Your raffle is drawn, the prizes are on their way to winners, and the funds are in your account. Now comes the part many fundraisers put off: reporting the results to your board or committee.
A good raffle report does more than confirm the total raised. It shows the board that the raffle was run responsibly, explains what worked and what did not, and makes the case for running the next one bigger and better. This guide covers exactly what to include, where to find the numbers, and how to present them in a single page your board will actually read.
Why board reporting is different from tracking metrics
Tracking performance during your raffle and reporting to your board afterwards are two different jobs. Metrics tracking is for your fundraising team: ticket sales by day, conversion from your email list, which channels drove purchases. Board reporting is about accountability and decision making. Your board wants to know four things:
- How much did we raise, net of costs?
- Was the raffle run compliantly?
- What did we learn?
- Should we do it again, and what would you change?
Keep the detailed analytics for your team debrief. The board report should answer those four questions clearly and briefly.
What to include in your charity raffle report
1. Financial results
Lead with the headline numbers. Boards read the financials first, so make them impossible to misread:
Line itemWhat to showGross ticket salesTotal value of all raffle tickets soldCostsPrize costs (if purchased), platform fees, payment processing fees, marketing spendNet proceedsGross sales minus all costsRefundsAny refunded amounts, with a one-line explanationComparisonNet proceeds vs target, and vs your last raffle if you have one
If prizes were donated, note their combined market value separately. It demonstrates the value of your sponsor relationships without inflating the revenue line.
2. Participation summary
Give the board a feel for reach without drowning them in analytics:
- Total tickets sold and number of individual purchasers
- Average spend per purchaser
- How many purchasers were new supporters vs existing ones
- Where sales came from at a high level (online, at your event, volunteer sales)
The new supporter number matters most. A raffle that raised slightly less but brought in 200 new contacts may be more valuable long term than one that only re-engaged your existing list.
3. Prize and sponsor outcomes
List the prizes, who donated them, and whether winners have received them. If any sponsor deserves a formal thank you from the board chair, say so here. Boards are well placed to strengthen sponsor relationships, but only if you tell them who to thank.
4. Compliance confirmation
A short paragraph confirming the raffle was run under the correct permit or licence, that winners were drawn and notified properly, and that records are retained. Raffle rules vary by state and country, so name the specific permit or authority that applied. This section takes two minutes to write and saves long discussions if a board member asks about gaming compliance.
5. Lessons and recommendations
Close with what you would repeat and what you would change. Be specific: "Ticket packages outsold single tickets three to one, so next time we will lead with packages" is useful. "It went well" is not. End with a clear recommendation: run it again, change the format, or retire it.
Where to find the numbers in GalaBid
If you ran your raffle on GalaBid, every figure above is available in the Reports section of your campaign dashboard as downloadable Excel files:
- Payments report shows the campaign profit after platform fees, payment processing fees and any consignment costs have been deducted, which gives you your net proceeds line in one place. Refunded amounts are itemised separately.
- Summary report includes a raffle sheet showing the total raised by each raffle item, useful if you ran more than one raffle in the same campaign.
- Raffle Tickets and Winners report lists every ticket sold and the winning tickets, which covers your compliance record keeping.
- Bids and Buys report breaks down ticket purchases and shows whether they came through participants directly or via volunteer sales on the night.
- Participants report gives you registration details for your new supporter count and follow-up.
See the full guide to reports available in GalaBid for what each file contains.
A one-page report structure that works
Boards do not need a slide deck for a raffle. One page, five sections:
- Headline result: net proceeds, in bold, with the target alongside
- Financial summary: the table above
- Participation: three or four bullet points
- Compliance: one short paragraph
- Recommendation: repeat, adjust or retire, with your top change for next time
Attach the GalaBid Payments and Summary reports as appendices for any board member who wants the detail.
Tips for presenting to your board
- Send the report before the meeting, not at it. Ask for five minutes on the agenda for questions rather than a full walkthrough.
- Translate percentages into stories. "38% of purchasers were new to us" lands better as "the raffle introduced us to 190 people who had never given to us before."
- Own the misses. If you fell short of target, say why and what changes. Boards trust fundraisers who report honestly far more than ones who only share wins.
- Ask for something. A board that has just seen a strong result is a board ready to help. Ask for prize introductions, a sponsor thank you call, or sign-off on the next raffle date.
Make the next report easier
The best time to set up clean reporting is before your next raffle starts. Running your raffle on a digital platform means ticket sales, purchaser details, draw records and financials are captured automatically, so your board report becomes an hour of writing rather than a week of reconciling spreadsheets and cash tins.
Learn more about running charity raffles with GalaBid, or see our post-event checklist for nonprofits for everything else to wrap up after your fundraiser.