How to Use FutureEdges to Start a Lottery Pool for a Cause

Some of the best lottery pools aren't about getting rich. They're a group of people who agree, in advance, that any prize goes to something they care about: the church building fund, the youth team's new uniforms, the food pantry, a neighbor's medical bills. If you'd like to start one, here is how to set it up properly with FutureEdges, step by step, along with a few ideas for causes and some ground rules that keep it fair and above board.

Ideas for Causes

Any shared goal works. Some natural fits:

• A church or congregation: a building repair fund, a missions trip, a youth program, a new roof.
• A school or parent group: a PTA or booster club raising money for equipment, trips or classroom supplies.
• A food pantry or community charity: as a Wisconsin factory team did when 56 coworkers voted to give their ticket to the local pantry. See lottery pools that won big for a cause.
• A youth sports team or club: uniforms, travel and tournament fees.
• A neighbor or colleague in need: a medical or memorial fund, as a St. Louis hospital team did for two coworkers.
• An animal shelter, library or volunteer fire department that your group wants to support.

Keep It Clean: Ground Rules for a Cause Pool

1. Make it voluntary. Every person decides for themselves whether to join. No pressure from the pulpit, the principal or the boss.
2. Individuals pool their own money. A cause pool is a group of people buying tickets together, not an organization selling chances. Check how your local rules treat each.
3. Nobody profits from running it. The manager takes no cut. All contributions go to tickets.
4. Be upfront about the plan. Everyone should know in advance what happens to a prize.
5. Respect those who opt out. Some people don't play the lottery for personal or religious reasons, and that's fine.
6. Only adults of legal playing age may take part.

How to Set It Up in FutureEdges

FutureEdges is built around a Group Manager who creates the group and the members who join it. Here is the flow, adapted for a cause.

Step 1: Create the group

The Group Manager creates the group by entering a name and group details. Choose a name that tells everyone what it's for, such as "St. Mark's Roof Fund Pool" or "Eagles Booster Club Pool."

Step 2: Choose a plan

Subscribe to a yearly plan based on the number of members in your group. See futureedges.com for current plans.

Step 3: Add the members

Add each member, including yourself, with their name and phone number. The number must match the one the member will use to register in the app, because that is how they're linked to the group and its contract.

Step 4: Create the contract, and write the cause into it

This is the most important step for a cause pool. The Group Manager creates the group contract, and the terms can be reviewed and edited before it's sent to members. Use it to state, in plain words:

• the purpose of the pool and the organization or cause that will benefit;
• what share of any prize goes to the cause: all of it, a percentage, or all prizes above a threshold;
• how small prizes are handled (for example, rolled into the next ticket purchase);
• who decides on the recipient if the cause changes, and how (a vote, a committee);
• the contribution amount and when it is due.

Once the contract is started, it becomes available for all members to review and sign in the app. Everyone agrees before the first ticket is bought.

Step 5: Members register and accept

Each member registers with the phone number you added, updates their profile and accepts the contract. The Group Manager accepts too. Members see exactly what they're agreeing to, including the giving terms.

Step 6: Generate the partnership agreement

After all members have signed the contract, the Group Manager can generate the partnership agreement. This is your permanent record of who agreed to what.

Step 7: Collect the money yourselves, then record the contributions

FutureEdges does not collect or hold money. The Group Manager collects each member's contribution in whatever way suits your group (cash, check, a payment app), ideally into a simple, separate account that is not the church's or charity's own. Then the manager records each contribution in the app: the amount, the payment type and the date it was received. Members can see their own contribution details, so everyone can see that the money is accounted for. That matters a great deal when it's going toward a cause.

Step 8: Buy tickets and record them before the draw

Buy tickets from authorized retail locations, and avoid third-party or unofficial services. Enter the ticket details in the app before the draw time and upload scanned copies, so every member can view them.

Step 9: Check results together

Members can view the lottery results in the app and verify whether any ticket entries match winning numbers. Everyone sees the outcome at the same time.

An Example Agreement Wording

You can adapt something like the following for your contract. It's an illustration, not legal text:

"This pool is formed by individuals who each contribute $5 per draw. Any prize of $600 or less will be used to buy tickets for the next draw. Any prize above $600 will be donated, after taxes, to the St. Mark's Roof Fund. The pool manager receives no payment. Members may leave at any time before a draw."

A Hypothetical Walk-Through

Imagine a small congregation that wants to repair its roof. Twelve members each agree to put $5 into the pool for each Friday Mega Millions draw.

1. The treasurer volunteers as Group Manager and creates "St. Mark's Roof Fund Pool" in FutureEdges.
2. She adds the twelve members and drafts a contract naming the roof fund as the beneficiary of any significant prize.
3. Members register, accept the contract, and the partnership agreement is generated.
4. Each week she collects the $5 contributions herself, records each one in the app, buys the tickets at a retailer, and uploads scans before the draw.
5. After the draw, everyone checks the results in the app. If the pool ever wins a small prize, the contract says what happens. If it wins big, the members have already agreed what to do next.

This is an example only, not a real group.

Practical Tips

Plan for taxes

Prizes are generally taxable to the people who win them, and whether a donation is deductible depends on the facts and on timing. Ask a CPA before you give a ticket or a prize away. Our guides to Form 5754 and what to do if your group wins explain the group side.

Decide what "win" means

Most prizes are small. Agree in advance how the group treats a $4 prize compared with a $4,000 one. See our group agreement guide.

Set a late-payment rule

The same rules apply as for any pool. See what happens when a member misses a payment.

Be honest about the odds

The chance of winning a jackpot is tiny. Present the pool as a fun, voluntary way to share a small hope, never as a reliable way to raise money. If your cause needs funding, keep your regular fundraising going alongside.

Keep it separate from official organization money

Members' pool contributions are their own personal funds, and shouldn't come out of the church, school or charity's accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a cause pool the same as a charity raffle?

No. In a cause pool, individuals buy lottery tickets together with their own money and agree to donate any winnings. A raffle is run by an organization that sells chances, and it is often regulated and licensed separately. If your organization itself would be running the game, check your local raffle and gaming rules first.

Can the cause change later?

Yes, if your contract says how. Name the decision process, such as a vote of members, so a change of cause is never one person's call.

What if a member wants to keep their share of a big win?

That's why the contract matters. If everyone accepted in writing that prizes go to the cause, the question is already answered. If you'd rather allow choice, write that in instead, for example a set percentage to the cause and the rest split among members.

Does FutureEdges handle the money?

No. The group collects contributions itself, and the Group Manager records them in the app so every member can see them. See how to ask for pool money without being awkward.

For inspiration, read about real pools that won big for a cause and the family that turned a Powerball win into a foundation.

"The best cause pool is the one where everybody knows, in writing, exactly where any prize will go."

Play only what you can comfortably spare. A cause pool turns a few dollars of weekly fun into something your whole group can feel good about, whatever the draw brings.