Golf tournaments are a fantastic fundraising solution to ongoing pandemic problems.
Social distancing
Plenty of circulation
Outside during the best time of year
Whether it’s your first outdoor fundraiser or your fiftieth, we wanted to put together a quick list for you of last-minute tips, tricks, and most importantly, awesome ideas for raising even more money.
Most of these can be implemented quickly and easily into any outdoor space to improve your guest experience and find new revenue streams.
Happy, Healthy, and Spending Money
Record heatwaves have hit multiple parts of the country so far this summer, and the trend will only continue from here. It’ll be more important than ever in the coming months to make sure guests are staying hydrated and avoiding sun damage or heat exhaustion.
Throughout your outdoor golf venue, make sure to set up a few guest stations to provide the essentials:
- FREE water
- Shade and/or cooling
- Comfortable places to sit and rest (chairs, tables, benches)
- Consider offering sunscreen for sale or for free as part of a player gift pack, so guests don’t leave your wonderful event happy and then discover terrible sunburns at home. The last impression is the one that brings guests back to events year after year!
Swag, Swag, Swag
Players will be much happier during a daytime event if they can find a safe, easy reprieve from the sun. These little shady stops also present a great opportunity to engage guests and raise more money!
Staff the station with a volunteer who has swag to sell, such as:
- Branded hats or shirts
- Branded water bottles
- Sell snacks, drinks, cocktails, or even mulligans.
- What about a raffle? Sell tickets to a special prize raffle, with the winner to be announced at the end of the tournament so people stick around for the duration.
- Offer ticket sales at each station so players can stop to buy more each time they’re reminded of the oh-so-cool prize!
Each of these small sales can add up to a lot of extra revenue over the course of a day-long event. The more chances you offer guests to support nonprofit work, the more they’ll rise to the challenge and give, especially if they get something in return.
An Auction ON and OFF the Green
Hold an auction in conjunction with your golf tournament! It’s not every day you get access to a captive group of guests for several hours—take advantage of it! Use a mobile bidding platform to host your auction so guests can bid on items anywhere on the green, at any time during the event.
Give auction items visibility throughout the course. Place copies of items such as gift cards or printed materials at each station to remind guests to look at their phones, check if they’ve been outbid, and take a moment to place new bids.
Open the auction in advance of the event so that players know what will be there, and don’t have to divide their focus too much between the game and winning the auction item of their dreams. Allow people who aren’t in attendance to bid as well, and drive up those final sale prices!
Support The Sponsors
Find sponsors for each of your hydration stations, or use the stations to advertise existing sponsors. Hydration stations are a great benefit to offer potential sponsors as part of your golf package.
Take the opportunity at this year’s event to gather some numbers! How many people interacted with each of the stations? For how long? Now you have some exact figures to offer future golf sponsors.
Center the Mission
Golf is a fantastic fundraising activity because it promotes a little downtime and relaxation between holes—giving you plenty of opportunities to get another touch on your nonprofit’s message and mission.
An animal shelter might give homeless dogs some outside time and put a pup at each stop to encourage breaks. A school could promote a piece of student artwork by placing one at each station along the course. There are lots of great ways to ensure that even though the event is a sports tournament, at the end of the day, it’s about raising money for a great cause.
