Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: fund raising through lottery

If you are setting up a fund for the money you make from the ticket sales than all or a portion of that money must go to the charity. So, no you may not keep the profits if you advertise that they are being donated to the charity. If you only wished to donate a certain percentage of the profits from the sale of the tickets you can do that as long as you sepcify the amount. As an example you could advertise that you are going to donate 50% of the profits with a goal of raising $1,000. The law states that you must do what you say you are going to do, or the participants may sue you for fraud. The only restriction is that the participants may not be able to write it off as a charitable contribution. I would have them check with their accountant and tell them that you do not know if they can write it off. I would also recommend that you specify a charity and tell them what you plan to do. If you specify a charity it will be helpful to the participants to know where their money is going. The charity will probably help you advertise and organize the event. Good luck.