Best Practices for Hosting Your Nonprofit Golf Tournament

When planning a fundraiser, you are always looking for ideas that will spark interest and set you apart from the crowd.  So why not try something a little different, like a golf fundraiser? Imagine hosting your event on the beautiful green expanses of a country club golf course. Having an event with such a luxurious backdrop is sure to inspire golf aficionados and generous souls alike to participate in your event.

One of the great advantages of choosing to fundraise through a golf tournament will be all the connections you make while you are out on the course; connections to people that you will definitely want to make aware of your organization’s mission and goals. Besides, hosting your own golf tournament is fairly straightforward if done right. Here are some tips to help get you off to a successful start and maximize your fundraising results.

How to Plan

Unsurprisingly, the bigger the crowd, the better the tournament will be. Get the word out and promote your event using traditional forms of advertising, as well as utilizing social media channels to be sure that you contact the widest audience possible.

Once you have the word out, and people start expressing interest in taking part in your tournament, you need to make sure that you have the ability to say “Yes.” Additionally, as soon as people begin signing up for your event, contact your local golf course and give them an estimate of the number of both participants and attendees. Most golf courses will offer substantial discounts to large groups, so you can charge the regular greens fee and add the difference to your charity’s fund.

Contact local businesses and large corporations, and ask them to sponsor a hole. You will need to attract 18 sponsors, so make your sponsorships affordable and show interested candidates mockup signs and advertisements that you will place around the golf green when they choose to sponsor your tournament. Another good idea to generate sponsors is to offer them branded t-shirts, hats, and golf balls to hand out at the tournament.

Don’t forget about your players, though! Just like each hole can be sponsored, so can your players. Ask each player to raise at least $100 in pledges, along with their greens fee. Offer them the opportunity to sell self-branded tournament merchandise to their supporters, as well as give them a set for themselves.

Other Ideas

While your event is going on, why not have some other activities available for bystanders to keep them entertained and give you another avenue to fundraise for charity?

Golf Clothing Sale

When spectators need a break from watching golf, make sure you are offering them something to keep their interest rather than just food and drinks. Instead of just refreshments, provide shopping. Shopping is a great way for attendees to spend their time, as well as earn more funding and notoriety for your organization.

If you are working with sponsorships, clothing sales are a great way for these companies to showcase their brands. Also, you can use the clothing sale yourself to offer specially branded hats and t-shirts that advertise your organization, as well as the event that you are hosting.

Golf Ball Drop Raffle

While the golfers are golfing, spectators will need to grab refreshments from time to time. When they are over at the concession stands, why not offer raffle tickets in addition to the traditional refreshments? A great raffle idea would be a golf ball drop.

Raffle off tickets with distances from a golf hole, and, when the ball is dropped from a great height at the designated time, the person with the ticket which displays the closest measurement that the golf ball landed from the hole wins a prize.

Miniature Golf Tournament

Keep the kiddos occupied during a long game of golf by giving them nine holes of their own to whack balls into. Create a wacky course that is creative and fun, and offer prizes to those who are able to complete it with a score of par or less. Charging a small participation fee will help you boost your charity income, as well as heighten the stakes for the mini-golfers.

Just remember, even the best laid plans can change. Therefore, be flexible and organized, and make sure that you have back up ideas in mind just in case. Most importantly, though, to guarantee that your event is a success, have fun. If your participants are having a fantastic time, they will be more willing to participate and return for more, giving you both the publicity and the donations that you desire.