Posts tagged digital sponsor exposure
5 Strategies for Selling Golf Tournament Sponsorships
 

Sales is a big part of a successful charity golf tournament, much to the chagrin of some nonprofit event organizers. The thought of reaching out to businesses to sell them on sponsoring your golf tournament might put you into a cold sweat, but with a solid strategy and the right tools in place, it won’t seem as daunting.

Two people stand next to a banner with sponsor logos at a golf fundraiser

It’s important to start your sponsor outreach as early as possible, for a few reasons. First, you have a longer window to bring in sponsor dollars to help cover tournament expenses. Second, businesses often allot their marketing or charitable dollars early in their fiscal year, so the earlier you can get on their radar and into their budget, the better. Finally, the sooner they come on board as a sponsor, the longer they earn impressions and get exposure for their brand. It’s in the best interest of your tournament and the business to onboard them as early in the planning and marketing process as possible.

Before you outline your sales strategy, be sure to check these to-dos off your list:

  • Set a Fundraising Goal. Knowing the revenue you’re aiming for with your golf event will help inform the type of sponsorships you build, the businesses you approach, and even the price of golfer and team registrations. Be realistic, but don’t underestimate the value of your tournament.

  • Have an Event Website in Place. A golf tournament website gives you a place to send folks to learn more about your tournament, register a team, or purchase a sponsorship—as soon as they hear about it. An event website is also key to providing digital sponsor exposure, as golfers and prospective sponsors visit the site and see current sponsor logos.

Once you have these in place, you’re ready to dive into your sales strategy.

1. Create a prospect list

A prospect list is simply who you plan to go after for sponsors for your golf tournament. Start by getting your planning team together for a brainstorming session to throw out names of potential sponsors. Nothing should be off the table at this point! Many businesses find golf tournament sponsorships especially appealing, as their audience is made up of their ideal client or customer.

  • Local, Regional, and Even National Businesses. Don’t limit yourself to only local businesses, especially if a larger company has an office or headquarters in your area.

  • Businesses Where You Have Personal Connections. Who’s your dentist? Or doctor? Where do you take your dog to be groomed? Who sold your house? What printer does your organization use? Who are your nonprofit’s vendors? Use your personal networks to your advantage.

  • Businesses That Are Connected to Your Cause. Think about businesses that have some type of connection to your mission. For example, if you’re raising money for a pet rescue, think about groomers, boarders, veterinarians, or pet supply stores. If yours is a memorial tournament, look for those that have a connection to the tournament’s namesake or the cause you’re raising money for.

  • New Businesses. These are a great option for golf tournaments, especially for hole sponsorships. New businesses might not have a large budget for advertising, but still need and want the exposure.

Once you have your prospect list established, identify connections with your and your planning team’s personal and professional networks. Having an “in” at a business often leads to a successful sponsorship pitch!

2. build attractive sponsorship packages

Keep this in mind as you build your sponsorship packages: If you can put a logo on it, you can sell a sponsorship! Start by looking at your tournament’s hard costs and building sponsorship packages to cover them, such as food and beverage, player gifts, on-course games, beverage carts, golf carts, or hole-in-one contests.

Consider these best practices for sponsorship packages:

  • Provide Value. Every sponsor package should provide enough return on investment (ROI) to justify the business’ support. Whether it’s brand exposure, the opportunity to engage with golfers, the chance to speak at the tournament’s kickoff or banquet, or registrant information, be sure to clearly outline the benefits for each sponsorship so prospective sponsors understand exactly what they’re getting.

  • Show Tangible Impact. Help businesses understand what their support of your tournament will do. For example, the Title Sponsor will underwrite 10 dog adoptions. The goal is to help connect sponsors to your cause and compel them to participate.

  • Attach Teams to Sponsorships. Not only does this add additional value to each package, but it functions to help fill your tournament’s field. Many of the highest grossing tournaments only have teams attached to sponsorships.

  • Be Flexible. Don’t be afraid to create custom sponsorships based on what returns value for the business. It’s likely that your final slate of sponsorships will look different than when you started—and that’s ok!

  • Accept In-Kind Support. Businesses are often interested in providing in-kind donations of goods or services instead of monetary support. These can be leveraged as raffle prizes, player gifts, auction items, pin prizes, to just enhance the overall tournament experience, or reduce your operating costs. For example, a local caterer or grocery store might be interested in providing lunch or snacks. Or perhaps a sporting goods store wants to donate a golf bag or gift card. Provide exposure and thanks for these contributions.

Your event management platform should make it simple to create and list sponsor packages on the golf tournament website, plus make additions and updates as necessary.


Sample golf fundraiser sponsorship packages

This free guide outlines three sets of golf tournament sample sponsorship packages, including pricing, benefits, and golfer registration costs. You’ll find examples for small, mid-sized, and large tournaments that you can adapt based on your tournament’s unique needs.


3. price packages effectively

As mentioned previously, your fundraising goal will guide your pricing, combined with the caliber of the host golf facility and size of the tournament’s field. Don’t expect to hit your goal with one sponsorship sale! Keep these points in mind as you consider package pricing:

  • Cover Costs. As a baseline, you should cover hard costs and build in pure revenue to each package.

  • Offer Varying Price Points. Lower price points might be an easier sell for businesses that don’t have a huge budget. That being said, don’t be afraid to go after the bigger fish who have more robust philanthropic or marketing budgets.

  • Understand your network and its capabilities. Are there a number of businesses you can approach for lower-cost packages? Or do you have one or two you can target for pricier sponsorships?

  • Don’t Underprice Your Sponsorships. Remember that your tournament has a unique value proposition! Sponsors

4. make an effective pitch

Once you’ve identified connections at prospective sponsors on your prospect list, determine who will reach out to each prospect. Lean on your planning team, staff, or board as much as possible in this phase, not only to leverage their connections, but to share the work. It’s a good idea to put the person tasked with reaching out to a business in charge of the relationship with that sponsor.

It’s also a good idea to use a shared template or talking points to ensure consistent messaging and make it easier to make the pitch. Use a combination of approaches, perhaps with an introductory email, followed by a phone call and/or check-in email. For larger sponsorships or when pitching to a known partner, you might want to connect in person. Every pitch should clearly outline the pricing and benefits, as well as an overview of the audience and estimated attendance numbers, if known. Ask them what they hope to get out of the partnership, which helps both parties get the most value out of the sponsorship. Send folks to the event website to view available sponsorships and purchase their package.

If yours is an existing tournament, offer past years’ sponsors the first right of refusal. Give them the option to move up to a different package, or stick with what they’ve done in the past.

Above all, remember the worst they can say is no!

An event website makes it simple for prospective sponsors to view available sponsorships and purchase a package with a few clicks.

5. Lean on technology

Technology is a key part of golfer and sponsor outreach, with an event website as the centerpiece. The website makes marketing and promotion as simple as sharing a link, where folks can learn more about your organization and event and register or become a sponsor as soon as they hear about it. A website makes the tournament shareable, so your supporters can share it with their networks, instantly expanding your potential audience.

The digital exposure afforded by the event website adds even more value to your sponsor packages. Every time someone visits the site, sponsors get eyeballs on their brand. And with the right event management tool, sponsor exposure is automatic—it gets added to the site as soon as a sponsor purchases a package via the website and starts earning impressions right away.


GolfStatus Makes It Easy

GolfStatus’ golf tournament management platform makes it easier than ever to build custom sponsorships, sell packages, collect assets, and provide digital sponsor exposure. It comes with an attractive, mobile-responsive event website and a user-friendly interface that streamlines tournament planning and execution. Nonprofits and charities (and third parties hosting golf events on their behalf) can qualify to use GolfSatus at no upfront cost through the Golf for Good program. You’ll get access to tech tools, exclusive premium sponsorships, add-ons, and our A+ in-house support team to make your tournament a success. Click below to get qualified!

 
 
10 Tips for Choosing Software for Your Golf Fundraiser
 
Golf carts line up in front of the clubhouse at the start of a golf tournament fundraiser.

When it comes to fundraising events, there are plenty of event management platform options out there: CRMs, event-specific platforms, ticketing platforms, peer-to-peer platforms, and more. But how will these work for your golf fundraiser? Can they handle the specific nuances of a golf tournament? Will they make your life easier or require workarounds and adaptations to make it function the way you need it to?

The last thing you need is costly, complicated software that drains your time and resources instead of driving fundraising. As you evaluate software options for your golf event, here are some crucial questions to ask:


1. Will it help raise money?

If the goal of your golf tournament is to raise money, you’ll want a platform that comes with built-in tools that help facilitate fundraising, including the ability to collect donations (plus a way to set a donation goal and track your progress), the option for registrants to cover any fees, exclusive sponsorships and add-ons that drive revenue, and easy ways to receive your funds. It should also feature an attractive event website that serves as the home page for the tournament and presents your organization and sponsoring businesses in a professional light, with user flows that make it easy to complete transactions.


2. Is it easy to use?

When technology isn’t straightforward and easy to use and learn, your attention isn’t where it needs to be—attracting golfers, connecting with donors, selling sponsorships, and providing a great overall tournament experience. Tournament management software should be intuitive, so anyone on your staff or planning team can create an event in minutes and make changes, additions, and updates as necessary. If your organization holds multiple events, be sure the platform can easily duplicate events and has organization-level tools to standardize logos and branding.


3. Will it save time & effort?

Technology can certainly automate time-consuming tasks and manual labor, but poorly designed software, or tools that aren’t quite what you need, can quickly offset the time-saving benefits of technology with additional training, troubleshooting, and complicated workarounds. Choose a solution that’s both powerful enough to meet your needs and simple enough that you won’t spend hours training staff, trying to work out adaptations, and fixing problems. Look for features that ease common tournament planning pain points, like online registration, robust reporting, one-click hole assignments, live scoring, and sponsor onboarding. Any software solution should keep you organized by tracking golfer, sponsor, and donor information in the platform’s backend. What’s more, you should be able to easily export donor data for seamless inclusion in your nonprofit’s donor database.

Tournament management software should be able to provide an attractive event website for your charity golf tournament.

4. Does it help promote my tournament?

Experienced tournament organizers and event planners will tell you that every fundraising event you hold should come with an event website. When evaluating event management software, ensure that it can generate a clean, sleek, well-designed event website where players and sponsors can find more information, register a team or sponsor the event, and submit secure payment. With an event site, promotion becomes as easy as sharing a link in email campaigns, social media, your organization’s website, and even on printed pieces with a QR code. This way folks can commit to your tournament right when they hear about it, instead of filling out a paper registration form and finding a stamp to mail it back.


5. Does it make my event look professional?

Tournament software should enhance the overall look and feel of your event. The best software lends a professional experience to every aspect of your tournament and gives it instant credibility, which can be especially helpful for first-year events. Processes and materials that look outdated or unsightly can cheapen your event, which can influence the caliber of players and sponsors it attracts. The ultimate goal is to provide a professional experience from the moment someone hears about your tournament and visits your event site to when they submit their team’s score on the live scoring app.


6. Does it include live scoring?

A golf-specific feature—sometimes underrated and underused by tournament organizers—to look for in your tournament management software is live scoring. Teams input their scores on a mobile app, which syncs in real-time to live leaderboards that allows golfers to see hole-by-hole standings, helps organizers judge the round’s progress and keep the overall event moving smoothly, and expedites finalizing the tournament’s results because there’s no need for golf staff to hunt down paper scorecards. Look for a solution that offers professional, glitch-free live scoring with a leaderboard sponsorship that offers digital exposure that can be sold at a premium.

Golfers can view live leaderboard to see current standings, on their phones or on TVs in the clubhouse.


7. can i share access with my team & the golf facility?

Web-based platforms give tournament organizers, planning teams, and even golf course staff the freedom to access everything that goes into launching and organizing an event from anywhere. Be sure the software you’re considering allows user access permissions as needed so your team can easily collaborate with each other and the golf course using up-to-the-minute information.


8. how much does it cost?

With limited budgets, nonprofits need solutions that work well and don’t cost a fortune. Software that’s so expensive that it forces you to limit resources in other areas isn’t actually saving time or money. When choosing a tournament software platform, certainly consider baseline costs, if there’s a cost per user or for support, and look out for hidden fees, any upcharges, and tricky contracts. Many solutions offer extremely limited access at no cost and then charge substantially more for necessary features. Look for straightforward pricing, fees, and payout procedures.


9. what about the golf facility?

Golf staff at your host golf facility stand to benefit from tournament management software as much as you and your planning team do. You should be able to share access to the platform with golf professional staff, so they can assist with finalizing hole assignments, flighting, tie-breakers, and other golf-specific tasks in the days leading up to the event. Look for pre-formatted printouts, like scorecards, cart signs, and alpha lists, so golf staff can literally just hit “print” instead of having to create these pieces from scratch, saving them hours of time and allowing them to provide better service to you and your tournament’s golfers. Some golf facilities have an internal system in place they rely on to manage and execute outside events, but at your request, they should be willing to accommodate whatever platform you decide to use.


10. Will someone be available to help me?

Failure to provide adequate support is, unfortunately, common among software providers. Be sure to ask about the support you can expect to receive. Are support staff in-house or out-sourced? As a user, do you have immediate access to the support you need leading up to your event? During your event? After? Is support available seven days a week and what tools are available to assist your team and the golf facility during certain timeframes, such as in the evenings and on weekends when events are in full swing?

A responsive support team that will help answer software questions is a key part of tournament management software.
 
 

get qualified for tournament management software—at no cost

GolfStatus’ mission is to help nonprofits tap into golf’s given power by providing tools, resources, and support to plan and execute golf fundraisers. Through the Golf for Good program, nonprofits and those planning golf events to raise money for one can qualify to use GolfStatus’ tournament management software at no upfront cost. Get a professional event website, online registration and payment processing, live scoring, exclusive sponsorships and add-ons, and live support seven days a week to make your next golf event the best one yet. Click below to learn more and get qualified.

 
 
Product Alert: Tournament Management Software Gets An Upgrade
 

GolfStatus’ powerful tournament management software (TMS) has gotten an upgrade, with a refreshed, easily-navigable interface and additional features to make your next golf event the best one yet.

The software’s core functions remain the same, saving tournament organizers time and providing built-in tools to save more money. But the newest version of TMS has a number of notable improvements and new features to better streamline golf tournaments and fundraisers, including:

  • Intuitive organization and workflows. The refined layout of the software makes it easier to navigate between workflows. Prompts and alerts help users move from section to section quickly and seamlessly.

  • Work in TMS on any device! The new backend is completely responsive, so you can make edits to your event website, review registrations, check payments, and more, all from your phone, tablet, or computer.

  • Custom event site URLs. Improve SEO and branding with a custom URL for every tournament’s event website.

An event website with a custom URL improves branding and SEO for your golf fundraiser.
  • Improved image editing. There’s no need to hassle with graphic design programs or websites—now you can resize logos and images and make necessary edits right in TMS, saving you valuable time. Plus, you can customize the overlay on the event website’s hero image.

  • Now processing Canadian dollars! Canada, we’re here to make executing a lucrative golf tournament easier and more efficient. 

  • Simplified organization management. Manage user access and permissions and standardize settings, imagery, logos, and links across tournaments.

  • Improved skins games management. It’s now simpler to start a skins game and manage players and teams that want in on the action.

  • Additional paid features. Send sponsor invoices through the platform and set up discount codes for registrants. Tournaments can access these premium features for a fee.

All of this (with the exception of the paid features), plus GolfStatus’ professional event websites, live scoring and leaderboards, exclusive sponsorships, digital sponsor exposure, and more, is still available at no upfront cost for qualifying nonprofits and charity golf tournament organizers through GolfStatus’ Golf for Good program.

And like always, GolfStatus’s in-house support team is here with live support seven days a week to answer questions and troubleshoot issues.

The GolfStatus support team is here to answer questions and guide you along the way.
 

Ready to Find Out More? 

Get in touch with the GolfStatus team to find out how you can start saving time and raising more money with your golf tournament today. Whether you’ve got a tournament on the calendar or are just exploring the idea, GolfStatus can help. Click here to connect with our team and get qualified for the Golf for Good program.

Already a GolfStatus Client?

Get in touch with your Client Success representative to learn more about the updates and make the switch to the newest version of TMS!

 
 
How to Get Golf Tournament Sponsors: 7 Types of Businesses to Ask
 
There are many businesses that you can reach out to to be your golf tournament sponsors, such as sports stores and .financial service providers.

Corporate sponsorships and the relationships they generate are an important fundraising opportunity for your golf outing and your organization as a whole. Knowing who to ask—and how to ask them—is key. Ultimately, sponsorships raise funds for your organization through mutually beneficial exposure that lays the foundation for a long-term relationship.

Businesses are looking for a win-win when it comes to sponsoring events. They want to be associated with a worthy cause while also gaining exposure for their brand. Golf tournaments put your organization in a unique position to offer sponsors premium exposure to their ideal potential customer or client.

 

How to Get Golf Tournament Sponsors

When it comes to how your organization will secure sponsors for your golf tournament, pitching to the right businesses is crucial. Start with those you already have a relationship with. They don’t have to be previous sponsors—they could be businesses that your volunteers or board members own or even those that are within your supporters’ sphere of influence.

Once you have prospective businesses to pitch to, it’s time to make the ask. Ideal candidates to reach out to are those interested in getting their brand on the radar of affluent, influential members of the community—the same folks spending their time on the golf course. Try targeting local businesses that have a generally wealthier clientele, as well as regional and national companies, especially those headquartered or with offices in your area.

There are several key factors that help explain why golfers are an ideal marketing target for sponsoring businesses. Consider the following data points about the golfer demographic:

  • Over 50% of golfers are between the ages of 25 and 55, the age demographic with the most spending power

  • The average golfer’s net worth is over $768,000

  • The average household income among golfers is over $100,000

  • 33% of golfers are top-level managers

  • 83% of golfers own mutual funds/stocks

  • 68% own their primary residence

  • 83% regularly take vacations

  • 60% have purchased a vehicle in the last year

  • 48% stay active and/or have a gym membership

  • 77% have consumed alcohol in the last 30 days

Also, you should include information explaining why businesses should support nonprofits in general. Participants in your tournament are more likely to support a socially responsible business that sustains a cause they have a passion for. By working with a reliable and trustworthy nonprofit like yours, your businesses can build important social capital that improves their reputation and brings in more business.


Food and beverage distributors make great golf tournament sponsors because they can provide catering and drinks as an in-kind donation.
 

1. Food & Beverage 

Your golf tournament likely incorporates food and beverage into your golf tournament in some way, perhaps boxed lunches, drink tickets, cocktail hour, or banquet. Golfers likely frequent local dining establishments, making it a great option for these businesses to get eyeballs on their brands. Consider reaching out to the following businesses in the food and beverage industry:

  • Restaurants (including locally owned, farm-to-table, and upscale)

  • Wineries/vineyards

  • Beverage distributors

  • Sports and cocktail bars


HOW TO WIN THEIR SUPPORT

These businesses make great sponsorship prospects because they can customize their engagement. For instance, if outside food and drink are allowed by the golf course, you might ask these businesses to donate or discount catering for your golf tournament. They might also be interested in providing samples of a signature dish or drink on a hole or simply contributing money towards the cause.

 

2. Healthcare

Healthcare providers are valuable sponsor prospects because they are community-minded and your goals likely overlap: improving the quality of life for residents. Research the following healthcare providers in your area:

  • Primary care physicians

  • Dentists/orthodontists

  • Chiropractors

  • Physical therapists

  • Surgery practices

  • Dermatologists


HOW TO WIN THEIR SUPPORT

When pitching to potential healthcare sponsors, emphasize how your cause impacts their patients and their field of medicine as a whole. If your cause is related to improving healthcare for your beneficiaries, sponsoring your golf tournament could lead to a broader partnership or support of a specific project.

Go after sports and fitness providers as golf tournament sponsors due to their shared value of physical wellness.
 

3. Sports & Fitness

This industry is a perfect target because of its direct tie to your fundraiser’s medium: golf. Reach out to these types of businesses in your area:

  • Gyms/fitness centers

  • Personal trainers

  • Sporting goods stores

  • Golf equipment stores


HOW TO WIN THEIR SUPPORT

Businesses in the sports and fitness space are often ideal candidates for an in-kind sponsorship and may be more inclined to donate goods like golf balls, tees, or even clubs for player swag bags, pin prizes, auction items, or raffle prizes. That being said, these businesses also want the broad exposure a monetary sponsorship brings.

 

4. Business-to-Business & Financial Services

These businesses typically cater to affluent clientele, which makes your tournament a great opportunity for them to attract new customers. Steward the following businesses in your community:

  • Financial advisors/wealth management services

  • Insurance companies/agents

  • CPAs/accounting firms

  • Banks/credit unions

  • Advertising agencies

  • PR companies

  • Technology companies

  • Consultants


How to win their support

For companies that cater to other businesses or for financial service professionals who manage important assets for their customers, building a personal connection is everything. Win these businesses over by offering opportunities to network and mingle with potential clients face-to-face, like a booth on a tee box or during a cocktail hour.

Recruiting home services providers as golf tournament sponsors will raise money for your cause and connect your golfers with high-quality realtors and builders.
 

5. Home Services

Most of your golfers likely live independently and can benefit from solid connections in the real estate world. Approach the following home services businesses to be sponsors:

  • Home builders

  • Architects

  • Real estate companies/agents

  • Home remodeling companies/contractors


How to win their support

Nearly 70% of golfers own a home. These types of businesses jump at the chance to show off their properties and services at your golf event, perhaps with a tent on the course. Home builders and remodeling companies can showcase their work and high-quality materials and real estate professionals have the opportunity to show off their listings and broadcast upcoming open houses.

 

6. Luxury Brands

As golf is commonly seen as a luxury sport, it makes sense that luxury brands and service providers would fit in at your tournament. Consider contacting:

  • Jewelers

  • High-end clothing brands

  • Local boutiques


How to win their support

Similar to sports and fitness providers, these businesses would benefit from an in-kind sponsorship with your organization. An effective tactic is to use their in-kind gifts as high-end raffle or auction items, boosting donations for you and brand recognition for them.

Your golfers are a great audience for luxury brands and travel companies, making them perfect golf tournament sponsors.
 

7. Travel

The vast majority of those in the golfer demographic regularly take vacations and over half have purchased a vehicle in the past year, making these businesses hungry for exposure to this audience:

  • Car dealerships

  • Car services

  • Rental car companies 

  • Travel agencies

  • Hotels and resorts


How to win their support

Beyond monetary sponsorships, consider approaching travel services for in-kind donations. Vacation packages, hotel or resort packages, travel vouchers, or even timeshares work well as raffle prizes or auction items.


Make the ask

Now that you have ideas for potential sponsors for you and pitches they’d respond to, it’s up to you to make the ask! Once you’ve finalized your prospect list, delegate specific companies to volunteers and board members and equip them with the tools they need to make the ask (a sponsorship request template makes it easy to mobilize your team and keep you messaging consistent).

Start by clearly listing your sponsorship opportunities on your event website so it’s easy to find sponsor options and commit to supporting the outing. This makes sharing options with potential sponsors as easy as sending a quick link. Follow up with a phone call or, better yet, a face-to-face meeting where you can propose a specific contribution or sponsorship package. 

It’s important to emphasize the impact their business' dollars make on your mission by providing concrete metrics, such as the number of meals provided or which new programs you can fund. Show your sincere appreciation for their efforts in creative ways, such as by making personalized thank-you videos. The ultimate goal is achieving your shared goals, so when you appeal to your mutual values, it goes a long way toward building a long-term donor relationship. 

Get Exclusive Sponsorships With GolfStatus

GolfStatus makes onboarding and recognizing sponsors simple. The platform includes exclusive sponsorships that help raise thousands more dollars for your cause. Nonprofits and organizations planning a golf event to benefit one can qualify for no-cost access to GolfStatus’ golf event management platform through the Golf for Good program. Click below to get qualified or email [email protected].

Ready to get started?

Click here to book a demo today!

 

 
Organizing a Charity Golf Tournament: 7 Fundamental Tips
 

If you’ve never planned a golf tournament before or your organization doesn’t currently have a golf event as part of its fundraising portfolio, you’re likely wondering about what it takes to plan and execute a successful golf fundraiser.

To set yourself up for success, you should understand these seven fundamentals before organizing a charity golf tournament:

  1. You don’t have to be a golf expert.

  2. Most of your fundraising revenue goes to your cause.

  3. Golf events are more popular than ever before.

  4. Golf events bring new donors to the table.

  5. Sponsors are interested in connecting with your donors in new ways.

  6. Golf tournaments are fun and exciting.

  7. Organizing a charity golf event is worth the work.

READY TO START PLANNING A CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT?

Download a free golf tournament fundraiser checklist!

1. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A GOLF EXPERT.

Many event planners aren’t golfers—and don’t need to be to hold a lucrative golf tournament. All that’s really needed is a tool that helps organizers, committees, and volunteers navigate the intricacies of a golf event and that’s purposefully designed to save novice and seasoned golf event planners time and resources. An event management platform designed specifically for golf fundraisers makes things easier and walks you through planning and executing every step on your golf tournament fundraiser checklist. Look for a tool that makes it easy to collaborate and exchange information with the golf facility and one with a responsive customer success team that’s there when you need them.

Organizing a charity golf tournament is all about getting your donors on the green and creating a memorable experience for them to enjoy.

2. MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING REVENUE GOES TO YOUR CAUSE.

Outside golf outings like memorial tournaments, charity outings, major fundraisers, and small local events are essential to a golf facility’s bottom line. You’re essentially guaranteeing the course that you’ll fill the tee times for the day, plus any additional revenue from the pro shop and food and beverage, not to mention exposure to avid golfers who could become members. This gives you, the event organizer, leverage when it comes to negotiating better pricing for the event. Certainly, the more high-end the facility, typically the higher the green fees will be. That said, here are some things to consider to maximize the cost-effectiveness of the facility:

  • Tap into your networks. Ask board members, volunteers, and other supporters who are members at higher-end facilities if they have connections and can facilitate a favorable rate.

  • Hold the event on an off day. Try to avoid busy holiday weekends and other high-traffic dates for courses. Ask about slower days of the week; rates on Mondays, for example, are typically lower than rates on Fridays or Saturdays.

  • Consider adding a virtual option. A virtual tournament extends the event to multiple days or weeks and/or across multiple courses. With this option, players and teams participate on their own time, scheduling their tee times directly with the facility, so your organization doesn’t actually need to occupy the facility on a specific date for a specific period of time. You can also consider holding a virtual event in tandem with a traditional one-day event to allow for more participants and revenue.

When organizing a charity golf tournament, make sure your donors, staff, and sponsors have downtime to interact and build connections with each other.

3. GOLF EVENTS ARE MORE POPULAR THAN EVER BEFORE.

Golf has seen record-setting popularity over the past few years, largely fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationwide in 2022, rounds were up 8% from pre-pandemic years and retail equipment sales remain strong. Golf fundraisers have enjoyed a similar surge in popularity, with nonprofits of all sizes launching first-year tournaments amid the uncertainty of COVID-19 and capitalizing on golfers’ eagerness to get on to the course. These fundraisers are now building on their success as second or even third-year events! Golf outings may have emerged as a viable option for in-person fundraising events, but organizations discovered how these events connect them to exactly the types of donors and sponsors that turn into sustainers and long-term corporate partners.


Active Golfers
1 in 9 Americans
Average Golfer's Net Worth
$768,000

4. Golf Events Bring New Donors to the Table.

In general, golfers tend to represent an affluent, influential demographic. Its participants report higher household and discretionary income (more than double the national average) and thus a higher capacity to give. Younger golfers are also increasingly taking up the sport. In fact, over half of American golfers are between the ages of 25 and 55, the age demographic with the most spending power. 

When golfers tap into their personal and professional networks to field a team (particularly in tournaments with a scramble format that allows for a wider range of skill levels), it instantly broadens your prospective donor base and exposes new people to your mission. What’s more, your tournament’s sponsors give your development and major gift teams an “in” to potential high-capacity donors and corporate partners. Indeed, golf presents an opportunity to connect with new sponsors and supporters through a sport that people want to play. There’s never been a better time to get in front of golfers and sponsors eager to support golf events.

5. SPONSORS ARE INTERESTED IN CONNECTING WITH YOUR DONORS IN NEW WAYS.

Signage certainly has its place in terms of sponsor recognition, but sponsors are increasingly looking for avenues to both support organizations and get their brands in front of the affluent golfer demographic. The good news for both nonprofits and sponsors is that the same technology that streamlines golf events opens doors for digital sponsorship exposure. Digital sponsorships can be sold at a premium, giving sponsors exposure to an audience they can’t get anywhere else and offering a high return on their investment. Corporate partners and sponsors have a vested interest in supporting the tech that helps organizations streamline clerical tasks and eliminate duplicative work. Plus digital exposure is easy to manage—just plug in a logo on a website, in a mobile app, or on your event’s live leaderboards. These methods take less time and effort, have little to no overhead costs, and have substantially lower expenses compared to traditional branded pieces.

While organizing a charity golf tournament, remember that an event website provides broad digital sponsor exposure.

6. GOLF TOURNAMENTS ARE FUN & EXCITING.

The difference between a good golf event and a great golf event is the overall experience. There are many ways to add fun and excitement (and raise a few more dollars along the way). On-course competitions like hole-in-one contests, longest drive contests, closest-to-the-pin contests, and putting contests let golfers test their luck (or skill) to win great prizes—and are premium sponsorship opportunities. 

For example, you can add a buy-in to your tournament’s skins games, which creates mini-competitions between individuals or teams. Displaying skins results on real-time leaderboards keeps golfers engaged.

Other fun add-ons might include:

  • a celebrity appearance

  • a professional long-driver on a designated hole or holes

  • games or demonstrations on each tee box

  • custom player gifts, live auctions

  • post-golf entertainment

The options are endless—but the key is to choose components that contribute to a well-executed event and memorable experience that will keep golfers and sponsors coming back year after year.

7. ORGANIZING A CHARITY GOLF EVENT IS WORTH THE WORK.

Golf’s fundraising capacity is unmatched. And while golf events have a number of moving pieces and unique details to handle, the right tools can ease the administrative burden as you tick items off of your golf tournament fundraiser checklist. Golf event management tech eliminates manual registration and payment processes and siloed information, making it easier to collaborate and delegate tasks to teams, board members, volunteers, and even staff at the golf facility. 

Your golf event management software should have robust reporting capabilities so you can easily track payments and who is supporting your cause. It should also handle golf-specific tasks, such as:

  • building custom sponsorship packages

  • syncing GHIN handicaps

  • simplifying team pairings

  • streamlining hole assignments and hole-by-hole sponsor exposure

  • making live-scoring super simple.

Truly, a fundraising platform designed specifically for charity golf tournaments ensures that no detail is missed. Look for the solution that leaves organizers free to recruit players and sponsors, solicit donations, and upsell and steward donor relationships in ways that advance the event and the organization forward.

One of the best parts of organizing a charity golf tournament is building connections with your donors and sponsors.

 

Golf for Good

GolfStatus’ fundraising and golf event management tools are available at no cost to qualifying nonprofits through the Golf for Good program. Click the button below to get qualified or email [email protected].

 

Ready to get started?

Click here to book a demo today!

 

 
5 Simple Steps to Take Right Now to Set Your 2023 Golf Fundraiser up for Success
 

As nonprofits shift focus to year-end giving campaigns and 2023 planning, there are a few simple—but impactful—steps to take right now to get ahead of the game for your 2023 golf event. If you’re thinking about a golf fundraiser in 2023, whether it’s a brand new event or an established tournament, you can set your golf outing up for success by checking these five to-dos off your list before the end of the year.

 
 

1. Get Your Tech In Place

The right technology is key to easy planning and successful execution of a golf fundraiser. Because golf events have distinctive components—like handicaps, flighting, hole assignments, scoring—having a platform that’s specifically designed for golf is crucial. While ticketing software, generic event management platforms, or even your CRM might seem like natural solutions, they simply can’t efficiently handle the unique nuances of a golf tournament, and may very well end up costing organizers valuable time trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Look for a provider with online registration that populates an intuitive backend to manage player and sponsor information in real-time and in one accessible place. Get your tech in place early so you can start promoting the tournament and collecting registrations as soon as possible.

 

2. Launch an Event Website

The earlier the better! An event website gives supporters a centralized place to find more information about the organization and event, purchase teams and sponsorships, and even make a donation. Direct all your promotion to the website so folks can take action to support your cause and event as soon as they hear about it (when they’re significantly more likely to do so!). You don’t have to have all the details in place to launch an event site—a date and location is enough to start—and simply make updates and add information as those details are firmed up.

 

Launch an event website as soon as you set a date and location, and simply make information as additional details are determined.

 

3. Send Save-the-Dates

Get your event on donors’ minds early and in front of sponsors amid annual budget planning. As soon as you have a date set with the golf facility (and your event website launched), send a quick email to your contact database as well as individual emails to major donors and supporters to get it on their calendars and into their budgets. If you send postcards or any printed materials, include a QR code that links directly to your event website. Include information about the golf event in any year-end appeals to get more mileage out of those communications.

 

4. Plan on Live-Scoring

Live-scoring adds a high-end element to your golf tournament. What’s more, live-scoring has a ton of advantages—you can sell a lucrative leaderboard sponsorship and individual digital hole sponsorships, share leaderboards online to connect with more supporters and collect donations, keep golfers engaged throughout the round, and even finalize results quickly so you can keep the day moving forward. Make sure your live-scoring platform is reliable and simple to use.

 

Your live-scoring platform should be reliable and simple to use, keeping golfers and sponsors engaged.

 

5. Look for New Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorships are the bread and butter of a golf tournament’s fundraising. Organizers should think outside the box when it comes to sponsor exposure and even types of sponsorships to offer. Digital exposure provides a ton of ROI for sponsors wanting to get their business and brands in front of an audience of affluent members of the community, so look for an event management option that has robust sponsor exposure across multiple touchpoints. Elements that add fun and excitement to your event, like hole-in-one contests, custom swag, or on-course entertainment/fundraising, are also prime sponsorship opportunities (and cover the contest’s fixed costs). Consider selling other high-end sponsorships, like pin flags, technology, or leaderboard sponsorships.

 

Look for an event management option that offers digital exposure across multiple touchpoints.

 

 

Ready to Start Planning?

GolfStatus’s golf event management and fundraising platform streamlines and simplifies golf fundraisers, offering solutions that save time and raise more money. Nonprofits and those holding events that benefit them can qualify for no-cost access to GolfStatus’s technology—including an event website, online registration, live-scoring, and much more—through the Golf for Good program. Plus, GolfStatus’s in-house customer success team is there to answer questions and help you have your most successful event yet. Ready to get started? Click the button below or email [email protected].

 
 

 
Golf Tournament Honors Infant Daughter & Raises $100,000 for Congenital Heart Conditions
 

Sam and Melissa Steinberg’s journey from expectant parents to ICU veterans to creating a foundation to honor their daughter started at a routine ultrasound when Melissa was 20 weeks pregnant. They received a devastating diagnosis—Cameron had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.

Not only did they have to cope with this unexpected diagnosis, but try to understand the complexities, treatment options, and prognosis of the condition at the same time. “You have this bomb dropped on you and then have to try to make sense of what’s happening,” Sam says. He explains that a heart doctor brought out a piece of paper with a diagram to explain how Cameron’s heart worked, but with all the emotions of the moment, “It didn’t make sense or help us understand.”

Cameron was diagnosed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, near where the Steinbergs lived, but she was transferred to C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor after she was born, where a plan was in place to treat and correct the defect. But in addition to her heart issues, Cameron also battled a lung disease that ultimately claimed her life at just nine weeks old.

 

Sam, Cameron, and Melissa Steinberg

 

Sharing Their Experience

It was during the weeks the family spent at Mott that the Steinbergs learned about the relative lack of funding devoted to research into congenital heart defects. And it was then that the family decided to do something to help other families affected by these heart conditions.

Sam and Melissa received a care package from a family that had spent time in the cardiac ICU. “It was filled with simple things—a soft blanket, water bottles, gum, puzzles,” Sam says. “But it came from someone else who had lived in the ICU and knew what would be helpful.” That inspired them to think about how they could use their experience to help families going through the same ordeal.

They started small. While Cameron was still in the hospital, they had t-shirts made with the #CamiStrong logo to raise money that bought books and stuffed animals for kids undergoing open heart surgery. After Cami’s death, they wanted to do even more, and settled on a golf tournament as a way to bring people together in her memory and raise a significant amount of money for the newly established Cameron Steinberg Foundation.

“Our mission doesn’t stop even without her,” Sam says. “We will carry on her legacy to help other heart patients and families.”

 

Proceeds from selling t-shirts with the #CamiStrong logo were used to purchase books and stuffed animals for kids undergoing open heart surgery.

 

Play It Forward & The Cameron Steinberg Foundation Golf Classic

Dr. Michael Gaies was one of Cameron’s cardiologists when she was in the cardiac ICU at Mott Children’s Hospital. The family formed a strong bond with Dr. Gaies, who, as Sam says, really took them under his wing and made them feel like they were part of his family. “He had to deliver some really tough news to us but never left a stone unturned and went out of his way to get additional opinions about her treatment,” Sam says.

Sam and Melissa had many conversations with Dr. Gaies about the lack of funding for congenital heart defects in children and resources for families while at Mott, and he was a staunch advocate for the creation of the Cameron Steinberg Foundation and believer in its mission. They also talked a great deal about their love of golf and the sport’s capacity to rally support and raise money for a cause. Sam’s dad’s experience running a series of golf tournaments made it a natural choice for a fundraiser. “People tend to be willing to open up their wallets and donate at a golf tournament,” Sam says.

 

Dr. Michael Gaeis was one of Cameron’s cardiologists at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. He is a staunch supporter of the Foundation and has participated in both golf fundraisers.

 

People tend to be willing to open up their wallets and donate at a golf tournament.
— Sam Steinberg, Cameron's Father & Co-Founder of Cameron Steinberg Foundation

 

The inaugural Cameron Steinberg Foundation Golf Classic was held in May of 2021 and raised about $30,000 for a research fund in Cameron’s name at Mott Children’s Hospital. 

A few months after the golf tournament, Dr. Gaies came across an Instagram post for Play It Forward, a joint campaign of GolfStatus and Dormie Network, which asked people to nominate a golf fundraiser to receive a $10,000 donation. Dr. Gaies believed so strongly in the Steinberg’s work through the Foundation that he submitted a nomination to Play It Forward: “This donation could really elevate the possibilities for next year’s tournament and I have no doubt that the Steinberg family could give a huge return in that investment. They are special people and so passionate about making Cameron’s life meaningful and everlasting.”

 

Proceeds from the 2022 fundraiser were split between C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Year Two: Half the Administrative Work & Double the Proceeds

In the tournament’s first year, Sam relied on Venmo to collect credit card payments, processed cash and checks, then had to reconcile all payments on multiple spreadsheets, send receipts, and manually make pairings and hole assignments. “It was truly a headache,” Sam says.

After the tournament was nominated for Play It Forward following the 2021 event, Sam decided to come online with GolfStatus for the 2022 fundraiser to help reduce the administrative load. As a nonprofit, the Foundation qualified for the Golf for Good program, which provided access to GolfStatus’s entire golf event management tech at no cost. “Obviously, our goal is to raise as much money as possible, so hearing that we get all the benefits of using GolfStatus without losing a chunk of our proceeds was huge,” Sam says.

 

Obviously, our goal is to raise as much money as possible, so hearing that we get all the benefits of using GolfStatus without losing a chunk of our proceeds was huge.
— Sam Steinberg, Cameron's Father & Co-Founder of Cameron Steinberg Foundation

 

Working closely with Sam, the GolfStatus team built an event website for the golf tournament, along with custom registration packages. Golfers and sponsors could view and purchase available packages on the site, submit payment, and even make a direct donation to the Foundation. “The website was great—I didn’t have to create a site from scratch and it was a one-stop shop for people to register, become a sponsor, or make a donation,” Sam says. What’s more, sponsors could upload their logos to instantly appear on the sponsor page of the website, not only saving Sam time in collecting and posting those assets, but providing the sponsor more exposure and more return on their investment.

 

The 2nd Annual Cameron Steinberg Foundation Golf Classic event website.

 

The golf tournament software includes a number of golf-specific features to make handling those details easy and efficient, including live scoring and leaderboards, drag and drop hole assignments, and pre-formatted printouts. “I loved the printouts,” Sam says. “It was so cool to see Cameron’s logo on them.” With just a few clicks, the software generates professionally formatted score cards, cart signs, and alpha lists with the tournament or organization logo plus the Technology Sponsor logo, saving organizers a ton of time and hassle (and providing the Technology Sponsor even more bang for their buck).

Sam says the biggest benefit of upgrading to GolfStatus was having everything in one place. “Being able to see who registered or made a donation and not having to try to reconcile a bunch of different payments was so helpful,” Sam says. “Using GolfStatus cut my administrative work in half.”

 

Using GolfStatus cut my administrative time in half.
— Sam Steinberg, Cameron's Father & Co-Founder of Cameron Steinberg Foundation

 

Thanks to Dr. Gaies’s nomination, the Cameron Steinberg Foundation Golf Classic was chosen as the winner of Play It Forward. The $10,000 donation gave them a headstart in their fundraising efforts, helping crush the tournament’s 2022 goal of $50,000 and raising more than $64,000.

Proceeds from the tournament will help fund a hypoplastic left heart syndrome 3D model that uses virtual reality to help doctors, patients, and families better visualize, understand, and treat these heart conditions. “When Cameron was diagnosed, a tool like this would have been important in helping us understand the condition,” Sam says. “We’re super excited about this!”

 
 

Golf for Good Program

Qualifying nonprofit organizations, like the Cameron Steinberg Foundation, can get no-cost access to GolfStatus’s entire golf event management platform through the Golf for Good program. With solutions to streamline planning and tools to raise more money, GolfStatus helps nonprofits tap into golf’s giving power. Get qualified by clicking the link below or email us directly at [email protected].

 
 
How Nonprofits Can Activate Third Parties to Hold Golf Events on Their Behalf
 

Golf tournaments are an especially great option for third parties looking to raise money for an organization or cause they care about. The sport has seen its popularity grow over the past years and its capacity as a fundraising tool is unmatched. What’s more, people tend to be passionate about golf, and when given the opportunity to marry two of their passions—golf and a good cause—they tend to jump at the chance.

Perhaps more than any other fundraising events, golf tournaments have unique advantages for the benefiting nonprofit as well as for the organizer. Nonprofits gain a passive income stream that doesn’t require a dedicated staff member or line item in the budget, while also increasing visibility for the organization, mission, and programs. Event organizers, particularly corporate entities, get a strong brand lift from being associated with a good cause and broad exposure to an affluent demographic.

Nonprofits of all types and sizes can activate passionate supporters, corporate partners, volunteers, and others to hold a golf fundraiser that benefits them. Here’s how:


 

1. Reach Out To Your Networks

Your best bet is to start with the lowest-hanging fruit—your organization’s past supporters and partners. If your organization has run golf tournaments before, consider creating a campaign to target folks who have played in and sponsored those events, whether it’s by email, a survey, a direct mail appeal, individual phone calls, or a combination of these (which will depend on your organization’s staff capacity). Social media is another great option to engage people simply by asking if they like to golf or like organizing events. You may want to include information in your annual giving appeals or even create a dedicated page on your organization’s website that outlines the process of holding a golf tournament on your behalf.

Do some pre-planning before you reach out so you have some pieces and resources already in place to provide to people who are interested. Beyond just making the process easy (see #2 below) you want to set these golf tournaments up for success, so make sure you’re prepared to be a partner in the process.


Pro Tip:

GolfStatus’s online resource library is packed with guides, templates, checklists, and other free downloadables with information on how to plan a charity golf tournament. Share these with current and potential event organizers to help set them up for success.


 

2. Make It Easy

Even when someone is dedicated to your organization or cause, putting on a golf tournament is no small task. Having tools in place to streamline and simplify the process for organizers means they’re more likely to move forward and keep these events running—and raising money for your cause—year after year.

Golf tournament software can automate time-consuming administrative tasks so organizers can focus on the fun parts of the golf tournament, with built-in fundraising features to help them raise more money for your cause. You might also consider putting together a media kit with logos, messaging, and brand standards to provide to tournament organizers to help your brand stay consistent. When it’s easy, it’s more fun, more rewarding, and more likely that they’ll keep the effort going.


PRO
TIP:

Pro Tip: Say thank you, whenever and wherever you can, to these third party organizers. Public shoutouts are great—on social media, in newsletters or blogs, on your organization’s website, etc.—but a personal touch will go a long way in expressing your gratitude. Send a handwritten note and follow it up with a phone call.


 

3. Use a Common Technology Platform

There are a ton of options out there to manage fundraising events, but these don’t help organizers manage the unique components of a golf tournament. Employing technology that’s specifically built for golf tournament fundraisers is a huge part of #2 above. Any golf tournament software platform should offer an attractive event website with built-in online registration (which saves a ton of time and duplicative labor), plus easy access for multiple members of your team to work together and keep all your event information organized and accessible in one place. A dedicated landing page listing all events that benefit your organizations is a great way to easily promote events to your networks. A platform designed just for golf means you can quickly make hole assignments and pairings and auto generate scorecards, cart signs, and alpha lists—all without having to work across multiple spreadsheets or tools.


PRO
TIP:

Pro Tip: Standardizing the tech across all your third party events means your donor data will be uniformly collected (see #4 below) and reported. This data should be added to your CRM for additional donor stewardship, using source codes, tags or other batch notations to track who participated in these golf events and how.


With GolfStatus’s golf event management and fundraising platform, every golf event benefiting your organization is listed on a dedicated landing page.


 

4. Capture & Manage Data

Donor data is invaluable, particularly when it comes to golf events planned by someone outside your organization. You can’t use the information you don’t have! Seamlessly collecting and managing this information is crucial to understanding who is supporting your organization through golf—planning, playing in, donating to, and sponsoring these tournaments. Having this information in aggregate lets you see the entire picture, across each and every event held to benefit your organization, and make data-driven fundraising decisions. Golf event management technology makes this process super simple and efficient.


PRO
TIP:

Pro Tip: Your event management platform should be intuitive enough to collect this vital information without frustrating or overwhelming registrants (which may make them abandon their cart instead of completing their registration) and include robust reporting capabilities to get the data you need.


 

No Cost Technology Built Just for Golf

GolfStatus is the industry leader in technology for golf fundraisers and charity golf tournaments. The user-friendly software makes it easy to onboard third party events, manage donor data, and provide resources to event organizers. Plus, through the Golf for Good program, 501(c) organizations and those holding events that benefit them are eligible for no-cost access to the platform. Ready to get started? Click the button below or email [email protected].

 
 
School Plans Golf Fundraiser in just Six Weeks to Raise $47,000 for Scholarship Fund
 

In his first six weeks on the job as Director of Development at Brazos Christian School (BCS) in Bryan, Texas, Clay Jackson settled into a new job, battled COVID-19, was appointed varsity golf coach, and even welcomed a new baby to his family. He also planned and executed a lucrative golf fundraiser from start to finish—for the first time.

Though it’s not ideal to plan a golf tournament in a matter of weeks, with the help of GolfStatus’s golf event management platform, the event went off without a hitch and raised over $47,000 for the school’s Thomas Scott Moore Memorial Scholarship Fund.


DOLLARS RAISED

$47,000

 

SPONSORS

25

FIELD SIZE

17 TEAMS

 

TECH SPONSORSHIP SELLING PRICE

$7,500

 
 

Organization Snapshot

BCS is a non-denominational school that serves roughly 450 students in preschool through 12th grade. Since 1981, BCS has provided families with the same academics, activities, and opportunities as public school, but with a Christian focus. 

The longstanding annual golf tournament had traditionally been held in the fall over its 17 year tenure, but after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, it was moved to February. The event raises money specifically for the Thomas Scott Moore Memorial Scholarship Fund, which honors a 4th grade student who tragically passed away in 2010 and provides financial assistance to families to attend BCS. The fund has grown from $50,000 to an endowment of $1.2 million, thanks to the proceeds of the golf tournament. “We really want folks to understand that the tournament is raising money for a great cause,” says Clay.

 
 

The Challenge

When Clay started on at BCS in January, he found a long list of things undone for the golf fundraiser. First and foremost, he locked in the date with the Traditions Club at Texas A&M. Once the date was finalized, Clay turned his attention to promoting the tournament. He knew he needed a place to send folks to register and pay online. “Our school didn’t have any means of online payment processing,” Clay says. The tournament had previously relied on paper mailers and registration forms, but with the tournament just weeks away, there simply wouldn’t be enough time to go this route.

 

The Solution

Clay first started exploring generic event management platforms, not thinking that a solution existed specifically for golf tournaments. He stumbled onto Nonprofit Tech for Good’s website and came across a guest post by GolfStatus. “I thought, here’s everything I need to make this golf tournament happen!” Clay says. What’s more, because BCS is a nonprofit, the tournament qualified for GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program, which gave Clay access to the entire golf event management and fundraising platform at no cost.

Clay reached out to GolfStatus and in less than 48 hours had an attractive, fully-functioning, live event website ready to accept registrations and sell sponsorships. The GolfStatus team worked closely with Clay to walk him through the software and make sure he was comfortable navigating the software’s back end. “GolfStatus literally took ¾ of what I was worried about off my plate and made it work,” Clay says.

 

An attractive event website with online registration saved Clay a ton of time and made it easy to promote the event to golfers and sponsors.


GolfStatus literally took ¾ of what I was worried about off my plate and made it work.
— Clay Jackson, Director of Development at Brazos Christian School

The Results

Event Website & Online Registration

The online platform saved time and money almost immediately. Historically, the school spent around $1000 to print and mail flyers and registration forms (and as a result, was forced to track down payments and send receipts weeks or even months after the tournament). Clay simply included a QR code with a link to the event website on flyers that were sent home in students’ backpacks and a direct link in emails, social media, and on the school’s website where people could purchase team and sponsorship packages instantly. “It’s so much easier to send folks to a website!” Clay says. 

When golfers and sponsors registered through the website, their information automatically populated the software’s back end, where Clay could see who had registered, which sponsorships had been sold, and the sponsor logos uploaded. “Online registration was awesome—it was exactly what I was looking for and more,” Clay says.

 
 

Sponsorship Success

The additional digital exposure provided through the GolfStatus platform—on the event website and the mobile app—allowed Clay to raise the price of hole sponsorships from $200 to $400. Hole sponsorships sold out, leading to an extra $3,600 raised without any additional costs to the school. What’s more, the presenting sponsorship (which included GolfStatus’s exclusive technology sponsorship plus additional recognition) sold for $7,500. The tournament also added a hole-in-one contest with a $10,000 cash prize and sold a sponsorship for $3,000.

Live Scoring

Clay and his wife welcomed a new baby the day before the golf tournament. He had wisely connected a co-worker with the GolfStatus team the week before, who walked her through starting the tournament and the basics of the software so everything would run smoothly. The tournament utilized live scoring for the event—golfers entered their scores via the free GolfStatus mobile app, which synced to live leaderboards so Clay (and others) could follow along with the round’s progress and even solicit additional donations. “It was a great way for me to follow along, and let staff on site know when they should prep for the awards ceremony,” Clay says. He heard from golfers who loved being able to track other teams on the live leaderboards and trash talk across the golf course.

 

Teams submitted scores on the GolfStatus mobile app, which automatically synced to live leaderboards where golfers and spectators could follow along.

 

Responsive Support

GolfStatus’s responsive, in-house customer success team was there every step of the way, answering questions from golfers trying to register and addressing any issues. A snafu with the golf course’s updated course layout meant a last minute panic on incorrect scorecards. “I reached out via the support chat during the Super Bowl!” Clay laughs, and says that by halftime, everything was fixed and new scorecards ready to go. “I was blown away by the customer success team and their amazing response time,” he says.


I don’t know how I could have successfully pulled off this event at the level we did without using GolfStatus.
— Clay Jackson, Director of Development at Brazos Christian School

“I don’t know how I could have successfully pulled off this event at the level we did without using GolfStatus,” Clay says. “The short turnaround meant there wasn’t enough time to do it the way that it had always been done. GolfStatus made my life a million times easier.”


 

Planning a Golf Fundraiser?

Leverage GolfStatus’s robust event management platform built just for golf, with built-in fundraising tools to help you raise more money for your organization or cause. Qualifying 501(c) organizations and those holding events that benefit one can get access to GolfStatus’s golf tournament management software at no cost, including a free event website, online registration, 24/7 support, and features to handle all the golf logistics that save you a ton of time. Click the link below to get qualified or email [email protected].