Givebutter Is Great.
Until Your Raffle Includes
Restricted or Regulated Prizes.

Not safely. Givebutter processes all payments exclusively through Stripe. Stripe restricts or prohibits several categories that are common in nonprofit raffles — alcohol-related sales (wine baskets, bourbon packages, whiskey samplers), tobacco and cigar products, and firearms and ammunition outright. The risk is not limited to the moment of setup. Stripe often reviews campaigns after they are already live — sometimes weeks into active ticket sales — and locks accounts without advance warning. A Civil War reenactment organization recently had their Givebutter account suspended after three and a half weeks of active ticket sales on an antique firearm prize, with no prior notice. Chance2Win supports multiple payment gateways including options with no restrictions on restricted or regulated prize categories. And if you've already sold tickets on a platform that gets locked, Chance2Win's manual order entry lets you import those sales so your drawing pool is complete and your event can continue.

Because Givebutter runs exclusively on Stripe, and Stripe restricts alcohol-related transactions in various configurations. A wine basket, bourbon package, whiskey sampler, brewery experience, or similar alcohol-themed raffle prize may trigger Stripe's restrictions — resulting in transaction failures, item removal, or account review. This surprises organizations constantly because wine baskets and bourbon raffles are among the most common prize categories at church galas, school fundraisers, and community events. Verify directly with Stripe and Givebutter before building your campaign — not after you're three weeks in and already live. Chance2Win supports payment gateways that carry no alcohol restrictions.

Not in the way a real basket raffle requires. Givebutter's own help documentation explains their "multiple prize" approach: donors can select a prize preference at checkout, but "all tickets purchased will go towards this prize option" — meaning all entries go into one combined pool with a preference field attached. This is a workaround, not per-basket ticket pool infrastructure. A real basket raffle requires per-basket ticket pools, independent drawings, and ticket splitting across multiple baskets in one session. Givebutter does not support these mechanics. See: Basket Raffle Platform →

Givebutter's own documentation advises organizations to "plan ahead and have cash on hand to pay out 50% to the winning ticketholder" because payout timing creates a gap between the drawing and fund availability on the platform. For live events where the winner is announced in front of a crowd, you cannot pay from the platform immediately. You settle with Givebutter after the pending period clears. Chance2Win tracks the 50/50 pool in real time, unified with in-person cash sales — the winning amount is displayed the moment the drawing closes.

The Givebutter Guarantee: when optional donor tips are enabled on a campaign, Givebutter covers all fees including the standard 2.9% + $0.30 Stripe processing charge. The organization keeps 100% of what donors intend to contribute. This is funded by the optional tips donors leave for Givebutter at checkout. When tips are disabled, a flat 3% platform fee applies instead, plus standard processing fees. The default tip is set at 15% — right at the abandonment cliff. For donation campaigns where donors are in a giving mindset, this model works extremely well. For raffle transactions where buyers have a fixed spend in mind, the 15% prompt creates more friction.

No. Queen of Hearts requires progressive jackpot logic, ongoing multi-week ticket sales infrastructure, and card management across drawing sessions. Givebutter has no native Queen of Hearts support. Their platform is designed for single-campaign events, not multi-week progressive draws. Chance2Win supports the full workflow — jackpot tracking, card board management, weekly draws, and the community engagement mechanics that make Queen of Hearts one of the highest-revenue recurring formats for nonprofits. See: Queen of Hearts Platform →

Yes — this is exactly what manual order entry exists for. If your account on Givebutter or another platform gets suspended or locked after you've already sold tickets, Chance2Win can take all previous ticket purchases and enter them directly into the Chance2Win drawing pool. Name, contact, number of tickets, basket selections — all of it can be imported. Your supporters keep their entries. Your drawing pool is complete. Your event runs. This situation happens more often than most people realize — restricted prize flags often come weeks into an active campaign, not during setup. If this has happened to you, call our support team directly — this is something we can walk you through quickly.

Givebutter is the right choice when your primary needs are donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns, CRM and donor management, email marketing, and general event ticketing. It earned G2's #1 Nonprofit Software ranking for good reasons — 160+ features, beautiful design, the Guarantee model, and genuinely strong support. Use Chance2Win when your event includes restricted prizes (firearms, bourbon, alcohol), basket raffles, Queen of Hearts, ball drops, duck races, live 50/50, or hybrid cash and check events. Many organizations run both platforms at the same event.

Givebutter tips-on = zero cost to org (Guarantee covers all fees including processing). Givebutter tips-off = 3% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Chance2Win Zero Fee = $0 to org, fixed 12% donor service charge shown upfront, org keeps 100%. Chance2Win Premium = $329 flat (≤$5k), $459 (≤$10k), +$329 per additional $10k. You decide what supporters pay — enable a service charge and it flows entirely to your org, not to Chance2Win. For events over $20,000, Chance2Win Premium is consistently lower than Givebutter tips-off cost. For simple donation campaigns, Givebutter's Guarantee (tips on) is genuinely hard to beat. See: Full Pricing Details →