I have lost count of the number of raffles I have helped set up over the years, and the ones that run smoothly almost always have one thing in common. The fundraiser  wrote out a proper set of raffle rules before ticket sales opened.

It sounds like a small task next to sourcing prizes or getting the word out, but clear raffle rules are what stop your inbox filling up with "when is the draw again?" and "can I get a refund?" questions. They also protect your organization if something unexpected happens, like a prize donor pulling out or a winner who cannot be reached.

This guide is not about raffle law. Every state, province, and country has its own licensing requirements, and I would rather point you to the right resource than give legal advice I am not qualified to give. What it covers is writing the rules document itself: what to include, how to word it, and a simple outline you can adapt for your own fundraiser.

Why Every Charity Raffle Needs Written Rules

A written set of rules does a few jobs at once. It creates transparency, so supporters can see exactly how the raffle works before they hand over any money. It reduces confusion for everyone involved, including your own volunteers, who would otherwise field the same handful of questions on repeat. It answers those questions before anyone has to ask: when is the draw, how will I know if I have won, what happens if I cannot collect my prize. And it supports consistent event management, since a raffle you run every year becomes a matter of updating a document rather than starting from scratch.

There is also a bigger reason this matters, and it is one I bring up with almost every organization I work with. A raffle is one of the best ways to reach supporters who have never heard of you before. Someone shares it on social media, a friend forwards the link, and suddenly you have ticket buyers with no existing relationship to your organization at all. That is a huge opportunity, but those new supporters have nothing to go on except what they see on the page in front of them.

This is where your rules do some important work. A page with vague or missing rules gives a stranger no reason to trust that the draw is fair or that their money is going where you say it is. Rules that are clear, professional, and complete, including who is running the raffle, any licence or permit number where one applies, and exactly how the draw will be conducted, tell a first time visitor this is a legitimate fundraiser before they have any other reason to believe it. For supporters who already know your cause, clear rules are a nice to have. For everyone you are trying to reach for the first time, they can be the deciding factor.

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Information Every Raffle Should Include

Every raffle rules document should open with the basics, stated plainly:

• Organization name, so it is clear who is actually running this raffle
• Event name, useful if you run more than one raffle a year
• Raffle purpose, a short line on what the funds will support
• Important dates, when tickets go on sale, when sales close, and when the draw happens
• Contact information, a real email address or phone number for questions

Put these at the very top. Someone skimming your rules for the first time should be able to answer "who, what, and when" within the first few sentences, without digging for it.

Participant Eligibility

This section tells people whether they are actually allowed to enter. It typically covers:

• Minimum age, where applicable to your raffle or region
• Geographic eligibility, if your raffle is limited to a country, state, or local area
• Employee or volunteer participation, and whether staff, board members, or their immediate family can buy tickets
• Entry requirements, such as needing to register an account or provide contact details before purchasing

Eligibility is one of the areas where local regulations vary most, particularly around who can enter and how tickets can be sold, so check your own regional requirements before publishing this section. GalaBid has guides on raffle rules by country, plus region specific pages for the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and US requirements by state.

Ticket Purchase Rules

This is where most of the practical questions get answered upfront:

• Ticket prices, including any package or bundle pricing
• Purchase deadlines, so people know the last date and time to buy
• Payment methods accepted
• Entry confirmation, meaning how and when a buyer knows their purchase went through and their ticket numbers are confirmed
• Refund policy, stating plainly whether ticket purchases are refundable (in most cases, raffle tickets are non-refundable once issued, similar to a lottery ticket, but say this outright rather than leaving people to assume)

Two lines a lot of organizers forget: state whether you reserve the right to cancel, postpone, or amend the raffle if circumstances outside your control require it, such as a venue falling through or a major prize donor withdrawing. And if buying a ticket adds someone to your mailing list, say so here. Nobody enjoys discovering they are on a newsletter they never knowingly signed up for.

Drawing and Winner Selection

Supporters want to know the draw is fair, so be specific:

• Drawing date, ideally with the time and location or platform
• Winner selection process, for example a random draw using a certified number generator
• Notification method, such as email, phone, or SMS
• Prize collection, meaning how and where winners receive their prize
• Unclaimed prizes, explaining what happens if a winner cannot be reached in a reasonable window

Two more things worth including, based on what tends to come up after the fact. State plainly whether you may publicly announce the winner's name, and give people a way to opt out if they would rather keep it private. This is worth checking carefully if you are running your raffle through an online raffle platform, since some platforms automatically display the winner's name on the campaign page as soon as the draw is made. It is worth mentioning that in your rules so it does not come as a surprise. If you are drawing at a live event, you might also show the draw on a screen as it happens, for example using a live leaderboard display so the room can watch winners appear in real time. It is a great way to build excitement, but it is still a form of publicly naming the winner, so it belongs in your rules either way.

Finally, add a short line saying your organization's decision on winner validity is final. It sounds a little formal, but it heads off disputes later, and almost every well written raffle rules document includes some version of it.

Prize Terms

Prize terms should leave no room for confusion about what someone is actually winning:

• Prize descriptions, written clearly enough that a winner knows exactly what they are getting
• Approximate value, since this matters for tax purposes in many regions
• Prize substitutions, stating whether you reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value if the original becomes unavailable
• Collection deadlines, giving winners a clear window to claim their prize
• Prize restrictions, such as travel dates, age restrictions on certain prizes, or non-transferable experiences

If you need help sourcing prizes that fit your audience, GalaBid has guides on raffle prize ideas and raffle basket ideas, plus a dedicated piece on raffle prize taxes for winners if you need the tax side of things.

Writing Rules That Are Easy to Understand

Rules only do their job if people actually read and understand them. A few habits make a big difference:

• Use plain language rather than legal phrasing borrowed from a template you found online
• Keep each section short, a few sentences is usually enough
• Avoid jargon your supporters will not recognize
• Organize information in the order people will actually need it
• Use headings and bullet points rather than dense paragraphs

Here is a quick comparison of the same rule written two ways: