Workplace raffles carry a different kind of pressure than a party game. When HR draws a 50/50 winner at the holiday party, or a nonprofit pulls a name for a fundraiser prize, or a manager picks who gets the extra PTO day, everyone in the room is quietly watching to see whether the process was actually fair — especially toward whoever didn't win.
That scrutiny is fair. A raffle run on a clipboard and a name pulled from a hat is hard to verify after the fact. This post covers how to run a workplace or fundraiser raffle that holds up to that scrutiny, using a process anyone in the room — or anyone reading the recap afterward — can independently check.
Why Workplace Raffles Need More Rigor Than Party Raffles
A wrong guess about who won a game night raffle is a shrug. A perceived-unfair outcome in an office raffle can turn into a real complaint — about favoritism, about whether leadership's names were quietly excluded or included, about whether the draw happened the way it was announced. None of that requires anyone to have actually done anything wrong; perception alone is enough to create friction. The fix isn't more policy — it's a process transparent enough that the question never comes up.
The 50/50 or Holiday Party Raffle
Collect ticket numbers or names as entries. Load the full list into SoChoosey before the event starts, ideally on the screen everyone can see. Show the SHA-256 commitment hash on screen before drawing — this is your proof the result wasn't adjusted after the fact. Spin live in front of the room.
Charity Fundraiser Prize Draws
Fundraisers often sell numbered tickets rather than collecting names. Map each ticket number range to a donor name in your list (or just use ticket numbers directly as entries), then run the draw the same way. For multiple prize tiers, use "Remove and spin again" so each winner is removed from the pool before the next prize is drawn — nobody wins twice by accident, and each draw gets its own verifiable result.
Employee Recognition and PTO Drawings
For monthly recognition spotlights, bonus PTO day drawings, or parking spot lotteries, load the eligible employee list and spin during an all-hands or team meeting. Because the commitment hash is generated before the spin and the secret is revealed after, any employee can ask to see the Verify panel and check the math themselves — no one has to just take a manager's word for it.
Running It Step by Step
- Build the entry list ahead of time. Paste eligible names, employee IDs, or ticket numbers as comma-separated values into SoChoosey's list builder. For large employee rosters or ticket lists, export from your spreadsheet first, then use the import feature.
- Display the commitment hash before spinning. Project or screen-share SoChoosey before the draw. The commitment hash appears once the spin starts — read it aloud or leave it visible on screen. Anyone can write it down.
- Spin in front of the group, or record it. For in-person events, spin live on the projector. For remote or hybrid teams, spin during a recorded call so anyone who missed it can review the recording later.
- Reveal and verify on the spot. After the winner is announced, open the Verify panel and show the revealed secret alongside the commitment hash. This takes about thirty seconds and settles any question of fairness immediately, in the room, without anyone needing to trust a spreadsheet macro or a name pulled from a hat.
Handling Multiple Prizes Fairly
Fundraisers and company parties often have several prizes of different value, and the temptation is to just keep re-spinning the same list. Use SoChoosey's "Remove and spin again" feature instead: the previous winner is removed from the active pool in memory (your original list stays intact), and every remaining entrant's odds adjust automatically so the next draw is still exactly fair among everyone left. Run one draw, and one verification, per prize.
Remote and Hybrid Teams
For distributed teams, share your screen during a video call rather than trying to coordinate a physical raffle drum. Everyone watching sees the same commitment hash, the same spin, and the same reveal at the same time — there's no version of the story where the in-office half of the team saw something different from the remote half. If someone missed the live call, the meeting recording preserves the full commit-reveal sequence for them to check afterward.
Why This Is Worth the Extra Two Minutes
None of this requires special software, a paid account, or IT involvement — SoChoosey is free and runs in any browser. The only real change from a name-out-of-a-hat raffle is showing the commitment hash before the draw and the verification after. That small habit is what turns "the manager says it was random" into "here's cryptographic proof it was random," and it's the difference between a raffle nobody questions and one that quietly erodes trust every time it runs.
Build your entry list and run your next office raffle at sochoosey.app — no account, no download, no cost.