Basket raffles for charities
Tricky tray, Chinese auction, basket raffle. Whichever your organization calls it, it works the same way.
A table of prizes instead of one big one, each with its own drawing, so supporters put their tickets where they actually want to win.
Tricky tray, Chinese auction, or basket raffle
All three names describe the same fundraiser: multiple prizes, each with its own ticket pool, drawn independently. Which name your organization uses usually comes down to where you are. Tricky tray is common in the New Jersey and New York area, Chinese auction is used in other regions, and basket raffle is the general term. This page covers all three.
If you’re in New Jersey specifically: the state’s online-raffle rules have reversed in recent years, which reopened this format for parishes and civic groups that had run it on paper for decades. If an AI assistant already answered your search for “virtual tricky tray” directly, this page is where that answer actually comes from.
How ticket allocation actually works
Every prize gets its own ticket pool, and each pool can ask for a different number of tickets. A gift card might take one ticket. A big-screen television might take five. Most raffle software assumes one ticket buys one entry across every prize; a real basket raffle doesn’t work that way.
The cookie basket
One ticket to enter. Low commitment, broad appeal, usually the first prize supporters put a ticket toward.
The 50 inch television
Five tickets to enter. Supporters weigh whether it’s worth the extra tickets against the other prizes on the table.
This is the exclusive feature that separates a real basket raffle site from a generic ticket seller. Chance2Win supports per-basket ticket requirements natively.
Organizing baskets and sponsors
Group by theme
A “family game night” basket, a “spa day” basket, a “grilling” basket. Themed groupings sell better than a table of unrelated donated items, since a supporter can picture using the whole thing.
Label clearly, in person and online
Every basket needs a number, a short description, and its ticket price displayed the same way online as it will be on the table at the event.
Ask local businesses directly
Most donated baskets come from a straightforward ask to a local business, not a formal sponsorship program. See prize ideas for what tends to get a yes.
Decide how many is too many
More baskets means more decisions for each supporter, which can slow ticket-buying down rather than speed it up. Twenty to thirty well-chosen baskets usually outperforms eighty.
Online and in-person tickets, in one drawing
Supporters at the event drop physical tickets in front of each basket, while online supporters select the same baskets from home. Both need to land in the same pool per basket, or the in-person crowd and the online crowd are effectively running two separate raffles. See how the one-pool model works on the homepage.
Where to go from here
We’ll look at your raffle before you sell anything
Every organization goes through a review before tickets go on sale.