Use these golf fundraising tips to discover how to use the green to earn a little green for your organization, including steps to plan and host a successful charity golf tournament, plus ways to raise money beyond the course.
Organizing a Golf Outing
Golf outings provide a popular event type that, when well-planned, secures generous funds for your organization.
Consider and plan for your golf tournament logistics, fundraising elements, and tournament format early on to host a successful fundraising tournament:
Golf outing logistics
Planning for your golf tournament should begin six to nine months in advance. The sooner you start creating event materials, finding sponsors, booking vendors, and selling registrations, the more successful your golf outing will be.
Consider creating a golf tournament committee comprising staff and volunteers to coordinate the following.
- Venue: Search for area golf courses to host your event. Country clubs and public greens traditionally offer external event reservations. Given your nonprofit status, try to negotiate down fees and costs.
- Date: Many country clubs close on Mondays, making this a prime day of the week to book your outing for a private course.
- Budget: Typical expenses for renting a golf course include booking fees, a green fee per participating golfer, catering, snacks, beverages, golf cart rentals, and, sometimes, a staffing fee. You should always negotiate fees.
- Invites and promotion: Set up a dedicated golf fundraising event page where participants can register. Use multi-channel marketing —e-mail, text, flyers, and social media — and consider sending paper invites to select high-level supporters.
- Ticket/tournament type: There are a handful of golf fundraiser formats to select for your tournament. The most fundamental is an open green. Other golf tournaments pick a more coordinated approach, organizing “best-ball” or “scramble”-style outings for added competition and fun.
Top Fun and Memorable Golf Tournament Themes
Consider adding a theme to the tournament to encourage and incentivize guests to attend and make your advertising efforts memorable. Themes are an exciting way to make golf events unforgettable for guests. Read more here.
Charity golf tournament fundraising ideas
Raising money on the golf course doesn’t have to start and stop on the green. There are several ways to increase fundraising efforts while providing a more dynamic day for participants. Consider these charity golf tournament fundraising ideas.
- Golfing packages: Consider creating multiple golf packages, including ones for individuals, pairs, foursomes, as well as a family ticket. Offering various packages also allows you to incentivize group participation, upping your event’s attendees. For example, a standalone ticket could be $100, but a four-person package deal is $350, saving registrants money while drawing more people to your golf outing.
- Additional contests/games: Build games or small, themed competitions into your golf tournament. Golfers will enjoy all the opportunities to let loose and have fun for a good cause while you enrich your event.
- Raffles: Guests can purchase raffle tickets ahead of time and during the tournament for a chance to win appealing prizes procured from personal and business donations.
- Peer-to-peer options: Encourage registrants to fundraise before your golf outing and offer relevant incentives, such as raffle tickets, merch, mulligans, and more, as well as “top fundraiser” awards to top performers.
The Best Format for a Golf Tournament Fundraiser
Besides an open golf tournament with designated tee times, the best ball and scramble are two popular formats for hosting a charity golf event. Here is how both formats work for golf fundraising.
- Best-ball tournament: Best-ball tournaments allow participants to play all 18 holes with their balls. However, at the end of each hole, the lowest score from the group — the best ball — is the only score that counts. Best-ball tournaments, therefore, necessitate teams. Individual groups of two, three, or four golfers can comprise a team to compete against others on the green, with all scorecards tallied back at the clubhouse.
- Scramble tournament: In a scramble tournament, players individually tee off at the onset of each hole. After that opening drive, players assess who made the best shot. The rest of the players then move their balls to play from that prime location, with rounds continuing for all 18 holes.
People often conflate these two types of golfing. However, they’re two separate formats, each with pros and cons.
- Best-ball tournaments can be more competitive and skills-driven: Teams with more experienced golfers will have an advantage over those with novice players, sometimes requiring handicaps placed on seasoned teams.
- Scramble tournaments are less competitive but faster: This setup is more approachable to players of all skill levels, though some may find the pace too quick and easygoing.
7 Golf Fundraiser Ideas
Ensure fundraising energy stays high on and off the course with these revenue enhancers.
1. Offer a skills workshop
Charity golf tournaments may be unappealing to anyone who isn’t “good” at golf. Rather than alienating potential participants, create a concurrent golf skills workshop with discounted tickets, but they are still open to food, beverages, raffles, and on-course games.
People can pick the main activity that is most appealing — heading to the green or taking a group skills workshop. Inquire with your venue about the possibility of pro bono instructors teaching the class, or search your area for local pros, coaches, and more who would be willing to volunteer their talents for the day.
2. Set up a cash bar and snacks golf cart
For hungry or thirsty players, consider stocking a golf cart with snacks, treats, and beverages available for purchase. A volunteer can drive the cart around the course, conveniently bringing refreshments to your players. Or you can set up shop around the ninth hole, offering players a rejuvenating “halftime” break before diving back into their game.
You could also offer it as an early live auction item, and the bar and snacks golf cart could follow the live auction item winner!
3. Play Golf Tournament Games
Games sprinkled across the tournament and back in the clubhouse are a perfect way to entertain guests before and after the formal tournament.
Popular golf-themed games include hole-in-one contests as well as golf “darts,” where guests putt golf balls to score on a specially designed, tiered-point surface mirroring a dartboard. Longest-drive competitions also let players compete to see who can hit the farthest.
These games can be free for specific tiers of ticket holders, or you can charge for participation.
4. Let players buy mulligans
Purchasing mulligans is a win-win for all parties. Mulligans give players wiggle room, allowing participants to re-take miffed shots. You can sell mulligan vouchers individually or include them in specific package ticket deals. They make a friendly and convenient fundraising vehicle perfect for the occasion and for preserving some egos.
5. Get corporate sponsors for a golf tournament
Consider soliciting course sponsorships with area businesses or private donors. Activations for golf outing sponsorships include naming rights for a hole, pin flags, caddie costs, golf cart rentals, on-course games, and more!
Local sponsorship is a great way to cover your golf course costs. You can also offer in-kind sponsorship packages, which allow companies to provide valuable goods such as prizes instead of cash.
6. Sell merchandise
Create course-appropriate apparel for sale both before and at the golf tournament. Brainstorm other branded merchandise for your charity, then set up a “storefront” near the registration tables where attendees can browse available products.
7. Offer lunch or dinner
Offer a meal and program after your golf outing. Depending on capacity and ticket sales, you can offer a meal-only ticket for folks who can’t or won’t golf. Including an auction, paddle raise, and golf awards encourages attendance and giving!
Teeing Up Success: Effective Strategies for Golf Event Fundraising
Learning how to host a successful golf fundraising event is par for the course. GiveSmart experts guide you through the essential strategies and insights to elevate your fundraising efforts on the greens. This webinar on-demand is designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to make your golf event fundraiser a hole-in-one.
Why You Should Use Fundraising Software To Host Your Charity Golf Tournament
Using software designed specifically for nonprofit fundraising makes planning, managing, promoting, and day-of for your golf outing go smoothly.
Charity golf tournament software works as a centralized planning system. It reduces the need for multiple computer applications and document-storing systems to organize vendors, registration, ticketing, advertising campaigns, event communications, and more. These are the essential functions of orchestrating a golf tournament, often falling on the shoulders of a small staff.
Key features of charity golf tournament software
The right fundraising software allows you and your staff to focus on higher-order work for your golf outing instead of menial administrative and documentation tasks.
Look for the following features when picking an event-management suite for your nonprofit.
Customization
Customizable software lets you use the exact tools for your nonprofit’s scale and types of events. You shouldn’t have to source separate tools for foursome sales, on-course games, and your auction. Plus, you should be able to customize the look and feel of your fundraising pages, making them match your nonprofit’s current brand visuals with rich text and video options.
Easy registration
Charity event-management software with a built-in registration portal streamlines tournament RSVPs and day-of check-ins. Attendees have their information securely stored in your software when they purchase their ticket, speeding up day-of sign-ins. With just a few clicks, it also allows guests to effortlessly purchase ticket add-ons, such as mulligans or event raffle tickets.
Volunteer management
Your chosen tools should help you coordinate volunteer hours and activities across your events. When staffing your golf outing, you can use the tools to register volunteers, schedule shifts, communicate, and collect any other necessary info.
Diversified, unlimited fundraising features
Ensure the software you choose doesn’t limit revenue-generating activities. It should be able to manage ticket sales, foursome fundraising, sponsorship sales, an auction, games, a merchandise store, and more from one platform and dashboard view.
Online donation features and gamification
Live donation displays, digital pledges, and a straightforward payment process make it simple for people to donate online to your nonprofit. With these features, you can receive donations anytime, anywhere. Some charity event software will even integrate a text-to-give platform, too.
Secure payment processing
Golf fundraising software should come with top-of-the-line payment security features to safely process a donor’s transaction. Guests at your outing should feel reassured that your organization is securely handling their online, text-to-give, or in-person donation securely.
Fundraising analytics
Easily track the progress of your fundraising goals and donor engagement through software analytics. Your golf tournament fundraising tools should contain easy-to-review visuals and reporting for:
- Event registration and ticket sales
- Corporate sponsorships and direct donations
- Additional event revenue streams — purchased mulligans, raffle tickets, merchandise, and more
- Individual or team fundraising
- Payment records
Sponsor recognition
Make sure your fundraising tools allow you to offer ads for your sponsors, sponsor package sales, and other activations. Supporting custom updates of videos and photos to highlight these high-level supporters of your golf outing are essential features to look for.
A charity golf tournament is more than just a day on the green—it’s a strategic opportunity to blend passion for the sport with impactful fundraising for your nonprofit organization.
By starting early, fine-tuning every detail from logistics to tournament format, and incorporating creative fundraising elements like skills workshops, mini-games, and corporate sponsorships, you can make your charity golf tournament a true hole-in-one for your mission.
