Raffles in vega

The vega raffle module is available as an add-on for any organisation. This article will detail each aspect of running a successful raffle and list the tasks involved.

Raffles are all about promotion. Having exciting prizes and a good cause can generate real revenue for your organisation but you need to promote it, and vega can really help with that. Running a raffle in vega will provide you with a widget to embed on your website, allowing online ticket purchases configured for your needs. Engaging emails to promote your raffle can be sent to your contact database via vega, as well as documents and workflows to issue tickets and acknowledge the purchaser.

In vega, a campaign header can have many raffle channel campaign actions to represent different streams within the same raffle campaign. For example, a raffle may consist of different raffle channel actions for telefundraising, recurring donors, direct mail etc. These will be created as individual raffle channel actions but all tickets will be available to enter the same draw.

Once your raffle purchase period has come to an end and you have reconciled the funds received by your raffle, a draw can be configured in vega. The draw will be run within vega and select the specified number of winners from the available pool, displaying the details on the screen. The raffle requires a staff member to authorise the tickets included and validate the results.

If you are an NZ class 3 raffle you need to submit an audit and prize statement within 3 months of the draw, the information needed for this audit can be found in available vega raffle reports.

The raffle module is charged at 5% of revenue from ticket sales, and 0% of revenue from donations received. That means we invoice after the lottery is complete and 100% of donations go to your organisation. There is an establishment fee of 5% of revenue from ticket sales, this applies to the first raffle and any further raffle that needs support in establishing it.

Raffle process

Get in touch with vega support to sign up, activate the raffle module within your vega and start the setup process.
Based on your location, prizes, and target income you may need to apply for a licence.
You will be asked to provide information on:
- Raffle name
- Target income
- Ways tickets will be sold
- Number of tickets available
- Ticket number ranges
- Types of tickets, books, bonus tickets etc.
- Date and time tickets will be available for sale, from and to
- Financial coding within vega for ticket sales and additional donations
- Receipting preferences for tickets and donations
- Any additional information to be captured on the raffle widget
- Date and time of the raffle draw- this needs to be at least 3 days after your ticket purchasing has stopped
- Number of draws and winners
If you have opted in for the 5% establishment fee then vega will configure your raffle setup based on the information provided. The setup consists of:
- Ticket options are created as attributes, using the attribute group Products.
- A campaign action is created, and multiple actions can be created if you have more than one raffle channel for selling tickets.
- A widget is configured to accept online purchases, including any additional fields required.
- Create the acknowledgement and ticket fulfillment documents based on vega templates, any material needed for tickets and receipting will need to be provided if vega is configuring your raffle for you.
- A ticket workflow will be configured, tickets will be sent via email to the purchaser within 20 minutes of the widget submission. This time is required for the widget to process and validate the purchase before a ticket can be issued to the recipient.
- Send communications to your database to invite all contacts to purchase raffle tickets and promote the raffle across multiple channels.
- Use the vega reports and insights to monitor the success of your raffle!
Once you have reached the end of your ticket purchasing period, an audit must be completed to reconcile all ticket purchases and donations received for the raffle.
Vega support will help with configuring the raffle draws required but a staff member will need to be available to validate and run the draw.
Winners will be displayed on the screen so that they can be contacted and notified of their wins. If you are an NZ class 3 licence, winners must be notified in accordance with the method printed on the tickets.

Licences

It is the responsibility of your organisation to ensure that you have the correct licence required before running a raffle and all requirements of the licence are met.

NZ Licencing

In New Zealand, you do not require a licence if the total value of prizes is $5,000 or less, and the turnover of the gambling is $25,000 or less.

If you will be running a raffle above these amounts you will need to ensure your ticketing includes all the necessary detail and information on your raffle is available to the public. You can find all requirements and apply for a licence at Te Tari Taiwhenua | Department of Internal Affairs.

The documents you will need to supply with your licence application are available in vega as templates, 'Raffle Ticket Fulfillment Template' and 'Event Ticket Terms and Conditions NZ'. You will need documents based on these templates, completed with your specific details, to submit your licence application.