The raffle timeline

A raffle moves through a predictable set of stages, and the Draw & Timeline tab shows you exactly where yours is and what the next step is. If you ever feel unsure what to do, this is the page to open — it's designed to tell you.

The stages

1. Activated / Open — your raffle is live and selling tickets.
2. Closed — ticket sales have ended. The raffle is now awaiting its draw.
3. Drawn — you've run the draw and the winner(s) are selected.
4. Results published — the winners are shown on your public raffle page.
5. Funds settled — final payout complete.

You're always in control of the next step

The thing worth internalising: the raffle never advances itself through the important stages. Sales can close automatically when your end conditions are met, but drawing and publishing are actions you take deliberately, when you're ready. The timeline shows you what's next and waits for you.

Emailing your winners isn't one of the stages, because it isn't required. You can send it from RaffleLink before or after you publish, or ring your winners yourself. Publishing is the step that finishes the raffle and finalises your payout.

That's the whole reason this section isn't scary — there's no clock forcing your hand on the steps that matter.

What each action does (in brief)

• Close ends ticket sales (see Close your raffle).
• Draw selects the winner(s) (see Run the draw).
• Publish results puts winners on the public page and finalises your payout (see Publish results).
• Notify Winners emails each winner, and is optional (see Notify the winners).

Each gets its own article. Read them in order and you've got the whole wrap-up.