If you’re looking for a fresh idea to engage employees, clients, and the community at large while raising awareness about your brand in a unique and meaningful way, a corporate golf event is the perfect answer. Corporate golf outings—especially when they’re well-managed and organized—offer a variety of positive outcomes for a company.

What Are Corporate Golf Events?

A corporate golf event is a tournament or outing planned and hosted by a business. Corporate events often raise money for a corporate foundation or favorite nonprofit, but don’t have to include a charitable component. Such events are used as an opportunity for team-building across departments, to entertain clients or prospects, or as a give-back initiative. 

For example, a credit union is looking for a new way to support the children’s hospital in its community. The credit union organizes a corporate golf event targeted at credit union employees, partners, and vendors, and hospital personnel. The event connects people across organizations while raising money for the hospital.

Learn How to Plan a Corporate Golf Event

What Are the Benefits of Corporate Golf Events?

Enhance Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important to employees, partners, and clients who want to work and spend their dollars with businesses that prioritize community impact. Consider these CSR statistics:

• 93% of employees think companies should lead with purpose

• 77% of consumers want to purchase from socially-responsible companies

• 94% of major US corporations plan to increase or maintain their corporate giving over the next few years

CSR initiatives should be strategic, genuine, and multifaceted. A corporate golf outing that benefits a charity or cause is a great addition to your company’s CSR portfolio, providing not only a philanthropic opportunity, but the brand lift and awareness that comes from a fun community fundraiser. 

As a business, this could mean connecting with an existing golf event to support it as a sponsor. Or, if you choose to take it a step further by hosting your own corporate event, you can be strategic in choosing nonprofit beneficiaries while also reaping a reputational boost.

Connect With Your Community

Golf events are unique in that they can be designed as communal activities. If community engagement and outreach are among your goals for the outing, you’ll want to ask and answer a few questions as you get started:

• Who would we like to attend the outing?

• What’s our goal for turnout?

• What do we want our attendees to take away from this event?

• Does it make sense to open the tournament up to the broader community?

You may invite specific community members to participate, such as the mayor, community outreach group leaders, school administrators, or other stakeholders. Or invite staff or beneficiaries from the charity the outing will raise money for. Either way, be thoughtful about how the event might be a win-win for your business and the community.

No matter the audience you choose or the objective at hand for your business, having an easy way to register and track interested participants and sponsorships is crucial. Online registration with secure payment processing as part of a broader golf event management platform makes it easy to collect participant information, manage it in real time, and facilitate communications before, during, and after the event.

Provide a Competitive Edge

Creating positive social impact has increasingly become a competitive advantage for businesses. As a community event that tends to attract attention in addition to raising dollars, a corporate golf event that’s dedicated to supporting a cause helps set your brand apart from your competitors and attract socially responsible customers. 

An event website makes it simple to spread the word about your event while also getting more support from the community. A professional event site also elevates your brand, cause, and case for support. A website provider like GolfStatus, that’s powered by a golf-specific software platform, lets you manage players, teams, and hole assignments with just a few clicks.

Build & Foster Relationships

Golf outings are unique in that they give participants four or five focused hours on the golf course—a rarity in today’s busy world. That means several hours of facetime with colleagues, vendors, clients, prospects, or others to network and advance important business relationships. This also means that your business development team gets quality time to engage with current and prospective clients and partners to thank them for their continued involvement or advance a new relationship. 

If fostering business relationships is among your goals for the event, you’ll want to ensure a smooth and seamless experience for participants from the time they hear about your event to the thank you they receive for supporting it. Every touchpoint should be seamless and professional, including online registration, clear communication in the time leading up to the event, high quality branded cart signs and scorecards, and TOUR-caliber live leaderboards.

Boost Employee Engagement

In today’s competitive job market, businesses need to find ways to attract and retain top talent, which means demonstrating that business priorities include more than just the bottom line. Studies show that team bonding events can boost employee retention and performance at work. A golf outing can be used to engage employees, reward them for a job well done, build morale, and encourage team retention. Best of all, holding a charity event satisfies the 71% of employees who think it’s important to work at a company that gives back.

Allow Your Company to Do Good In Your Community

Golf has deep ties to the nonprofit sector, evidenced by the $4.6 billion that the sport raises for charity annually. It’s a game that brings people together in a memorable way to raise funds for a good cause. Golf’s popularity continues to grow, making it a great time to use it to give back—to your employees, your community, and an important cause.

For instance, in the example mentioned above, a credit union hosted a golf tournament that raised money for the local children’s hospital. Organizers sold sponsorships to the credit union’s partners, vendors, and industry associations who share an interest in advancing children’s healthcare. Golfers represented sponsors, employees from the host credit union and competing credit unions, members of the city council, and hospital staff. Hospital patients and administrators attended the event and helped run on-course games that allowed participants to connect with the “why” behind the event. The event raised $50,000 which provided financial assistance to patients and their families and built strong connections within the community.

How to Host a Corporate Golf Event

If you’ve never planned a golf tournament before or don’t know much about the sport, don’t worry—you can still hold a professional, memorable event that engages employees and the community. Here’s how:

1. Use the Right Tools

It’s likely that planning a company golf outing isn’t your full-time job, or even something you do on a regular basis, so you might not know where to start or how to maximize efficiencies that save your precious time. Most event management systems aren’t able to intuitively manage the intricacies of a golf outing (hole assignments, player pairings, scoring and leaderboards, flighting, handicaps, etc.) so look for one that’s built specifically for golf tournaments and includes:

Online registration is non-negotiable when planning a corporate golf event. It gives the event and your brand a professional feel and is a time-saver for tournament planners.

• Online Registration. This is a must-have—golfers seamlessly submit their information and payment online, saving hours of dealing with spreadsheets, checks, and receipts. 

• Customizable Event Website. The site should present your event in a professional light and make it simple to promote the event, provide digital sponsor exposure, and share detailed information about the event.

• Shared Access. All registration information should populate into the platform’s back end, which means all the event’s information is stored and accessible in one place by organizers and even staff at the golf facility. 

• Communication Tools. Need an easy way to quickly communicate with all registrants? Your platform should have built-in communication tools like emails and push notifications. 

• Pre-formatted Printouts. Want to print branded scorecards and cart signs? Use a platform that comes with pre-formatted, professional printouts.

• Live-scoring & Leaderboards. Golfers submit their scores with an easy-to-use, reliable live-scoring app that syncs to live leaderboards. Live leaderboards give the tournament an even more professional look and feel and allow teams to track current standings.

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Ready to start planning?

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2. Set Goals & Outline the Specifics

Once you have your management tool in place, you can determine goals and specifics. The goals for the event will help other key details fall into place, so start by thinking through what you hope to accomplish. Keep in mind that goals don’t have to be mutually exclusive—you can engage employees while also raising money for charity. 

If you are planning to include a fundraising component in the outing, work directly with the chosen nonprofit partner from the beginning to ensure everyone is on the same page and to collect logos and messaging.

Once you’ve determined the outing’s goals, it’s time to think through event specifics, including:

• Target audience (employees, clients, partners, community members, etc.)

• Tournament budget

• Host golf facility

• Planning team roles and responsibilities

• Marketing and communications strategy

• Sponsorship packages (if applicable)

• Contingency plan for inclement weather

• Prizes and awards

• Add-on activities and contests, such as on-course games, hole-in-one contests, raffle drawings, or a silent auction

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Step-by-Step Golf Tournament Planning Guide

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3. Promote the Corporate Golf Event

It’s time to get the word out about the event! How you do this is dependent on the target audience for your outing. For instance, if the tournament is open to employees, you might include a link to the event website in internal newsletters or mention it in company meetings. If the event is open to the community at large, send promotional emails, include in client newsletters, and mention on your social media channels. And if you’re raising money for a nonprofit, work with them to promote the tournament to their supporter base.

Particularly if your golf outing has a charitable component, consider drumming up some positive PR for your company and what the event is raising money for. Invite members of the press and the community to participate and work together to raise awareness for a good cause (and give your brand a substantial lift). 

If you’re live scoring the event, post a link to the live leaderboards on your social media channels to get even more exposure for your company and brand, the benefiting charity, and the leaderboard sponsor (if you have one).

4. Provide a Memorable Experience

What sets a great event apart from a good event is the overall experience. Folks will remember if the event was chaotic and plagued with snafus—or if it was well executed. Using technology tools to manage the event holistically frees golf facility staff up to assist and cater to golfers instead of scrambling to handle last-minute tasks like hole assignments, scorecards, cart signs, and alpha lists. It also streamlines prep and planning so event planners stay organized and can execute a seamless event. 

Yes, your event needs to be well-run, but it should also offer a memorable, top-notch experience that advances business goals: 

• Include add-ons and extras like contests, on-course games and entertainment, auctions, and custom player gifts.

• Live score the event to add an element of professionalism that’s unlike any other and let spectators (as well as event organizers who are keeping an eye on the round’s progress to facilitate an awards ceremony, banquet, reception, or other post-round gathering) follow along on live leaderboards. 

• Build in ways to connect with employees and/or clients, such as through a pre- or post-round meal or reception, on-course interactions, the opportunity to volunteer, or informal networking. 

• Be strategic when making hole assignments and how they might further business objectives. For example, you may want to pair your company’s top executives with their counterparts from a major partner or prospective client to spend the day on the course talking business and potentially even closing deals. Or group staff or board members from the benefiting charity with potential partners or donors to help advance their mission and open doors for additional support.
  

5. Track Data & Gauge Success

It’s important to demonstrate the overall success and impact of the event, both to prove its value to decision makers in your company and demonstrate your commitment to giving back if your tournament includes a fundraising component. Your golf event management platform should include robust reporting that helps you see at a glance:

• The number of teams or individual golfers

• The number of sponsors that signed on to support the event

• The dollars that were processed through online registration and donations

You might also gather further information to gauge the event’s success by:

• Sending surveys to participants to garner impressions and feedback, and the event’s impact on employee satisfaction

• Having informal conversations with golfers to see what they like and how you can improve in the future

• Meeting with the benefiting nonprofit to determine fundraising outcomes and next steps for donor stewardship

If your corporate golf event becomes an annual tradition, consider tracking and analyzing long-term trends, such as employee retention and the event’s impact on the company’s culture.

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Powering Corporate Golf Events with GolfStatus

Whether you’re at a Fortune 500 company, a socially-responsible local business, or a corporate foundation raising money for a dedicated cause, GolfStatus’ golf event management and fundraising platform is the solution for the best event possible.  

GolfStatus’ powerful, user-friendly tech saves organizers time and effort, helps raise more money, boosts your brand, and ensures a professionally planned and executed tournament from start to finish. Plus, if you’re planning an outing that benefits a nonprofit or cause, you can qualify for no-cost access through the Golf for Good program. Not only do you get an attractive, professional event website, but you also get golf-specific tools and features, access to sponsorships and add-ons only available to GolfStatus clients, and a dedicated client success rep to coach you along the way. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Use the Tech That’s Built for Golf events

Click Here to Book a GolfStatus Demo!

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Golf is an incredible force for good. Whether it’s a brand new tournament or decades old tradition, a small golf fundraiser or a massive charity event, or anything in between, golf brings people together to support the important work nonprofits are doing in their communities and beyond.

GolfStatus is once again teaming up with our giving partners at Dormie Network and Dormie Network Foundation for the Play It Forward campaign to give back to organizations that are using golf to make an impact.

For the second year, the Play It Forward campaign will award a $10,000 donation to a nonprofit or cause raising money through golf. Individuals nominate their favorite golf fundraiser and get the chance to win a one-year honorary membership to Dormie Network, a national network of private golf clubs, plus a $10,000 credit toward onsite golf and lodging.

Designed by famed golf course architect Tom Fazio, Dormie Network’s Victoria National Golf Club boasts gorgeous views amid challenging holes.

2021 winner

The 2021 Play It Forward nonprofit winner was the Cameron Steinberg Foundation’s inaugural golf fundraiser, nominated by Dr. Michael Gaies (who was the recipient of a year-long membership to the Dormie Network). The Foundation honors the life of Cameron Steinberg, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and tragically passed away at just two months old, and helps families affected by congenital heart disease.

The $10,000 donation was made to the Foundation’s second annual golf tournament, held May 23, 2022. The event’s second year utilized GolfStatus’s golf event management platform (which organizers used at no cost through the Golf for Good program) to manage registrations, sponsorships, and live scoring, and saw an increase of more than 66% in dollars raised when compared to the tournament’s first year.

Mel and Sam Steinberg post with Dr. Michael Gaies at the inaugural Cameron Steinberg Foundation’s golf fundraiser in May of 2021.

nominate a fundraiser today!

The golf fundraiser can be any size or format—a memorial tournament raising money for a favorite cause, alumni golf event, celebrity pro-am, nonprofit fundraiser, or corporate golf outing. The event simply must be raising money for a charitable cause to be eligible for the $10,000 donation. Tell us about the event, what it’s raising money for, and why it’s important to you.

The campaign launched May 31 and nominations close July 4.

The winners will be announced via a press release and on social media, so make sure you follow GolfStatus.org (Facebook and Instagram) and Dormie Network (Facebook and Instagram) for the latest.

Don’t miss out on this chance to make a difference and use golf for good!

The Hook-N-Slice golf tournament is a longstanding tradition, raising millions of dollars to support Tucson Medical Center for Children (TMC for Children) over the last three decades. Now in its 31st year, the two-day event will be held October 1st and 3rd at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson. Over its long history, the tournament has strengthened the connection between the hospital and the surrounding community, as evidenced by an outpouring of support that looks to make this year’s event bigger than ever.

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Supporting Local Kids Through Golf

TMC for Children is focused entirely on caring for sick and injured children and their families. As Southern Arizona’s Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospital, TMC for Children strives to deliver the best care possible for children, from its comfortable, child-centered facilities to a dedicated team of expert pediatric caregivers. 

The TMC Foundation supports the charitable mission of TMC HealthCare to improve the health and quality of life of its community. The Foundation’s primary function is to raise money for TMC HealthCare as a whole, partnering with CMN Hospitals to bring in funds specifically for TMC for Children.

The Hook-N-Slice golf tournament is fueled by an outpouring of support from the community. Megan Bucnis, Donor Relations and Events Manager at the TMC Foundation, explains that the Hook-N-Slice event has grown over time from a one-day standalone tournament into a combined corporate outing before further evolving into a two-day weekend event for the first time in 2021. 

“We want to bring people together to have fun, make connections, and raise as much money as possible to support TMC for Children,” she says. All proceeds from the golf tournament go to TMC for Children, providing funds for necessary equipment, treatments, and programs, like scholarships for therapy sessions, child-friendly surgery prep videos, the TMC for Children mobile app, an in-patient therapies gym, and non-invasive testing equipment. 

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“We want to bring people together to have fun, make connections, and raise as much money as possible to support TMC for Children.”

— Megan Bucnis, Donor Relations and Events Manager at the TMC Foundation

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“Like all CMN Hospital fundraisers, all dollars stay local to help kids in our local community,” says Bruce Ayers, CMN Development Manager at the TMC Foundation. 

In 2019, the event raised over $52,000. After being forced to cancel in 2020 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases at TMC, Bruce and Megan are excited to get back to golf in 2021. This year’s two-day event is expected to attract over 300 players, along with a number of dedicated community sponsors. “Golf has been so popular over the last year that people are really excited to get back out there and support TMC for Children through golf,” says Megan.

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“Golf has been so popular over the last year that people are really excited to get back out there and support TMC for Children through golf.”

— Megan Bucnis, Donor Relations and Events Manager at the TMC Foundation

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Community Support

The support of the area community has been vital to the Foundation and TMC for Children, which emphasizes strong partnerships with businesses, corporations, and individual supporters. “We have dedicated sponsors who want to support these kids year after year. It means a lot to them and to us,” says Bruce.

“We kick off our fall event lineup with the golf tournament,” says Megan, noting that fall is peak time for fundraising events, with the golf tournament followed by a gala and radiothon in subsequent months. “We’re excited for this fall’s fundraising events, particularly this year since we had to pivot nearly everything to virtual in 2020,” she says. Beyond the annual golf tournament and other event-based fundraisers, the TMC Foundation raises money throughout the year in TMC for Children in partnership with CMN Hospitals, including corporate partner support, workplace campaigns, and round up campaigns. 

In 2021, the planning team has been very intentional about connecting the golf tournament to CMN Hospitals as a Play Yellow event. “Being able to tap into the power of Play Yellow and the connection to Jack and Barbara Nicklaus is huge,” Megan says. “Play Yellow is an easy way to show what we’re working towards and who we’re supporting through this golf event.”

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“Being able to tap into the power of Play Yellow and the connection to Jack and Barbara Nicklaus is huge!”

— Megan Bucnis, Donor Relations and Events Manager at the TMC Foundation

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Incorporating Technology

As the official technology and golf event management partner for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals golf fundraisers, GolfStatus worked with Bruce, Megan, and the planning team to build an event registration website for the Hook-N-Slice event, thanks to the pledged support of longtime Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals partner Marriott Vacations Worldwide. “We’ve started sharing the website broadly to attract the most people possible to the golf tournament,” says Megan. In addition to selling customized team and sponsor packages, they’re offering add-ons like VIP player’s bags, mulligans, and raffle tickets to raise additional dollars at the time of registration. People can even sign up to volunteer via the event website’s registration process. Supporters can also make a direct donation to TMC for Children through the site.

Bruce, Megan, and the planning team are excited to also offer live scoring at this year’s tournament. “Golfers are going to love it,” Megan says. They’ll also capitalize on opportunities to raise even more money throughout the weekend, using GolfStatus’s built-in messaging and donation features. “We want to make it as easy as possible for folks to be philanthropic,” says Bruce. “It’s going to be great that people won’t have to wait in line for transactions—they can buy mulligans or raffle tickets right from their phones!” 

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“We want to make it as easy as possible for folks to be philanthropic.”

— Bruce Ayers, CMN Development Manager at the TMC Foundation

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The golf tournament is one of the Foundation’s most lucrative fundraisers. Bruce and Megan hope to continue to significantly grow the event in the coming years, further engaging golfers and corporate sponsors. “We really want this to become an epic event that people really want to participate in,” Bruce says.

Get Involved

If you’re in the Tucson area and want to be part of the Hook-N-Slice golf tournament as a player, volunteer, or sponsor, register here. Not in the Tucson area or unable to play in the tournament? You can still support TMC for Children by making a donation.

If you’re interested in organizing a golf tournament that benefits your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, contact GolfStatus to get started with no-cost technology that streamlines planning and prep, securely collects donor data, and handles the golf-specific details to raise more money.

Learn more about:

• TMC for Children

• TMC Foundation

• The Hook-N-Slice Golf Tournament

If your organization isn’t using an event website for your golf fundraiser, you’re missing out on an opportunity to save time, increase your event’s professionalism, and attract more players and sponsors. Here are six advantages of an event website, how to get the most out of one, and where nonprofits can get a website for their golf fundraiser at no cost.

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1. Event Promotion is Quick, Easy & Effective.

With an event website, you simply include the link on all communications and marketing surrounding the event, including emails, social media posts, and even printed pieces. This links players and sponsors directly to an attractive, professional website where they can find more information about your event and purchase teams and sponsorship packages. The right website provider will be mobile-friendly, so it looks great and functions well on any device. You’ll also want something built for golf—that is, able to collect golf-specific info like team members, player handicaps, and other key details.

Pro Tip: Ask each of your organization’s board members, planning team members, and staff members to email or text a link to the event website to five people who might be interested in either playing or sponsoring your golf event.

2. Your Event & Organization Are Cast in a Professional Light.

A clean, professional event website for your golf tournament keeps information organized and lets you tell the story behind the event, your organization, and the cause it benefits. It’s a good idea to link your event website to your organization’s existing website, so visitors can find out more about the tournament and register to participate with a few clicks. Sponsors also appreciate the added professionalism of an attractive event website, which provides solid exposure.

Pro Tip: Make sure the website provider offers customization features so you can use pictures, videos, and text to tell the story of the event in a compelling way.

3. Online Registration Makes it easier to commit.

People are accustomed to online transactions, including donations and event registrations. The simple convenience of letting golfers and sponsors commit to your event the moment they hear about it, whether through word of mouth, online promo, or an email blast, means they’re substantially more likely to do so. Collecting registrations through your event website streamlines everything—there’s no need to take registrations over the phone; process and track down mailed-in forms, checks, and receipts; enter and re-enter data or manage information across multiple spreadsheets or lists; or hunt down payments the day of the tournament. Instead, registrant information (i.e. donor and sponsor data) is collected in an online platform in real-time. Your organization collects valuable donor data and ensures sustainers and potential supporters are added to your donor database and properly stewarded.

Pro Tip: Be sure the website provider/event platform you use includes built-in, secure payment processing and robust reporting.

4. Sponsors Get Premium Exposure.

An event website provides an easy way to display and sell sponsorship packages customized to the event and your organization’s needs. Sponsors benefit from broad exposure before, during, and after the event to an audience of potential clients and customers as folks visit the website to register, check hole assignments, and get other additional event details. When it comes to the golf tournament specifically, the event management platform you use should automatically display sponsorship logos, and provide options for sponsors to get recognition on leaderboards.

Pro Tip: Make a final push for sponsors and players a few weeks ahead of the tournament by giving current sponsors a shout out through social media posts and a simple email blast to your database. This provides sponsors added recognition, shows your appreciation, and garners additional support from others.

5. Track Everything in One Place & save time.

With online registration, you don’t have to manually process every registration, eliminating the time-consuming practice of processing cash and checks, and providing receipts. You simply direct players and sponsors to your golf event website, where they can purchase teams, packages, and add-ons like mulligans and raffle tickets (or simply make a donation to the event) quickly and easily. While it’s a huge time savings and certainly a best practice to have golfers and sponsors register themselves on your website, you can still accommodate folks who prefer to contact you directly to register by simply entering their info. Online registration ensures that player and team information is complete and organized, and event organizers, volunteers, and even staff at the golf facility can access and update details as needed. Coordinating with the golf course in the days leading up to the day of the event on last minute logistics—team pairings, hole assignments, tee sheets, and cart signs—becomes super simple when everyone has access to up-to-the-minute information.

Pro Tip: Make sure the website platform you choose is part of a robust event management system that makes handling the details easy and efficient.

6. It’s Easy to update & Communicate info.

It’s easy to make updates to your event website, so you don’t have to necessarily have every single detail of your event hammered out before you launch your site. It can be as simple as listing the date and time, with a note that more details will follow. This lets you get on the radars of donors and sponsors as early as possible. And if you need to make any last minute details or adaptations, you can communicate them very easily. When you use a platform designed specifically for golf, you’re also able to integrate live scoring and make adaptations like virtual formats and remote participation if you need to.

Pro Tip: Add a virtual round to your existing event to involve and engage more supporters and sponsors and raise more money for your mission.

Get a Free Event Website

Qualifying 501(c) organizations, or events that benefit one, can get qualified for a free event website and no-cost access to GolfStatus’s full-featured golf event management technology as part of our Golf for Good give-back initiative. Our in-house customer success team can get your website up and running with a few simple questions (or show you how to do it on your own) and is here to help with anything you need. Get qualified here or email event@golfstatus.org.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) has joined forces with GolfStatus.org as its official partner for golf event fundraisers, including those belonging to Barbara and Jack Nicklaus’s Play Yellow for Children’s Hospitals. With 170 member hospitals across the U.S. and Canada, CMN Hospitals serves 10 million kids each year, providing life-saving research and care in support of its mission to save and improve the lives of children. GolfStatus.org recently caught up with Kyton Sweat of CMN Hospitals’ Ideation team to reflect on the impact of COVID-19 and learn more about how the organization is approaching golf fundraising, technology and innovation amid its challenges.

Kyton Sweat, Senior Manager of Ideation, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals

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GolfStatus.org: Tell us about the Ideation Team at CMN Hospitals. How does the team approach and implement new ideas and programs?

Kyton: Ideation has helped the organization evolve, finding new initiatives, tools, and processes that match up with what CMN Hospitals is doing strategically to fulfill our mission to change kids’ health and change the future. The Ideation team looks at where there might be gaps or issues with a program, works to understand the problem, and finds innovative solutions. 

GolfStatus is a perfect example of how this works. Due to all the issues surrounding COVID-19 during 2020, many of our golf fundraisers were on the brink of cancellation. It’s our job to find the tools and opportunities that produce better outcomes, and this technology was the solution to bringing these tournaments back online.

GolfStatus.org: Why is innovation so important to CMN Hospitals?

Kyton: Leadership has always placed an emphasis on innovation. The ideation team leads this process for the overall organization, but over the last couple years it became apparent that we needed to instill a culture where everyone is an innovator. Hospitals and the kids they serve will always require funding, so it’s imperative that we find new and innovative ways to fill that need and provide the best possible outcomes.

We’re constantly looking forward at what could become a need and staying ahead of the curve so to speak, which has defined our business model. We strive to have an intimate understanding of our partners and of donors’ needs and to be proactive in addressing them. Our work with GolfStatus is forward-thinking in looking to maximize golf fundraising in the future, but also reactionary to unanticipated effects of COVID-19 on fundraising as a whole. It’s been exciting to think about how this technology will result in more dollars raised for our hospitals.

GolfStatus.org: Speaking of COVID-19, what has been the impact on fundraising and what are your thoughts and predictions on the year ahead?

Kyton: Fundraising for CMN Hospitals at all levels has been affected by the pandemic. Many of our partners, hospitals, and foundations rely heavily on fundraising events, which had to be canceled or modified. On the flip side, we also saw some great innovations come about as people found creative ways to modify events and the ways they fundraise out in the field. So in general, fundraising was down, but it pushed our thinking and allowed us to find new avenues and emphasis points that will lead to new and better practices moving forward. While many nonprofits were seeing partners and fundraising evaporate last year, our network retained 100% of our partnerships, showing our strength and value of relationships both old and new.

We’re seeing things start to pick up now, with many events and campaigns planned for the fall. We’re looking for connecting with our donors in flexible and meaningful ways, including virtual and hybrid opportunities. We have to balance the hunger to engage with organizations with the lingering hesitancy of returning to “normal” events. I think this will be an opportunity to expand donor pools, which leaves me hopeful for the future of fundraising.

GolfStatus.org: Why is Play Yellow so important to CMN Hospitals’ fundraising now and in the future?

Kyton: Play Yellow is a strategic priority for us. CMN Hospitals has a long tradition of raising funds for our hospitals through golf. From corporate partner events to local outings and one-off tournaments by celebrities and other passionate supporters, golf events have raised tens of millions of dollars for CMN Hospitals. In an industry that contributes $4 billion per year to charity, the singular platform of Play Yellow has been important to tie all of our golf fundraising together and maximize its potential.

Play Yellow gives us the ability to tell the story of the impact our hospitals are having in communities across the country and further our reach into the golf community. And when you have two supporters in Jack and Barbara Nicklaus helping lead the way, it’s the perfect recipe for success. It lets us engage with the golf community like we never have before.

GolfStatus.org: What’s unique about how CMN Hospitals leverages golf events to fundraise?

Kyton: It’s unique in that we rely on third parties to hold these events on our behalf. What we’re working toward with Play Yellow is to share solutions like GolfStatus that help these tournaments raise more money in a more efficient way and provide an even better experience for organizers, partners, and golfers. I’m really excited to get more hands-on and explore our whole ecosystem of golf tournaments, and how we can better coach them and find where there might be gaps.

What also makes us unique is the overarching view of the different tournaments—including small, mid-level, and national events—and how we can employ GolfStatus, which works at all levels. We want to take the experiences of successful tournaments and share the tools and revenue enhancers for others to replicate. Ultimately, we want to help organizers raise more money for children’s hospitals with less time, effort, and administrative costs.

GolfStatus.org: How is technology helping meet your goals?

Kyton: Whenever we look at new tools and solutions to bring to our organizations and partners, we need to make sure they have the capabilities to do what we need them to do. We work closely with our technology partners to develop the solutions our fundraisers tell us are needed. As technology is used, it’s a collaborative effort to share lessons learned, fill gaps, and find better ways to serve their needs and further connections.

GolfStatus.org: What does the partnership between GolfStatus.org and CMNH bring to the table?

Kyton: It meets our customers where they need help, taking so much work off their already-full plates. It makes our partners happier and tournament organizers don’t have to spend hours dealing with spreadsheets! Plus, we’re able to collect data from tournaments to build out best practices driven by insights. 

I’m really excited to see how this partnership evolves and how much money we can raise for children’s hospitals through golf. We want organizers to know that they can trust GolfStatus’s tech and trust that these tools help them fill their needs to put on a great tournament.

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GolfStatus is proud to be the official golf event management platform for charity golf outings and fundraisers benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

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Those holding golf fundraisers that benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other nonprofits can qualify for no-cost access to GolfStatus’s golf event management technology through the Golf for Good program. Get qualified or email us at events@golfstatus.org.

From opportunities to engage with vendors, partners, and clients to positive public relations and community outreach, a corporate golf event offers tons of benefits. It’s also an especially ideal way to gather as restrictions loosen, but social distancing and crowd limitations linger. But if you’ve ever put on a tournament—a first-year event or an established outing—you know there are a number of component parts to manage, and they don’t always function in sync. Here are some upgrades that can save you time, cast your brand in a positive and professional light, and make the experience all-around better for players and sponsors.

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1. Launch a website for the tournament.

An online presence for your event makes it easier to spread the word across all your marketing channels. The site should feature all pertinent information about your golf event, including available team packages and sponsorships. It should also show off sponsors, include a place for leaderboards during the event (and final results after), and pull in information about the course (namely its location and scorecard). In fact, a well-comprised event website can even typically replace most printed materials (mailers, paper registration packets, and other collateral that must be designed and managed). Instead, simply link directly to the site in event communications and invites, so potential participants can quickly and easily find the information they need and commit to participating in the tournament.

2. Process registrations online.

The registration process is one of the most important touchpoints for any event. A clunky process soaks up your time, increases the likelihood of embarrassing errors, and can be especially frustrating. Having an event website sets you up to upgrade your registration platform and side-step issues. Be sure to choose a platform that functions seamlessly with the website, securely processes payments, and can accommodate needs specific to the golf event (such as the ability to collect handicaps and apparel sizes and the option for registrants to purchase add-ons like raffle tickets and mulligans). As the organizer, you’ll need to be able to access player and sponsor registrations in real-time, and you’ll want a platform that makes it easy to pass that information to the golf facility in the day or so leading up to the event. There’s bound to be last-minute changes, so you’ll want something that makes it easy for staff at the facility to track those and swap out names on cart signs and other materials so every player has a premier experience. 

3. Display your brand professionally. 

When it comes to showcasing your brand, think beyond tee gifts and goodie bags. Display your company logo (or the event’s logo, if it has one) across materials—starting with your event website and including the leaderboards, scorecards, cart signs, and other on-site materials. These subtle and professional impressions continuously associate your company and brand with the great experience of participating in a fun, well-run event.

4. Put the benefitting charity on display. 

Be sure to include information about the charity your event is supporting on your event website. This should include impact imagery and information that tells the story of the cause and the organization. Take a page from the nonprofit sector’s playbook and look for ways to quantify the impact of specific purchases so supporters know how their dollars make a difference. For example: The purchase of one team provides three meals per day for a child in need for three months. This shows people what they’re supporting and, more importantly, why it matters, and encourages them to give generously.

5. Include on-course contests. 

Adding the opportunity to win prizes is a fun and easy way to make a tournament more memorable. A putting contest is a simple addition. Players simply putt for a chance to enter the contest, where they win an exclusive prize if they ultimately sink the final putt. Hole-in-one contests are also worth considering. For these, one or more holes is designated for the contest, giving players the chance to win a prize if they ace that hole. If your event will be hosting vendors, partners, or B2B clients, consider offering a contest sponsorship that covers the costs of facilitating the package. Be sure to take the opportunity to recognize sponsors as well as folks who qualified for the putting contest, and look for opportunities to acknowledge them with on-course signage and other exposure. 

6. Offer live-scoring and leaderboards. 

At a typical golf event, players and/or teams tally their round, turn paper scorecards in at the end, and then congregate around the clubhouse until the final team finishes and scores can be tallied. Live-scoring improves this flow, allowing teams to input their score into a mobile app in real-time on the course; meanwhile, leaderboards display live scores. The upgrade makes the event more engaging; players check their standings and enjoy poking fun at other teams. Be cognizant that the live-scoring platform you choose is clean, sleek, and easy to use, so inputting a score is simple and not distracting for players. Leaderboards should provide an opportunity to showcase your branding as well as the benefitting charity’s branding—tying everything together professionally. It’s also a good idea to inform staff at the golf facility so they can plan to set up scrolling leaderboards on clubhouse TVs and at the on-course comfort station or halfway house.

7. Add the option to participate remotely. 

With social distancing lingering, it’s a good idea to continue to provide options for folk to support your event in both the traditional format and virtually. Essentially, you’ll plan your traditional in-person, one-day outing at the course, then tack on a virtual option that extends over the week, two weeks, or the whole month in which the traditional event occurs. Folks who aren’t comfortable coming out for the one-day event can register for the virtual round and come out to the course on their own time with their own group or alone. This way, they’re still able to participate, experience the outing, and support the cause, while also feeling safe and comfortable. You’ll need to employ some technology here, but—with the right platform—adding a virtual round is very simple and costs nothing. A hybrid event is also a nice option if you’re wanting to allow more participants, but traditionally have a sold-out field.

8. Collect and manage player information.

It’s often the case that the person who is tasked with running the golf event gets to know the people who attend over the years. When the event has been handed off to someone new, or there’s an effort to expand or evolve it in a more intentional and organized fashion, player and sponsor information becomes especially crucial. Who has supported the event in the past and how can they be contacted? The right technology helps you securely and responsibility collect player and sponsor information, so you know exactly who attends and in what capacity. After the event, that information should be imported back into your company’s CRM.

9. Follow up. 

Knowing who is participating and how allows you to follow up and continue to steward meaningful business relationships: thank employees for joining and supporting the event and the cause it supports; reach out to partners with follow-up communications and gifts; leverage the experience to advance and steward relationships with clients. When the time comes to plan next year’s event, the information you need is at your fingertips, and everything is infinitely easier.

Get Started 

GolfStatus provides all the above and more, making it especially easy to upgrade corporate events from start to finish. This includes a professional event website (that can seamlessly be integrated into your business’s site), secure online registration, the ability to manage teams and sponsors, premier branding opportunities, ways to showcase a cause, live-scoring and leaderboards, secure data collection, and much more. It also includes options for virtual events and rounds—so you’re ready for anything.

Best of all, if your event benefits a nonprofit, your business likely qualifies for no-cost access to GolfStatus through GolfStatus.org and the Golf for Good program.

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Corporate support is key to moving the needle for nonprofits of all sizes. From development staff seeking national program sponsors to local organizations looking for an in at businesses in their communities, these relationships are vital to increasing exposure—and funding—for nonprofits’ missions. The introduction to these relationships is often the hardest part, but the golf event presents an especially attractive entry point to corporate entities. Indeed, the golf fundraiser often opens the door to high-level donor relationships that can be stewarded to secure support for programs and future events and developed into strategic long-term partnerships. It’s a snowball effect quite unlike any other.

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Why the Golf Event is Attractive 

There are many factors that make golf tournaments especially popular among sponsors. Golf offers people the chance to be outdoors and participate in an activity they genuinely enjoy while supporting a worthy cause, making the golf outing a fun community event with a ton of brand lift for corporate sponsors. Charity golf tournaments, particularly longstanding events that benefit a well-known organization, also tend to attract press coverage, giving sponsors even more mileage for their investment in your golf event, and subsequently, your cause.

It’s also no secret that business gets done on the golf course. Business professionals are keenly aware of how much can be accomplished in the four hours they have with potential partners and clients on the golf course. These opportunities are priceless from a networking standpoint, so be mindful when assigning teams to holes for the event. You might, for example, pair a board member from your organization with an executive from a business that is a potential corporate sponsor to help advance the relationship.

Soliciting Event Sponsors

Businesses are looking for a win-win when it comes to sponsoring events. They want to get in front of potential clients and customers with premium brand exposure. What makes golf events unique is their demographic: golfers are generally affluent and influential members of the community. Target businesses in industries like food and beverage, healthcare, sports and fitness, business and financial services, home services, luxury brands and services, and travel. Start with existing relationships and lean on your volunteers and board members. Local businesses are great, but don’t be afraid to reach out to regional and national companies, particularly those that may be headquartered or have offices in your area.

While brand exposure is certainly important, it’s not always the driving factor in why a sponsor chooses to invest in your event. In many cases, they simply want to support a community event and a great cause. Keep this in mind when seeking sponsors. Look for organizations with a track record of community involvement or give-back initiatives. Use your network and contacts for a first contact if possible, but if you’re making a cold ask, look for individuals in public relations, communication, human resources, community engagement, or marketing positions at larger businesses.

Collect Donor & Sponsor Data

There is a great deal of power in the donor data that comes from players and sponsors supporting your golf event. The simple reality is this—you can’t onboard and steward the donors and sponsors that are introduced to your organization from your golf event if you don’t know who they are. Collecting this data is imperative, and luckily, doesn’t have to be a headache. Technology can make this simple and painless. An event website with online registration and secure payment processing makes capturing each golfer and sponsor’s information easy. Look for a platform that allows you to track and manage registrant and sponsor information in real-time, with an option to export data to your donor CRM and/or donor database. Consider using tags or notations to track the years donors and sponsors participated in your golf event and at what level. This background will be helpful in the future, when you return to these relationships to make asks for future events and steward them into larger corporate partnerships.

Event Follow-up & Stewardship

One of the best—and easiest—ways to steward corporate donors is through a genuine thank-you. Publicly thank your event sponsors on your event website, your organization’s social media, in promotional emails about the golf event, and at the event whenever possible. You can also express appreciation for sponsors in press releases and media interviews; be sure to mention them by name.

In the weeks following the event, be sure to send a sincere, personal thank you to your contact at the sponsoring business. Recruit board members, planning committee members, or other volunteers to hand-write thank you notes and make phone calls that also express the impact made by their support. This personal touch goes a long way in establishing a foundation for a longer-term relationship.

The next step is to follow up about working with the sponsor in other ways. Depending on the work your nonprofit does, this could include in-kind donations, employees volunteering with your organization, or exposure for your cause to employees and partners. Ask if they have a workplace giving program and if your organization could be designated as a recipient or if there are matching opportunities for donations. Aligning their business with your cause helps lift their brand, so be generous in sharing their contributions on social media, your website, in newsletters, and other appropriate places. Invite them to participate in other events, programming, and fundraisers, setting the stage for future commitments.

It All Starts With a great Golf Event

The foundation for long-term corporate relationships starts with a well-organized, professional outing that businesses want to put their name on, sponsorship tiers that encourage them to do so, and a process that’s easy, sleek, and professional.

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Get qualified for no-cost access to GolfStatus’s event management technology through the Golf for Good program.

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The calendar has flipped to 2021 and, while a return to normalcy looks to be on the horizon, social distancing and other safety requirements are likely to linger into spring and summer. Uncertainty makes it tough to know how to proceed with in-person fundraising events, but there’s good news on several fronts when it comes to golf fundraisers. With record interest and participation in golf (one of few pandemic-friendly activities) and the ability to seamlessly modify events for social distancing and virtual participation, golf fundraisers are more viable and more important than ever before. With all the uncertainty ahead, you’ll need flexibility and options. Here are four ways to approach a golf fundraiser in 2021 and what you’ll need to make it happen.

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1. Modify A Traditional Golf Tournament for social distancing.

Golf tournaments are surprisingly easy to adapt for social distancing and safety. Tournaments are, of course, largely held outdoors in an open environment that can be made almost entirely contact-free. Start by implementing online registration, which allows your organization to collect payment and registrations online ahead of the event (instead of by mail or the day of the outing). Be sure to leverage your event website to market your outing and spread the word, and also to provide sponsors with additional exposure.

Be aware of rule changes at your facility. You can expect clubhouse capacity limits, field size limits, rules like one person per cart and no touching the flag stick, additional sanitation efforts, mask mandates, and social distancing requirements. Implementing simple modifications like switching to a tee time format and skipping a banquet or other post-round gathering (or limiting capacity and holding it outdoors) can mitigate contact and provide a way to safely hold an event.

You’ll also want to implement mobile scoring to not only remove the touchpoint of paper scorecards, but to facilitate live leaderboards for another high-visibility sponsorship opportunity and the chance to prompt players and online spectators to donate before, during, and after the event.

2. Go Completely Virtual.

A virtual golf event is played over an extended period of time at one or more golf courses, using technology to collect scores and track them on live leaderboards. Golfers play on their own time (individually or on teams) and submit their scores via mobile app. Unlike traditional golf tournaments where golfers gather at a course at a specific date at a specific time, virtual events don’t typically require you to reserve an entire golf facility, eliminating green fees (typically the event’s most significant cost). The course also remains open for regular play.

To pull off a virtual golf event, you’ll need technology for a few key reasons. You’ll need to be able to collect registrations online over an extended period of time. Live scoring functionality is a must, not only to display scores in an aggregate leaderboard, but also keep golfers and spectators engaged over the course of a week- or month-long outing. Be sure to take advantage of website and leaderboard exposure by offering sponsors a Technology Sponsorship.

3. Add a virtual round to a traditional outing.

Adding a virtual round to an in-person event is another great option. If you go this route, you’ll plan a traditional in-person event (likely modified as advised above for social distancing), then simultaneously run a virtual event over the course of the weekend, week, or month that your event takes place.

When you add a virtual round to a traditional event, you still enjoy a traditional on-site event by capping the field size (i.e. limiting the number of participants) to stay safe without disappointing folks who didn’t register in time but still want to support the outing. Whether it’s a scheduling conflict or a sold-out event, it’s often the case that people who want to participant don’t get to do so. A virtual round gives them an opportunity to register and play on their own time and, because virtual rounds can include multiple courses and an extended period of time, there’s essentially no limit to the number of supporters they can add to your event.

It’s also worth noting that there are typically no green fees with virtual rounds, so the additional dollars raised are rarely offset by costs. If you’re using GolfStatus, a virtual round can be added to any tournament at no cost. You can also sell digital exposure for virtual rounds on the event website, through the live-scoring app, and on the virtual event’s leaderboard.

This is a great option for larger nonprofits with an established presence in the community and a long-standing event because it allows folks across the community to engage with the event, without forcing your organization to incur the costs and risks associated with renting the golf facility for another day to expand the event and having to fill an entire additional field. It’s also a great option for smaller, lesser-established nonprofits and first- or second-year fundraisers that are trying to gain more support, because it removes challenges and barriers to entry for participants, making the tournament easier and more convenient to play in for first-timers.

4. Hold a Traditional Tournament with a virtual back-up plan (just in case).

The beauty of a hybrid golf fundraiser—especially in an era of uncertainty—is that it lets event organizers adapt quickly and easily. If you’re hoping for an in-person event, but hesitant to put all your eggs in one basket, consider a virtual event as a back-up plan in case local restrictions change and the event has to be canceled or modified. GolfStatus makes it surprisingly easy to set this in motion. With a free event website and access to its golf management platform, you can update event details instantly. Use GolfStatus’s messaging functionality to email all registrants for a specific tournament to keep them up to date on plans to go virtual as needed. The ability to manage registrations and teams in real-time keeps you and your committee organized. If you decide to go virtual, you’ll simply issue teams and individuals a live-scoring code and ask them to submit their scores through the free GolfStatus app before the deadline you set for the event.

Get started

Even amid uncertainty, know that with the right technology, your organization has options. And, with GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program and top-rated in-house customer success team, you have all the tools, tips, and help you need—no matter which path you take.

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Planning a golf fundraiser that benefits a 501(c) organization? You likely qualify for no cost access to GolfStatus through our Golf for Good program. Email events@golfstatus.com or click the button below to learn more.

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Thoughts on the Current Fundraising Climate, the Challenges ahead & Golf as a Fundraising Mechanism

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)—the world’s largest community of fundraisers—recently announced a new partnership with GolfStatus.org. We sat down with AFP President and CEO Mike Geiger, MBA, CPA to discuss fundraising, golf, partnerships, challenges, and the future.

AFP President and CEO Mike Geiger, MBA, CPA

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GolfStatus.org: Thanks for sitting down with us to talk about this new partnership and fundraising in general.

Mike: Thank you for inviting me—more than happy to talk with you. We’re really excited about collaborating with GolfStatus.org and what you can bring to our members. Plus, personally, I don’t ever mind spending a little time on a golf course, especially given the times we’re in. It can be very relaxing.

GolfStatus.org: Speaking of, how are fundraising professionals overcoming the challenges of the current fundraising climate? 

Mike: This is one of the most unique and challenging environments the fundraising profession and charitable sector have ever been in. We don’t know how long COVID-19 will last, and there are economic, social, and personal impacts that may be with us for a long time. Dealing with COVID-19 was already a rollercoaster of emotions, and then we experienced the anger, frustration, sadness, and pain of the last several weeks, watching the U.S. and the world respond to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and countless other people of color.

There’s been a lot of change, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the need for fundraising. Yes, we need to approach people with empathy and sensitivity. But we still have to approach them. We cannot turn down our fundraising when the needs of our communities have only increased, not decreased.

We have to remember that our donors want to support causes. They want to let their principles and values be known. They want to have a voice and create impact. And with many in isolation, they will want to talk with us about everything—how they’re feeling, how they have been impacted, what they think we should do. Fundraisers can be an important outlet when we communicate with them.

I like to say, fundraising is the IMPACT profession, and now we have an opportunity to show just how important our organization is and the impact we create. But more than ever we need to understand our donor base. Who’s most in jeopardy for not giving anymore this year? Who could use a little personal contact in order to ensure their gifts? And how do we best communicate with them all? 

I would suggest three things. One, take a deep dive into your database and separate donors by group and who needs to be contacted. Two, this is the time to ASK your donors what they want and need during these times. How awesome will they feel to be sent a communication that doesn’t ask them for money, but instead what they’re thinking about what’s happening in their life and how you can be their partner. 

Third and finally, develop action plans for every three months or whatever works for your organization. It’s very easy to get bogged down, with just the pressures of working from home, trying to keep in touch with everyone remotely, and the constantly changing environment. One way to help keep staff, donors, and others focused and energize is to have shorter plans (three months, for six months out, and for the rest of the year). What can you accomplish in three months that you can then celebrate and use the momentum from for the next three months?

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“There’s a natural connection between fundraising and golf—both in terms of reaching out to donors and providing supporters with sponsorship opportunities.”

— AFP President & CEO Mike Geiger, MBA, CPA

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GolfStatus.org: When it comes to fundraising, what value does the golf event bring? 

Mike: I think there’s a natural connection to fundraising and golf—both in terms of reaching out to donors and providing supporters with sponsorship opportunities. What’s interesting is that during the pandemic, golf courses are reporting significant increases in usage. Playing golf is a way to get outside and be social but in a smaller, more confined group. I think golf and golf events are important opportunities that charities and fundraisers should consider as they think about their development plans moving forward.

GolfStatus.org: What impact can technology have on the operational, budgetary, and time-management challenges nonprofits face?

Mike: Technology is absolutely critical when it comes to fundraising, and there are two main aspects. One is using technology to comb through your database and find the donors and potential donors who could really make an impact on your organization. Charities miss out on significant opportunities if they don’t have the appropriate technology to really make use of their database and all of the information it contains.

Second, we as a profession have to use technology better when it comes to automating processes and making our lives easier. Whether it’s for shepherding online donations or managing all of the aspects of a special event like a golf tournament, we can be so much more effective and efficient with better technology. I think anytime you work with a partner like GolfStatus.org that can provide event management software and mobile apps which help event organizers streamline outings to save time and raise more dollars can be really powerful.

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“Technology is absolutely critical when it comes to fundraising.”

— AFP President & CEO Mike Geiger, MBA, CPA

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GolfStatus.org: How does the partnership between GolfStatus.org and AFP align with AFP’s efforts to help fundraising professionals and the sector as a whole? 

Mike: AFP’s goal is to provide our members with the programs and resources they need to raise funds and create impact in their communities, and one of the most critical ways we do that is by working with outstanding partners who share our values. GolfStatus.org has a unique niche in the philanthropic world, and they understand both what fundraisers need, as well as the ethical principles and values that support their work. That’s really important to me and to all of AFP. Golf events can be valuable fundraising and donor stewardship events, so the resources, technology, and tools that GolfStatus.org can provide will help our members in reaching their goals and creating impact in their communities. 

GolfStatus.org: We’re looking forward to our partnership and are so excited about working with AFP members. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Mike.

This article first appeared on AFPGlobal.org in a July 2020 blog post.

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GolfStatus.org is a proud partner of the Association of Fundraising Professionals

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Interest in learning more about GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program? Submit an inquiry here to get qualified or email us directly at

events@golfstatus.org.

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