Online Raffle for Charity

soulheavensu

I'm looking to do a raffle online where over 21 days there will be a prize drawn each day to raise money for charity. I've seen a couple of posts although these are from 2009 about not being able to do this legally due to gambling laws. Is this correct? I was hoping to do this online so that I can capture a greater audience and raise more money then I would if i just asked friends and family. 
Thanks

soulheavensu

Just to add I've been doing a bit of reading and it would appear that if it's for charity It's ok. Has anyone used and sites that host raffles they could recommend?

MalMonroe

Has your reading included information like this:   https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/for-the-public/Fundraising-and-promotions/Advertising-and-promoting.aspx

Some sites are illegal so you can't really take the recommendations of people on here, unfortunately.

Do it right or your good intentions could land you in trouble.

martindow

OP, do you work for the charity or are you an individual wishing to support a charity?  If the latter, I suggest that you contact the charity as a first step.  I can well imagine they may be very wary of associating their name with something with the possibility of going wrong.

Mistral001

Quite apart from anything else, you could actually end up losing money if you do not get many takers.  

I know I would not give to a charity in this way, especially if the ballot was held online.  It is so open to corruption or mismanagement.   

Sandtree

Mistral001 said:

Quite apart from anything else, you could actually end up losing money if you do not get many takers.  

I know I would not give to a charity in this way, especially if the ballot was held online.  It is so open to corruption or mismanagement.   

I have to say I have always questioned things like this but even more so charity auctions... often the items are sold well below "retail" and many times you'd imagine below wholesale; I'm sure many times had the company sold the item normally and donated the profit margin it'd have been more than what was raised.

To the OP - this area is a bit of a minefield, I strongly believe there is a difference between a charity doing it for themselves -v- anyone else doing it saying the proceeds will be given to a charity.  Assuming its a decent sized charity I'd echo other's views on speaking to them about your plans as hopefully they have the appropriate knowledge in house to be able to assist you.

Mistral001

I was at one function where a raffle was held and the proceeds were to be donated to a named charity.  I later found out that the organisation donated only part of the proceeds to the charity.  They said that it was the way it was always done.  The organisation was not for profit, but I still could not believe their attitude.

rach_k

Most of the Facebook raffles I see are illegal, so put that right out of your head straight away.

If you want to run a proper raffle, with tickets bought in advance of the day of the draw, it will be a small society lottery and you will need a licence from the local authority.  The licence isn't difficult to get, but you need to make sure you are following the law e.g. your tickets have to have certain info (even if they're online/email tickets), you can't sell to under 16s, you have to follow limits on prizes/expenses and you have to submit a raffle return to the council giving certain info.  This is a good quick guide: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/quick-guides/Running-a-lottery-quick-guide.pdf

I wouldn't do a prize a day as I think that would mean each day was a separate raffle and you'd have to report it to the council separately, have different tickets etc.  I don't think you can satisfy the legal requirements by just selling tickets by comment or PM on Facebook, but there are websites that allow you to run your raffle there, take the payments, sort the tickets etc.  If you make sure it's a UK site, they should help you comply with UK laws.  Then you can promote it on Facebook but with a link to the website rather than shady "comment below and PayPal me using F&F to enter" techniques!

If this is a charity you work/volunteer for, speak to them about this - they will already know about the licensing and probably already have a licence that will cover you.  If you just want to donate the money to a charity you aren't involved with, it's still worth asking them as they may be happy to have you on-board as a fundraiser.  You'd probably be covered by their insurance then too!