Raffle tickets and charity dinners.

The rule

If you receive a benefit as a result of making a contribution to a qualified organization, you can deduct only the amount of your contribution that is more than the value of the benefit you receive. If you pay more than fair market value (FMV) for goods or services, the excess may be a charitable contribution, but only if you pay it with the intent to make a charitable contribution.

Charity benefit events

If you pay more than FMV for the right to attend a charity ball, banquet, show, sporting event or other benefit event, you deduct only the amount above the value of the privileges or other benefits you receive. If there is an established charge for the event, that charge is the value of your benefit. If there is none, the reasonable value of the right to attend is the value of your benefit. Whether you use the tickets has no effect. But if you return the ticket to the organization for resale, you can deduct the entire amount you paid for it.

The publication warns that even if the ticket says the entire price is a “contribution,” that does not make it all deductible. If the ticket shows both the price and the established charge, you deduct the difference.

The publication’s examples

Raffles, bingo and lotteries

Publication 526 lists “costs of raffles, bingo, lottery, etc.” among contributions from which you benefit that you can’t deduct. You can’t deduct as a charitable contribution amounts you pay to buy raffle or lottery tickets or to play bingo or other games of chance. For gambling winnings and losses the publication refers to Pub 529.

The $75 written statement

A qualified organization must give you a written statement if you make a payment of more than $75 that is partly a contribution and partly for goods or services. The statement must say you can deduct only the amount above the value of the goods or services and give a good faith estimate of that value. The organization can give it when it solicits or when it receives the payment. No statement is needed from a governmental organization or a religious-only organization if the only benefit is an intangible religious benefit, nor when you only receive token items or disregarded membership benefits.

Token items and memberships

You do not reduce a gift for a small item of token value if the organization correctly determines the value is not substantial and tells you the payment is deductible in full. For memberships, benefits can be disregarded when you pay $75 or less a year: frequently used rights such as free or discounted admission, parking, preferred access and discounts, and member-only events if the organization reasonably projects the cost per person (excluding overhead) is not more than $13.60. Dues to country clubs and other social organizations are not deductible.

Records

For a contribution of $250 or more you need a contemporaneous written acknowledgment that states the amount, whether goods or services were provided, and a good faith estimate of their value. In figuring whether you reach $250, the contribution is the part of your payment that exceeds the value you received.

Worked example

You buy a $150 gala table seat. The charity’s written statement says the dinner is worth $60. You deduct $90 as a charitable contribution if you itemize. You also buy $20 of raffle tickets at the gala: no deduction. Your bank statement shows the $150 charge, and because the contribution is under $250 a bank record or receipt with the charity’s name, the date and the amount is enough.

State tax credits reduce the gift too

If you make a payment to a qualified organization and receive or expect a state or local tax credit in return, your deduction is reduced by the credit, even if you cannot use the credit that year. The exception: if the credit does not exceed 15% of your payment, there is no reduction. In the publication’s example, a $1,000 gift with an expected 70% state credit leaves a deduction of $300. A state tax deduction reduces the gift only if it is larger than the payment.

Related

The non-itemizer charitable deduction calculator, the charitable bunching calculator and the raffle odds calculator are related.

Sources

• IRS Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions: the sections cited on this page. Read November 2, 2026.
• IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search: the tool Pub 526 names (IRS.gov/TEOS) for checking whether an organization can receive deductible gifts. Pointed to, not queried.

Edition read: Publication 526 (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Its “How To Get Tax Help” section notes that P.L. 119-21 (July 4, 2025) enacted tax reform, with updates at IRS.gov/OBBB; this page states no 2026 changes that the publication text does not spell out, so check the 2026 edition when it is released. Where the publication refers to Pub 544, Pub 561 or the Instructions for Form 8283 for more detail, this page does not restate those documents. This page summarizes the publication and does not replace it.