Running Charity Golf Tournaments

Charity golf tournaments are a terrific way to create community awareness and interest in your cause.

Golf fundraisers can also be a significant source of revenue for your organization, but require careful planning to ensure that they are not only fun, but profitable fundraisers for your charity.

When planning a charity golf tournament, some tips to consider include:

• Build a strong organizing committee – be sure all members are able and willing to commit the time, energy and enthusiasm that will make your tournament a success. It can also help to have at least one member with local media contacts on board.
• Food service is important – keep your participants full, hydrated and happy throughout the event.
• Publicize – let the media know about your event well in advance. If your organizing committee includes a member with media contacts, ask him or her to supply them with a press kit including a press release with information about the golf tournament and your charity.
• Optimize your charity tournament’s bottom line – include contests and a sports memorabilia auction to generate as much revenue as possible for your golf fundraiser. Also consider offering “sponsorships,” similar to those that walk-a-thons rely upon to increase revenue. Sponsorships can increase your charity’s revenue exponentially. Anyone involved in your charity or the golf fundraiser can request sponsorships for the tournament. It not only increases your bottom line, but magnifies exposure for your charity’s worthy cause. If each team of four golfers and their friends could generate 20 sponsors per player at $20 per sponsor, that would increase your fundraiser's success by $400 per player, or $1,600 per team!
• Get volunteers to help – recruit interested volunteers from your charity’s members, community and support base and use them whenever possible to help out instead of paying for services.
• Prepare timelines – map out a schedule for all preparations with dates and responsibilities, and create a schedule for the events on the day of your charity golf tournament.
• Be prepared to not be prepared for everything – keep your outlook upbeat and roll with the punches if the event day doesn’t go exactly according to plan. Remember, this is supposed to be a fun event!
• Make everybody a winner – in addition to the traditional winners, award a variety of fun prizes (“Sandiest Shoes Award,” “Eagle Scout Award for Tracking a Ball in the Woods”). Also provide gifts for all participants, regardless of standings. Consider gift certificates that can be redeemed at your silent auction for sports memorabilia – a lasting and meaningful award for your players.

Signature Auctions is a leading provider of authentic sports and entertainment memorabilia as well as artwork for live and silent auctions at charity golf tournaments and golf fundraisers.

After a tiring round of golf, don’t you owe it to your golfers to have the finest items available at your silent auction? After all, what is cocktail hour without a top-notch silent auction to raise significant revenue?

Golf tournaments take a tremendous amount of time and resources to plan and execute. It’s very likely that your staff will arrive around the crack of dawn and won’t leave until after the last guest has gone home. With all the details and golfers to attend to, Signature Auctions has two programs to relieve you of the silent auction burden.