Club 100 / How a 100 Club works
How a 100 Club works
A 100 Club is a small, regular lottery that a charity or club runs for its own supporters. This page explains the money, the roles, the rules and the monthly routine, whether you run it on paper or with Club 100.
The idea
Up to 100 people each take a number between 1 and 100 and pay the same amount every month, usually by standing order. Once a month, one number is drawn. The holder wins a cash prize and the rest of that month's money goes to the club or charity. Because the money comes in every month without anyone selling tickets, it is one of the most reliable fundraisers a small organisation can run.
The name is just a convention. A 50 Club, a 200 Club or a 250 Club is the same thing with a different board size.
The money
Everything follows from three numbers you choose: how many numbers are on the board, what each costs a month, and what share of the pot is prize money. Some worked examples with a full board and a 50% prize share:
| Board | Pot a month | Prize a month | To the cause a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 numbers at £10 | £500 | £250 | £3,000 |
| 100 numbers at £5 | £500 | £250 | £3,000 |
| 100 numbers at £2 | £200 | £100 | £1,200 |
| 200 numbers at £2 | £400 | £200 | £2,400 |
| 250 numbers at £2.50 | £625 | £312.50 | £3,750 |
The prize does not have to be one lump. Some clubs pay first, second and third prizes, and many add an extra draw in December. Whatever you choose, the split has to be written into the rules before the first draw, and the law requires at least 20% of proceeds to go to the society's purposes. Most clubs give far more than that.
A board is rarely full on day one. The prize is a share of what has actually been paid that month, so the draw works with 30 numbers sold just as it does with 100. Filling the rest is a matter of people seeing that numbers are free, which is the main reason to put the board online.
Who does what
The club or charity is the promoter. It decides to run the lottery, registers it, and is responsible for it. One named person, usually the treasurer or secretary, does the practical work:
- keeps the list of who holds which number and where the money goes
- checks each month which numbers are paid up and therefore in the draw
- runs the draw in front of a witness and records the result
- pays the winner and tells everyone
- files the lottery return with the council
If you use Club 100, that person is still the one running the lottery. The software keeps the records and does the draw when they press the button; it does not run the lottery for them. That distinction matters legally, and it is why Graith Internet sets the software up but never describes itself as managing anyone's draw.
What the rules need to say
Every 100 Club needs a short written set of rules that members can read before they join. Ours covers, in this order:
- What it is and who it raises money for, with the charity number
- How to join: choose a number, set up a standing order, confirm by email
- The price per number per month, and that a member may hold more than one
- How the pot is split between prize and cause
- When the draw happens, who witnesses it, and where results are published
- What happens when a payment is missed: excluded from that month's draw, number released after two missed months
- How to leave: stop the standing order and tell the treasurer
- Who may join: over 16s only, and any membership restriction your club chooses
- The registration: small society lottery under the Gambling Act 2005, the council, and the registration number
Club 100 generates this page for your club from the details you give at setup, so it is always current and always public.
A typical month
- Standing orders arrive on the 1st. The treasurer matches them against the members' references. With unique references this takes minutes; without them it takes an evening.
- Anyone unpaid is noted. Their number stays theirs but is out of this month's draw.
- At the club meeting, the draw is run in front of a witness. Only paid-up numbers are eligible.
- The winner is paid, usually by bank transfer the same week.
- The result is published and members are told.
- The return goes to the council when it is due.
What goes wrong by hand
None of this is difficult, and clubs have run 100 Clubs on paper for decades. The problems are the slow leaks:
- Standing orders lapse quietly. Someone changes bank or forgets, nobody notices for four months, and the club has been drawing a number that was not paid for.
- The spreadsheet lives with one person. When the treasurer changes, the history goes with them.
- Numbers get double-sold at a busy event because nobody had the list to hand.
- The board never fills because nobody outside the committee knows which numbers are free.
- The draw is a bag of counters or a random-number website on someone's phone. Members go along with it, but no one can check it afterwards, and the first time a committee member wins, someone mutters.
Each of those is a record-keeping or visibility problem, which is exactly what putting the board online fixes. The draw itself is covered on its own page.