Creating a raffle

Create a raffle and sell tickets with unique prizes on your site.

What is it?

A raffle is a great way to raise additional funds for your cause and can often be combined with a gala or other big event.

Who is it most useful for?

Raffles have become a mainstay for many nonprofits’ fundraising. In a tight economy, attendees might hesitate to bid on a big auction item, but almost everyone can afford a raffle ticket.

What are the benefits of using it?

Running a raffle ticket on your platform is simple to set up but gives you advanced editing control. 

• Define the ticket options and create multi-buy packages.
• Choose the data captured from individual ticket purchasers.
• Design the page to suit the cause and fit with your branding.
• Design the ticket that gets sent out with each purchase.
• Define the sequential numbering of the tickets which can complement tickets sold offline.

This article will cover:

• Creating a raffle
• Ticket Options
• Raffle Page
• Confirmation
• Purchases & Reporting
• Raffle draw
• Closing your raffle

Below is an example raffle page.

Creating a raffle

Navigate to your Raffles module in the left-hand black navigation. Here, you'll see all your live raffles, and have the option to create a new raffle.

Once you've hit + New Raffle, you'll be taken to a page to define all your settings.

Raffle Details

Define the name of your raffle, URL and unique code for reporting.

Ticket Settings

• Number of Tickets Available: Define the number of tickets able to be purchased.
• Max Purchasable: Define the maximum number of tickets that be purchased in a single transaction.
• Optional Prefix: Add in additional letters that will appear in front of the ticket number. E.g. WWR1, WWR2.
• Starting Number: Choose what number the tickets will start at. If you're selling tickets 1-1000 offline, then start your online raffle at 1000 so the next ticket allocated is 1001.
• Single Tickets: Tick this box if you'd like entrants to have the option to purchase individual tickets, or define the number of tickets they want. (You can also set up packages.)
• Single Ticket Price: Define the price per ticket if entrants choose their own amount.
• Ticket Image: Upload an image for the tickets. Tickets will be attached to the purchaser's tax receipt and have the number in the left-hand corner. There is a template for guidance. 

Tax Receipt

Update the settings for how the raffle will be described on the tax receipt. You can also define the prefix for the PO number created.

Raffle Expiry

If you'd like your raffle to close at a specific time and date, this can be defined, along with a message that will appear once closed.

Ticket Options

Within Ticket Options on the left-hand navigation, you can create ticket packages. This offers you the chance to create ticket packages which can be more appealing than buying individual tickets.

Raffle Page

Just like any other content page, you're in full control of how it looks. Add in content blocks and images, choose your header, and define the details you capture about the purchaser under Form Options.

Don't forget, if you're planning on contacting the entrants in the future, add in marketing consent.

Confirmation

Once a purchaser has bought their tickets, you can define the confirmation copy or choose whether they are redirected to a new page.

You'll also need to populate the confirmation email that is sent out. Attached to the email will be their tax receipt and tickets.

Purchases & Reporting

You can see a list of all the individual purchases for your raffle within the Purchases area. 

When in your main Raffles dashboard, /management/raffles, you can also download two reports.

Select the raffle you want and then choose:

• Sales: This will download a list of all purchases, e.g. Tom - 10 tickets
• Tickets: This will download an itemised list of all tickets, e.g. if someone purchased 10 tickets, they'd sit across 10 lines.

Within your Data Exports module, you can also create more customised Raffle reports. Choose Raffles as your data source and then populate with the required fields. More information on creating reports can be found here.

Drawing your raffle

The raffle draw will need to take place off your platform. This could either be a physical draw or an online raffle draw provider.

Every state and country has its own rules around raffle draws so it's important you check your local rules before running your draw and selecting your winners. Funraisin cannot provide advice on the regulations governing raffles.

Closing your raffle

Within General Setup you can add in a time and date for the raffle to automatically close.

Alternatively, you can simply set to raffle to closed to step any further sales.

Once your raffle is all set up, ensure you run some test purchases so you can test the user flow from start to finish. This will give you the opportunity to view the confirmation page, confirmation email and the tickets received. 

If you'd like further support, please pop in a support ticket from your platform and our team will assist you.