation jar on the table. If we couldn't convince people to buy a membership, we could usually get them to part with a $1 or $5, or even the change in their pocket. Every little bit helps, right? But somewhere along the way, the jar disappeared.
4) Another idea that I got from my local high school band is coupon booklets. You buy the booklet for about $10-$20, and in it are coupons or promo codes for discounts for goods or services from area businesses. Since most vendors and breeders have websites, maybe something like this could work. USARK could make some money, people could save a little money, and the contributors would get some extra business from people using their websites, or shopping at their tables because of the coupons...advertising.
5) Keep the website updated with the current statuses of legilation, etc. As a volunteer, it is frustrating when I can't answer questions about current legislation, because either I can't find it, or, I don't have time to dig through forums or government websites looking for it. It would help tremendously, if that information was readily available on the USARK website, or at least provided in some type of volunteers information packet for reference...