DONATE Raffles
Run a raffle online
Sell raffle tickets online and by text for prizes you draw in your portal. A ticket buys a chance to win, so it is a payment, not a gift.
Getting started
Raffles lives in your DONATE portal. Supporters buy tickets on your raffle page or by sending a text, and you draw the winners from the portal. A raffle is a lottery, so before you publish one the portal asks for your lottery licence details.
Your raffles in one place
The Raffles page lists every raffle with its status, its code and how many tickets it has sold.
The licence your organisation needs
- A raffle with tickets sold in advance is a lottery under the Gambling Act 2005. Most charities and community groups run it as a small society lottery, registered with their local council.
- Before you can publish, the portal asks for your lottery licence number, the council that issued it and its date of issue. These are shown on your raffle page and in the statement you agree to when you publish.
- Your licence details are saved for your whole organisation, so every raffle you run uses the same ones.
- The portal warns you if your draw date falls before your licence was issued, or more than a year after it.
- Not registered yet? Contact the licensing team at your local council. The Gambling Commission publishes guidance on society lotteries.
Creating your raffle
Start with a name and a ticket price. Then add a description, your prizes, the draw date and your licence details. Every raffle starts unpublished, so you can set it up and try it before anyone pays.
Name and ticket price
Click New raffle, give it a name and a ticket price, then click Create raffle to add the rest.
Describe it and get your code
Details holds the name, the description buyers read and your raffle code. Changes save automatically.
Choose your ticket price
Each standard price has its own text number. A custom price sells online only, with no text entry.
Higher prices by text
The 20, 30 and 40 pound text prices are premium. A one-off 50 pound fee opens all three for that raffle.
One draw, or more
Leave Multiple draws off for one draw. Switch it on and, past 20,000 pounds of sales in a day, tickets go into further draws.
Draw date and licence
Add the expected draw date, the organiser's name, email and postal address, and your lottery licence details.
Add your prizes
Add each prize with its value and a photo. Put the top prize first. The first winner drawn gets the first prize.
Try it before you publish
A raffle that has never been published is in Preview. Nobody can buy a ticket online yet, and texts to your code are free. Once you publish, Preview ends for good for that raffle.
Use the preview link
Until you publish, the portal gives you a preview link and a preview QR code instead of your short link.
Send a free test text
While the raffle is unpublished, a text to your code is free and gets a reply. After publishing it is charged.
What Preview does and does not do
- Test texts get a reply, with no charge beyond the sender's standard network rate. They do not create tickets, so the reply has no real ticket number.
- Online ticket sales stay closed until you publish.
- Your short link, easydonate.org/ followed by your code, does not work until you publish. Use the preview link in the portal instead.
Publishing and sharing
When your prizes, draw date, organiser details and licence are in, switch the raffle on. Publishing takes real payments by card and by text straight away.
Check and publish
The Publish raffle box shows your price and prizes, and a statement of your licence details to agree to.
Promote it the right way
Tick to confirm your promotion shows the ticket price and how to enter, the legal statement and a DONATE logo.
Share your link and code
Once live, share your short link and QR code, and tell people what to text and what it costs.
Before you promote it
- Every poster, post and email must show the full ticket price and the way to enter. For text entry, say that texts cost the ticket price plus the standard network rate.
- Include the legal statement and one of the DONATE logos from the publish box. Your raffle code can be switched off if any of these are missing.
- Once a ticket is sold, the ticket price and the free raffle setting are locked.
- Switching a published raffle off closes online ticket sales only. Texts to your code are still charged and still issue tickets, so take down any posters. It never goes back to free test texts.
What buyers see
Buyers open your raffle page on their phone or computer, or send a text. They choose how many tickets they want and get their ticket numbers straight away.
Your raffle page
Your raffle page shows the ticket price, the draw date, your description and a Buy tickets button.
Prizes and who is responsible
Each prize shows with its value, followed by the name and email of the person responsible for the raffle.
Lottery information on every page
Each raffle page states it is a small society lottery and shows your organisation, address and licence details.
Choose how many tickets
Buyers tap Buy tickets, choose how many they want and see the total. Every ticket is the same price.
Card, wallet or text
Under Choose payment method, buyers pick SMS, Card, Google Pay or PayPal. Safari shows Apple Pay in place of Google Pay. SMS is on phones only, up to 40 pounds.
Buying by text
Choose SMS, then tap Open SMS on my phone. The text is loaded into the buyer's messaging app, ready to send.
Buying by card
For card, wallet or PayPal, buyers give their email address and agree to the terms before they pay.
Ticket numbers by email
Online buyers get an email with each ticket number, the draw number, the price and the expected draw date.
Entering by text
- Buyers text your code to the number for your ticket price, for example NOEL to 70970 for a 5 pound ticket.
- To buy more than one ticket in a text, they add the number after the code, for example NOEL 3.
- The reply text gives their ticket number and a link to your raffle page. The wording is fixed because of the Gambling Act 2005, so it cannot be changed.
- A text to a raffle that has been drawn, or has sold out, gets a reply saying so, and the sender is not charged.
Managing ticket sales
Once your raffle is live it opens on the Entries tab, which lists every ticket sold. The figures along the top show the ticket price, tickets sold, ticket sales and any payments still pending.
Every ticket sold
Entries lists each ticket number with the buyer's contact, how it was sold, the draw, the date and its status.
Find a buyer's tickets
Search by email or mobile number, or filter to authorised, drawn or pending tickets.
Add cash and phone sales
Sold tickets on paper or by phone? Add each one with a name, so it goes into the draw like any other ticket.
Cash entries
- Only the name is needed. An email or mobile number is optional.
- Without an email or mobile number, DONATE cannot tell the buyer if they win, so you need to tell them yourself.
- Paper tickets you sell must follow the same rules as your online tickets. Keep your paper stubs.
The draw and the winners
Draw your winners from the Draw tab on the day you promised. Practise with a test draw first. The live draw picks the winners, closes the raffle and tells the winners for you.
Practise with a test draw
A test draw picks winners from the tickets sold and pairs them with your prizes. It saves nothing and tells nobody.
Run the live draw
The live draw picks the winners for real, marks every ticket in the draw as drawn and closes a single-draw raffle to new tickets.
Winners are told for you
Winners with an email address get an email naming their prize and ticket. Winners who entered by text get a text.
Winning tickets go public
After the draw your raffle page says it has been drawn and shows the winning ticket number under each prize.
Every ticket marked drawn
After the live draw, every ticket in the draw shows as Drawn in your Entries list.
How winners are picked
- There is one winner for each prize. The first winner drawn gets the first prize on your Prizes tab, the second gets the second, and so on.
- Only paid tickets go into the draw. Payments still pending when you draw are cancelled.
- Winners with an email address are emailed. Winners with only a mobile number get a text. Winners with neither must be told by you.
- The winner email says the raffle organiser will be in touch to arrange the prize, so contact your winners promptly.
- A live draw cannot be undone, so use a test draw first.
- With Multiple draws on, the live draw draws the current draw only, and the raffle stays open for the next one.
- The circular arrow next to each winner is not part of a test draw. It runs the live draw, so do not click it when you are practising.
Afterwards, fees and the rules
Your ticket sales are paid out with your other income, through your usual DONATE payouts. Keep your records for your council.
Gift Aid
- Raffle tickets never carry Gift Aid. A ticket buys a chance to win a prize, so it is a payment, not a gift. Raffle ticket payments are taken without Gift Aid.
Fees
- There is no set-up fee. Each ticket payment carries DONATE's raffle fee of 4.5 per cent plus 22p for charities, or 5 per cent plus 22p for other organisations. Card and text processing are included.
- Charges on each payout: a usage fee of £3 for each week (Monday to Sunday) in which your organisation receives £10 or more, and a transfer charge of 0.5 per cent of the payout (at least £3) plus £7.50. Organisations without charity rates pay 1.5 per cent plus £7.50.
- The premium text prices of 20, 30 and 40 pounds cost a one-off 50 pounds per raffle.
The rules to keep to
- Every ticket costs the same. That is why a raffle has one ticket price and no bundle deals.
- DONATE stops issuing tickets in a draw when they reach 20,000 pounds, the limit for one draw of a small society lottery. Text buyers are then told the raffle has sold out and are not charged. Card buyers can be charged in full at that point and get fewer tickets. If sales might reach 20,000 pounds, switch on Multiple draws before you publish.
- A small society lottery can sell up to 250,000 pounds of tickets across all its lotteries in a calendar year. Keep track of this yourself.
- Do not sell tickets to anyone under 16.
- Small society lotteries send a return to their council within three months of each draw, covering ticket sales, prizes, expenses and the amount that went to your cause. Your Entries list and ticket sales figures help with the first part.
- Check your council's and the Gambling Commission's guidance for anything specific to your raffle. This guide is not legal advice.
Settings reference
New raffle
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Raffle name | The name buyers see. Up to 64 characters. | Required |
| Ticket price | The price of one ticket, in pounds. | 2 |
Details
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Raffle name | Shown on your raffle page, in emails and in the publish statement. | Required |
| Raffle description | What buyers read about your raffle and prizes. | Required |
| Your raffle code | Your short link and the word people text. Given automatically. Request a custom code of up to 8 letters and numbers; a lease cost may apply. | Automatic |
| Free raffle | No ticket charge. Locked once a ticket is sold. | Off |
| Ticket price | 1, 3, 5 or 10 pounds sell by text and online. 20, 30 and 40 pounds are premium. A custom amount sells online only. Locked once a ticket is sold. | The price you gave |
| Multiple draws | When sales pass 20,000 pounds in a day, further tickets go into another draw. You need prizes for every draw. | Off |
| Reply to donor | The text buyers get back, with their ticket number. Fixed, and cannot be changed. | Fixed |
| Expected raffle date | The draw date shown on your page and in every ticket email. | Required to publish |
| Raffle organiser's full name | The person responsible. Shown on your page and named in the winner email. | Required to publish |
| Organiser's email address | Shown on your page and in ticket emails. | Required |
| Organiser's postal address | Shown in the lottery information on your page. | Required |
| Lottery licence number | Your small society lottery registration. Saved for your whole organisation. | Required to publish |
| Licence issuing council | The council that registered you. | Required |
| Licence date of issue | Checked against your draw date. | Required |
Prizes (per prize)
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | Shown next to the prize on your raffle page. | None |
| Prize name | Shown on your page and in the winner email. | Empty |
| Value | Shown on your page as the prize's value. | 0 |
| Repeatable | With multiple draws, the prize can be won again in each draw. | Off |
| Order | The arrows set the order. The first winner drawn gets the first prize. | The order you add them |
Add entries
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The buyer of a cash or phone sale. Their ticket goes into the draw. | Required |
| Email or mobile | So DONATE can tell them if they win. | Optional |
Messages DONATE sends for you
| Message | When | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Reply text | When a text entry is received. | The sender, with their ticket number |
| Ticket confirmation email | When an online payment goes through, or a cash entry with an email is added. | The buyer, with every ticket number |
| Winner email | After the live draw. | Winners with an email address |
| Winner text | After the live draw. | Winners with only a mobile number |
Questions
- How is a raffle different from an auction?
- In a raffle, people buy tickets for a chance to win, and winners are drawn at random from all the tickets sold. In an auction, people bid on a particular lot, and the highest bid wins and pays for it.
- How do I run a raffle online?
- In your DONATE portal, click Raffles, then New raffle. Add a ticket price, prizes, a draw date and your lottery licence details, then publish. Buyers pay online or by text, and you draw the winners in the portal.
- Do I need a licence to run an online raffle?
- Yes. A raffle with tickets sold in advance is a lottery. Most charities register a small society lottery with their local council. The portal asks for your licence number, council and date of issue before you can publish.
- Can we claim Gift Aid on raffle tickets?
- No. A raffle ticket buys a chance to win a prize, so it is a payment, not a gift. Raffle tickets never carry Gift Aid, and DONATE takes raffle ticket payments without it.
- Can I sell raffle tickets by text message?
- Yes, at a ticket price of 1, 3, 5 or 10 pounds, or 20, 30 or 40 pounds once premium prices are switched on. Buyers text your code to the number for that price, and add a number to buy more than one ticket.
- Can I sell tickets at 3 for 10 pounds?
- No. Every ticket in a society lottery must cost the same, so a raffle has one ticket price. Buyers choose how many tickets they want.
- What does it cost to run a raffle with DONATE?
- There is no set-up fee. Each ticket payment carries a raffle fee of 4.5 per cent plus 22p for charities, or 5 per cent plus 22p for other organisations, with card and text processing included. Premium text prices cost a one-off 50 pounds per raffle. Each payout also carries a weekly usage fee of £3 and a transfer charge. See Afterwards, fees and the rules.
- Can I try my raffle before it goes live?
- Yes. A raffle starts unpublished. Open it with the preview link, send a free test text to your code, and run test draws. Online sales open when you publish, and Preview then ends for that raffle.
- How do buyers get their ticket numbers?
- Online buyers get an email with each ticket number, the draw number and the expected draw date. Text buyers get their ticket number in the reply text.
- How do I add tickets I sold for cash?
- On the Entries tab, click Add entries and type the buyer's name. Add an email or mobile number if you have one, so DONATE can tell them if they win. Each entry goes into the draw.
- How are raffle winners picked?
- Click Run live draw on the Draw tab. DONATE picks one ticket at random for each prize from all the paid tickets. The first winner drawn gets the first prize on your list.
- Can I practise the draw?
- Yes. Click Test draw on the Draw tab as often as you like. It shows winners and prizes but saves nothing, tells nobody and leaves the raffle open.
- How are raffle winners told?
- After the live draw, winners with an email address get an email naming their prize and ticket, and winners who entered by text get a text. Cash buyers with no contact details must be told by you.
- Can people still buy tickets after the draw?
- No. For a raffle with one draw, the live draw closes it to new tickets, and your raffle page shows it has been drawn, with the winning ticket numbers.
- Is there a limit on how much a raffle can sell?
- Yes. DONATE stops issuing tickets in a draw at 20,000 pounds of ticket sales, the limit for one draw of a small society lottery. With Multiple draws on, sales past 20,000 pounds in a day go into a further draw. Card buyers can be charged in full at that point and get fewer tickets. If sales might reach 20,000 pounds, switch on Multiple draws before you publish.
- Can I change the ticket price after tickets are sold?
- No. Once the first ticket is sold, the ticket price and the free raffle setting are locked.
- If I switch my raffle off, does it go back to Preview?
- No. Once a raffle has been published, Preview has ended for good. Switching a published raffle off closes online ticket sales only. Texts to your code are still charged and still issue tickets, so take down any posters. Texts are never free test entries again.