Opps.... I posted this post in the equipment section.

Now I think I'm in the forum.

To all you guys who have put together a fundraiser golf tournament, being this will be my first, I would ask for your feedback, suggestions or tips on putting together a successful event.

I have questions a on prizes, contests, etc.

I would appreciate any and all feedback.


Thanks...

First surround yourself with a good team Try to get people who have done this before and who have big hearts and deep pockets. Your goal is to draw donations and golfers from your volunteers. Start early enough to get enough time to get sponsors. Ideally you want a discounted rate from the course or a high end course that will attract a lot of golfers. You need to set a dollar amount to charge every person 150 to 250. I would sell the cause to anyone who is going to charge you for a service(golf course, food, entertainment) If you don't Have the resources, check with your friends and recruit them to help. If you have a worthy cause, there are a lot of people that want to help. You need to start working on raffle prises. Work friends of private tracks to throw in a forsome, hit restaurants, ball parks any service oriented business. I'll write further on this later, I am out of tiem.

There are many websites out there to help with planning and provide tips/tricks. Just do a web search to start and get a general project plan idea to start laying out dates tasks need to be completed.
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First step, create a project plan/timeline with tasks. Pick a date for the tournament. Mondays are the cheapest and slowest day for courses.

Next step, create a commitee that you can assign different tasks to. Keep this group small.

Pick a course, send out bids to get the best discounted rate. Keep in mind the price range for the outing and your target market (executives, mail room, etc) resulting in the type of course you will try to get. How much are you going to charge?

Determine your budget (if you have start up cash) and target percentage of money to donate to the charity. ex. course costs $50, but you will charge $100 per person. How much of the profit goes to charity and how much goes to operating expenses (prizes, signs, promotion, etc).

How many golfers can you get (144 more or less). If you have a large number, think about morning and afternoon flights with lunch/dinner and seperate or overall prizes. Do not double up on par 3's since this will back up the course.

What type of tournament are you holding (scramble, handicap, flighted, shamble). Scrambles attact the most people since you do not have to play well and many golfers like to drink and have fun. It also is faster since you get the play the best lie and not have hackers all over the course backing it up all day.

Determine the rules of play.

Get a volunteer list, can not have enough volunteers that will not be playing or help with set up/tear down.

Have a committee just for prizes and donations. Sell hole sponsorships and create signs for them. How much will you charge to sponsor a hole. You can go as far as getting a company to sponsor the beer or dinner or snacks, etc. Try to get corporate sponsorships that will donate money or prizes.

Keep in mind this is for charity, so you want to maximize the profit and not blow it all on buying prizes for the winners. Get as many prizes donated as you can. Maybe only have large prizes for 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and last place (I used golf lessons that were donated for the last place team in my last outing).

In terms of prizes, many people like non golf related gifts (bottles of good booze, sporting event tickets, etc).

Hold a 50/50 raffle. You can raffle off large prizes in a auction, have a putting contest for $5 an entry and winner gets a putter. Sell skins tickets for $20 a team and split the money with the skins winners, and keep a bucket out just for plain donations.

Try to get a celebrity to come and sign autographs for a small monetary donation from people wanting a signature. I had one of the Pittsburgh Steelers (James Harrison) at my last one with his newly obtained Super Bowl ring.

Give out prizes during dinner to prevent having a very long day turn longer by waiting until before or after dinner to hand them out.

I have planned several and raised thousands of dollars at my past events and they keep getting bigger each year. PM me if you need any more tips.

Biggest thing to remember, maximize your donations to the charity. People who will play understand that this is for charity and not looking to get hundreds of dollars to win the tournament.

I have run a charity fun raiser event the past 4 years to benefit scholarships and cancer research so I can add a little bit here.


lidomkj hit the nail on the head with everything he had stated. Sounds like he is doing a great job with it too.

Here are a few things I can add:

I have a simple but informative website www.dlvchancetolearn.com that I put basic information regarding the event. I feel its important for participants and sponsors to quickly be able to get information on the event.

Seriously consider what you give out as a tee prize. Obviously staying within your budget. People always remember what they get as a tee prize, so make it memorable. That doesn't mean you have to spend a lot. Last year I had some awesome fleece blankets that were embroidered and people loved them. I have given out shoes, bags, jackets. Every year I try to make it something that people need and use not just "something" to give out.

A huge success at my events have been the extras that make good money. For example fantasy scratch cards are not only great money makers but they are also very entertaining. www.fantasygolfcards.com.

I'm not going to reiterate what the previous posters stated as their information is great but I hope these couple of thoughts help out a little. PM me if you have any questions or need help with some ideas. I can get you in touch with some great vendors as well.




T.J.