I-Raffles

Charity Raffles - Our Newest Referral Organizations

2009-03-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at our newest Charitable Raffle Referral Organizations (ROs), who've taken the initiative to step up an support their cause by leveraging the Charity Raffles online fundraising mechanisms - supporting their cause, our cause, and the needs of all charities in our fundraising consortium.

The Young Voices Foundation is a Virginia-based charity that helps inspire, educate and support young writers and writer groups. Support the Young Voices Online Raffle site here, along with their corporate sponsor for fundraising and online raffles, Community Voice Media.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, the Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Foundation has also decided to join our nonprofit fundraising consortium to support their ability to provide opportunities for horseback riding and other related activities for therapeutic purposes for children and adults with disabilities. They're participating as well as an online fundraising charitable raffle referral organization.

Local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) posts in Leesburg and Sterling have signed up to raise funds and support other local nonprofits - purchase online charitable raffle tickets from VFW VA Post 1177 here and VFW VA Post 9478 here.

Are Raffles a Form of Gambling? Win the $1M Jackpot, and Support Your Community!

2009-03-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

Are raffles a form of gambling?

The short and realistic answer might be “no”, especially with respect to raffles organized within the laws of applicable jurisdictions, and operated with the primary intent of benefiting society in some way. The long answer is much more complicated, and very obviously depends on many factors, including the manner and context in which the raffle is conducted, personal motivations for buying a raffle ticket, the generally-accepted distinction of “gambling” vs. “fundraising”, the actual and perceived value of the prizes and the generally accepted intent of the activity and outcome.

In this blog, we’ll continue the discussion and exploration of online lotteries and raffles, in order to help charitable organizations and nonprofits clearly understand online funding mechanisms such as online raffles – as a very legal, useful and realistic mechanism to raise money for nonprofit, charitable activities. Note this blog is by no means professional, legal opinion or fact – it’s simply a community-driven and supported discussion of the issues and topics.

The actual answer, with respect to online charity raffles such as those run by charityraffles.org (TM) and supported by i-raffles.org, is dictated by laws in the applicable jurisdiction. Charityraffles.org is legally permitted to run a number of online raffles giving anyone the chance to win monetary prizes; the outcome of which funds and supports not only the “host” foundation and its charitable efforts (paws4people.org (TM)), but also supports many others. Clearly, in this case, such raffles aren’t to be construed as “gambling” in the very commercial or legal sense of the word.

Many dictionaries define raffles as “a lottery in which a number of persons buy chances to win a prize”, or something similar. A lottery is a type of gambling that does not involve skill, only an equal chance of winning per lot purchased. State and local laws govern lotteries, so lottery regulations differ widely throughout the United States - Some states do not allow cash lotteries but allow charities to raffle off prizes for fundraising purposes. Other states consider a lottery and a raffle the same thing and do not permit either one.

Raffles, where legal, are therefore literally a type of lottery, and form of gambling, enabling a large group of people to purchase opportunities for a single-instance large (or at least very attractive) return on their investment, with no actual skill or exchange of services. Perhaps the key phrase for detailed interpretation of the dictionary’s definition of lottery is “win a prize” – while this seems straightforward, participation in games of chance is very unique under the circumstances where the outcome is part personal material enrichment, but more shared social or community value and personal philanthropic or charitable satisfaction. One’s “prize” tends to not only include the actual winnings, but the personal satisfaction and emotional benefit gained from directly helping others in the community.

Consider a typical church raffle. The obvious motivation and outcome is shared social benefit – churches hold raffles to raise money and awareness for charitable programs, supporting the needy, helping the poor. Raffles tend to motivate donors not only from the perspective that one can win a prize, but also from the perspective of implied competition – i.e. people joining together in a common forum, benefiting a common cause, in an event that’s social, entertaining and subliminally competitive (if not actually competitive). Religious institutions in general have mixed and diverse views on using raffles to raise money from their congregations; in an ideal world and an ideal congregation, there would obviously be no need for raffles, bake sales or other fundraisers that require outward solicitation. However, realism and current events tend to require churches and religious organizations to use nearly any means at their disposal, and approved by their congregation, to raise funds for basic operating funds and more for ministries, missions, scholarships, outreach campaigns or other needs-based programs. Online raffles in this context tend to be the most direct and easily-managed fundraising style, especially compared to more labor-intensive and shorter events like car washes, bake sales and home service projects like leaf-raking.

Online raffles (or "Internet raffles") in particular are a relatively new and untapped venue for nonprofit fundraising. While online gambling laws, practices and venues can be found all over the Internet and are usually very difficult to navigate or understand with respect to legality – online raffles are usually very straightforward, easy to play and understand, and will always directly benefit a charitable institution or group in addition to paying out winning prizes to the lucky winners. Online raffles, however are very difficult and expensive to create, run and legally review. Therefore, unique mechanisms like i-raffles.org and charityraffles.org have been developed to alleviate the expense, labor and legal hurdles for participating nonprofits, enabling extremely easy participation by organizations seeking to quickly raise money and benefit their cause, with absolutely no investment with money and little in time or effort.

Government institutions and programs have long considered lotteries an acceptable mechanism of raising money for civic purposes, ranging from supporting school and tuition programs, to funding road and community development. Many terms are used, including millionaire raffle, super raffle, jackpot raffle, million dollar raffle, $1 Million raffle, super lotto raffle and lottery raffle. Note the inclusion and shift in language, however; the word raffle isn’t typically used alone without also the term “lottery”. A lottery is the term used by government organizations where the outcome is usually a much broader-based benefit to all citizens, and where the benefits aren’t focused to the subjective intent of the host organizer. Raffles generally are focused on particular community, institutional or other charitable causes, and are generally organized within and to support a community of interest – lotteries aren’t typically so focused. As well, given the much broader participation of “gamers” and greater financial need of the government, the prizes tend to be much larger than typical community-based or charity-based raffles. Most government-run lotteries also don’t typically and outwardly promote or encourage continual and rapid play with incremental gains, therefore promoting obsessive habits or gambling addiction – though there’s plenty of gray area and evidence to the contrary to explore concerning this point.

Both lotteries and raffles have one major element in common that sets them apart, in most government’s eyes, from the more controversial term “gambling” – the outcome is not designed or intended solely (or in part) for commercial gain and personal profit. In short, gambling is very personal and profit-motivated, albeit with some entertainment value; lotteries and raffles are very community-oriented and motivated by social, civic or religious need.

At the end of the day, yes, you can actually and legally win a “Dream American Home!”, “Luxury New Cars and Boats!” or “$1Million Grand Prize or Jackpot!” in a charity-sponsored online raffle – and with your contribution, satisfy both your gambling-oriented entertainment drive and your philanthropic community support inclination.

More to come – note the following long list of terms and names surrounding this topic.

Gambling, lotteries, raffles, bingo, sweepstakes, garage sales, casinos, fundraisers, competitions, banked games, percentage games, rake games, private lotteries, card games, casino-style games, stud poker, game of chance, game of skill, jackpot, fundraising collections, society lotteries, lucky dips, 50/50 draws, elimination draws, calendar draws, promotions, ticket raffle lottery, sweeps, blackjack, wheel of fortune, games, riverboat gambling, licensed bingo, opportunity drawing, millionaire raffle, super raffle, jackpot raffle, million dollar raffle, $1 Million raffle, super lotto raffle, dream raffle

New Referral Organizations Participating in Online Raffles

2009-03-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

Some new Referral Organizations, i.e. non-profit charitable organizations now raising funds through online raffles, have been posted in the links section of the RaiseFunds Blog - Check it out!

Fundraising News from Loudoun County, VA

2009-02-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

A new breed of non-profit and fundraising solutions has emerged, and is actively beginning to dramatically leverage many factors relating to the changing winds of philanthropy online...though it's not so obvious. A recent news item in Loudoun highlighted the Round Hill-based "Paws4People" foundation, that's been working in many venues training and providing service dogs for all kinds of purposes, from helping school kids to read, to helping comfort and soothe those in need. This local organization is building its fundraising prowess leveraging the power of online social media and Internet marketing, promoting its online charitable raffle fundraising services.

In short, charityraffles.org enables, with the core focus being continued support of the Paws4People foundation interests, any other non-profit to itself conduct an online charity raffle, with absolutely no out-of pocket expense for themselves or associated corporate sponsors. All perfectly legal, a non-profit can quickly and continually raise funds as they're donated (monthly payments), by promoting raffle ticket sales under their own campaign. Each raffle ticket sold not only provides the donor many chances to actually win prizes, including a "grand prize" of up to $1 million, but also provides the "host" raffle organizer recurring funds that (1) are of much higher margin than most any other kind of fundraising tact, (2) support not only the host raffle organizer but all other non-profits in the "consortium", and (3) support the Paws4People organization in a way that touches entire communities.

Read more at Gateway to Loudoun County...

Welcome to I-Raffles.com

2009-02-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Non-Profit? Need Cash? This is How, Right Now.

You are a Non-Profit Organization, Charity or Religious Organization. You Need to Raise Money Now.

- PTOs/PTAs
- School and Educational Groups
- Churches/Temples
- Environmental Interest Groups
- Community Support Groups
- Veteran Support Groups
- Etc.

We are CharityRaffles.org. An Opportunity to Help, a Chance to Win!

We Provide an Easy Way for You to Quickly Raise Money From Donors – AT NO DIRECT COST TO YOU.

Easier, Quicker and Ultimately Much More Profitable and Satisfying Than:

- Bake Sales/Rummage Sales
- Participating in Federated Giving Campaigns, For Small, Infrequent Returns
- Asking Students to Sell Door-To-Door
- Putting on a Show or Soliciting Entertainment
- Local Raffles With Limited Prizes
- Gambling, Of Any Kind
- Long Volunteer Hours
- Reselling Products For Low Margins and Lots of Hard Labor and Time

What You Do:

(A) Apply As a Referral Organization With CharityRaffles.org - send an email to:

info@i-raffles.org

(B) Refer Donors to Buy Our Raffle Tickets, and Ask Sponsors to Do the Same.
(C) Receive Your Money Each Month.

That’s it!

What Your Sponsors Do:

(A) Use Their Marketing Capabilities and Connections to Promote Your Fundraising Campaign

You Get:

(A) Referral Contributions – i.e. % Money Per Raffle Ticket
(B) Targeted Donations From Donors
(C) Big Winning Raffle Ticket Bonus – If You Referred the Winning Ticket
(D) Free Internet Marketing of Your Fundraising Raffle

Your Donors Get:

(A) Many Chances to Win Cash Prizes, Up to $1Million Grand Prize
(B) Assurance That 65% Money Donated Goes Directly to Charities, Including Yours
(C) The Opportunity To Contribute Not Only to You, But To Many Other Charities

Your Sponsors, With NO Direct Investment, Get:

(A) The Right to Advertise Their Sponsorship of Your Lottery FundRaising Campaign
(B) Great Press if Someone Wins Your Raffle
(C) Opportunity To Tie Promotions to Donorship
(D) Free Help Internet Marketing Their Sponsorship of Your FundRaising Campaign

Much more information to come soon!