Golf Tournament Fundraiser Checklist: Your Ultimate Guide to a Successful Event

Summary

A golf tournament fundraiser is more than your typical gala dinner or online fundraiser; it's a time-tested community event combining nature's beauty, competitive spirits, and a good cause. A successful day on the green can keep supporters returning year after year, raise significant funds, and unite a community. However, behind every successful event is a lot of work and planning. That's why we created this Golf Tournament Fundraiser Checklist to make your event a hole-in-one.

We will cover everything from selecting the perfect course, securing sponsorships, planning exciting golf tournament activities, and maximizing fundraising. Whether this is your first time taking on a golf event or you're a below-par pro, this checklist will help you drive donations and create an unforgettable day for donors.

Build Your Foundation: Planning & Organizing

Establishing a solid foundation is the first step in any fundraising event. Start by gathering your nonprofit's team for an initial meeting to discuss communication, timeline, and tasks. Determine who will be responsible for sponsorship outreach, marketing, player recruitment, logistics, volunteer coordination, etc. Depending on your team and your nonprofit's operations, you should give yourself at least 4-6 months of preparation, but a year is preferable. Give yourselves plenty of time to secure a venue, attract sponsors, and properly market your event. For more information on effective email marketing for nonprofits and their events, click the link at the bottom.

During your initial meeting, another key point to discuss is establishing a clear fundraising goal. A detailed fundraising outline should include sponsorships, player fees, golf auction items, raffles, and other event offers. Using nonprofit software with golf-specific event templates like BetterUnite can help you streamline your planning process, ensuring that everything stays on track to hit your goal.

Choose the Right Golf Course & Set the Date

Early in your planning stages, you will have to pick a day (pray for sunshine) and a course. When picking your course, it is essential to look at several factors:

• Course Size - How many people can play on the course simultaneously?
• Location - You don't want to be so far donors won't make the trip.
• Amenities - Does this course have two restaurants? One? or just a club shop?

The most significant point is the course size; most clubs hold up to 136 players for an 18-hole tournament.

How long do golf tournaments last? The answer varies, but most last 4-6 hours. One idea that helps the pace of play is a "Shotgun start." This is where all teams start playing simultaneously on different holes. If you decide on the "Shotgun start", make sure to consider pulling in plenty of volunteers for check-in, as you'll have everyone arriving at one time (often early in the morning). Don't forget to incorporate coffee station or breakfast, golfing, lunch, auction, checkout, and every other time-sensitive block.

Book your course well in advance and be aware of conflicting holiday weekends and significant sporting events.

Sponsorships: Maximizing Fundraising Potential

Typically, the majority of your fundraising will come from the sponsorships you sell for the event. So, preparing your sponsorship packages and offers should play a pivotal role in hitting your fundraising goal. Aim to generate at least 60% revenue over your total expenses to ensure profitability when setting sponsorship pricing. 

Create tiered sponsorship opportunities that appeal to different businesses or individuals. High-profile sponsors, such as a Title Sponsor or a Presenting Sponsor, should receive significant recognition, logo placement, promotional materials, and a loaded-up golf goodie bag. Unique to golf fundraisers, consider looking into hole sponsors and offer businesses the opportunity to sponsor a hole, where they can place signage.

Golf swag bags are a great way to improve donor retention. Send donors home with something that they will remember you by.

Here are some golf swag bag ideas:

• Branded Golf Balls
• Tees and Ball markers
• Branded Towels
• Sunscreen
• Reusable water bottles
• Branded canvas bags to hold the goodies

Streamlining Registration & Enhancing Player Experience

The first hour of your event is, as with any fundraising event, the most important. A smooth and easy check-in process will set the tone for the golfers and the donors. Instead of waiting in lengthy lines looking for a person with the Excel sheet of teams, consider using a golf tournament registration software. Event specific software like BetterUnite can create teams, quickly check-in golfers, assign holes, accept donations, market your event, and more.

If you create a golf tournament registration form, include spaces for key details such as handicaps, meal preferences, name, and contact information. (don't forget to get cell phone numbers for texting!). Additionally, consider adding multiple ticket options for your event. Below is an example of recommended ticket options for your golf event:

• Individual Golfer
• Golfer Duo
• Team of 4
• VIP Team of 4
• Sponsorship Team

Recruiting & Organizing Volunteers

Volunteers will play a crucial role in making your golf tournament a success. Here are some of the areas that a volunteer could help in.

• Registration/Check-in
• Raffle Sales
• Auction Item Setup
• Hospitality and Coordination
• On-course activities

When volunteers show up, be sure they know exactly where they are supposed to be and what they should do. Providing them with a detailed schedule and process flow will help your organization get the most out of their service. Treat them well with goodie bags, food, snacks, and make sure they stay hydrated!

Creating Engaging On-Course Activities

It's important to remember that your golf tournament is not the Masters at Augusta. It should be fun! Consider including these on-course contests:

• Longest Drive
• Closest to the Pin
• Putting Challenges.

Additionally, you can offer paid activities such as:

• Pro-Shot
• Air Cannon
• Drone Drop

This allows donors to give some extra funds with extra fun.

Marketing & Event Promotion

What's the point of throwing a golf tournament if no one knows about it? Marketing efforts should begin at least four months in advance to ensure that your course is full of happy donors. Channels should include social media posts, email campaigns, and direct outreach. If you want to have them back for another round, start by sending a save-the-date to all previous attendees. Next, post some of your fundraising event ideas and sponsor highlights on social media to engage your community.

After you have selected your course, ask them to help co-promote. See if they will put up a banner or even post on social media. Country clubs aren't a bad spot for attracting donors. Go to the local golf shops and see if they will let you promote there. Don't forget to plan your email marketing campaigns; these should be personalized, methodical, and engaging. Start sending them out as soon as you have them ready!

Executing Event Day Operations

Here is an example of a Golf Tournament Event schedule.

• 8:00 AM – Player Check-In & Breakfast: Swag bag distribution and opening announcements.
• 9:00 AM – Shotgun Start: Golfers begin play at assigned holes.
• Noon – Lunch on the Course: Pre-arranged meal service ensures players stay fueled.
• 4:00 PM – Awards Ceremony & Charity Auction: Winners announced, fundraising opportunities maximized.

A detailed event timeline keeps everyone on the same page and ensures the tournament flows efficiently.

Post-Event Follow-Up & Stewardship

After the final puts are hit and the carts are parked, the work is not over. A strong post-event strategy focuses on donor retention, sponsorship follow-up, and volunteer appreciation. The end of this event will set up your next event for success.

Start by sending personalized thank-you emails to all the participants, acknowledging what they gave, how they helped, and any other necessary information. Post your photos on social media and create video reels recapping the event. Additionally, collecting feedback via surveys will help identify the strengths and weaknesses of next year's golf tournament.

Conclusion

A well-organized golf tournament fundraiser is more than just a day on the green—it’s a testament to a thriving community and a nonprofit making a meaningful impact. Following this Golf Tournament Fundraiser Checklist will create an unforgettable day for your donors and make a fantastic impact on your mission. Using the right golf event management strategies and tools like BetterUnite, your fundraiser will meet and exceed your expectations.

Links

How to Engage Donors with Email Marketing: Crafting Messages That Inspire Giving