After an exciting 2011 NCAA March Madness Tournament, names were drawn to select the five drawing winners! They are:

Grand prize trip to Las Vegas for two: Colin McFord

Gift Certificate to Specchio: Derek Rose

Gift Certificate to Home Restaurant: Jan McAvoy

Gift Certificate to Nick’s Crispy Tacos: Aaron Gilbert

Premium bottle of Tequila: Gale O’Brien

While you’re here, donate for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas, cases of wine, restaurants gift certificates, and more!

Donate to Mission Graduates between TODAY and April 5, 2011 and get entered in our drawing for a trip for two to Las Vegas. Entries are counted at $5 increments.

Other prizes include:

Gift Certificate to Home Restaurant
Gift Certificate to Ristorante Specchio
Gift Certificate to Nick’s Crispy Taco’s
Cases of Wine..

..and more gift certificates..

Info coming soon on our 2nd Annual March Madness Fundraiser!

• Trip to Costa Rica in this fabulous hotel, generously donated by Specchio Ristorante. *Certain restrictions apply. Robert Huggins
• $150 Gift Certificate to Absinthe Brasserie and Bar Doug Wachtel
• Case of Tomero Malbec 2008 Sean Dwyer
• Case of OneHopeWine Richard Whitley
• Bottle of The Macallan 15 Derek Rose
  
• San Francisco Giants gift bag Diane Piagneri
• $40 Gift Certificate to Arlequin Cafe & Food To Go Tetlo Emmen
• $40 Gift Certificate to Arlequin Cafe & Food To Go Tim Jellison

The March Madness Fundraiser is an annual college basketball event to support Mission Graduates, a nonprofit organization that increases the number of youth from San Francisco’s Mission District who are prepared for and complete a college education.

This fun-filled social event engages both individuals and groups of friends or co-workers who pay to submit their winning picks for the famed Final Four college basketball tournament. Mission Graduates benefits from all tournament entry fees, while supporters accumulate raffle entries based on their chosen teams’ performance and become eligible to win a trip to Costa Rica.

After a tournament kick-off event, Mission Graduates will host a party at a different sponsoring bar during each round of the competition. These neighborhood businesses commit to donating a portion of their sales on game nights over the course of the tournament to support the college dreams of youth from their community.

Join a tournament bracket or spend a night out on the town watching college hoops and support Mission Graduates!

1) Tournament Brackets and Raffle: Mission Graduates will coordinate multiple ESPN bracket pools (groups). Join a pool by making a $25 contribution and earn five raffle entries. Win your pool and get a non-cash prize and additional raffle entries. The raffle winner takes home the grand prize–accommodations and airfare to Costa Rica!

To join or start your own bracket pool, click here.

2)Not into sports? Could care less about college basketball? By simply donating to support our event you will be automatically entered into the raffle drawing for a chance to win a trip to Costa Rica!

Mission Graduates will provide support to numerous pool Commissioners who coordinate groups of friends, family, or co-workers to engage in some friendly competition to benefit a great cause. Commissioners will be members of the Mission Graduates board of directors, staff, donors, volunteers, local business owners, and directors of local college alumni groups.

Becoming a Commissioner is a simple way to connect with friends or build workplace morale while helping to raise critical funds for Mission Graduates’ wide range of college readiness programming. Plus, pool Commissioners compete against each other for prizes and additional raffle entries based upon their ability to build the largest pool!

Click here to organize a group!

We’ll be using the ESPN March Madness bracket system and interface to manage all participant picks and pool results. Each Commissioner who organizes a group of friends or co-workers will be given detailed information on how to manage his or her pool. Details about ESPN’s bracket rules and scoring system can be found here.

For those of you who want to compete, but don’t have a pool to join, Mission Graduates will help to link you with one of its at-large pools.

Not into sports? Could care less about college basketball? By simply donating to support our event you will be automatically entered into the raffle drawing with a chance to win a trip to Costa Rica!

Raffle entries are sold in $5 increments, with $25 being the minimum buy-in to the tournament competition. Raffle winners will be announced on April 9, 2010.

There are multiple ways to accumulate raffle entries:
1. Pay $25 to enter a tournament pool
2. Win your pool
3. Donate to Mission Graduates between February 22 and April 5, 2010. For example, if you donate $100 you will receive 20 raffle entries. You don’t need to participate in the bracket competition in order to enter the raffle.
4. Buy a $5 square on the tournament board that will be set-up at each participating bar on game nights. Earn additional raffle entries if you own the winning square after each half of play.
5. Become a pool Commissioner and organize a tournament pool. Organize the largest pool and earn additional raffle entries.

The raffle grand prize is airfare and accommodations at a fabulous hotel in Costa Rica, generously donated by Specchio Ristorante. Subscribe to our blog for regular updates on newly donated raffle prizes and silent auction items.