10 Tips for Choosing Software for Your Golf Fundraiser

When it comes to fundraising events, there are plenty of event management platform options out there: CRMs, event-specific platforms, ticketing platforms, peer-to-peer platforms, and more. But how will these work for your golf fundraiser? Can they handle the specific nuances of a golf tournament? Will they make your life easier or require workarounds and adaptations to make it function the way you need it to?

The last thing you need is costly, complicated software that drains your time and resources instead of driving fundraising. As you evaluate software options for your golf event, here are some crucial questions to ask:

1. Will it help raise money?

If the goal of your golf tournament is to raise money, you’ll want a platform that comes with built-in tools that help facilitate fundraising, including the ability to collect donations (plus a way to set a donation goal and track your progress), the option for registrants to cover any fees, exclusive sponsorships and add-ons that drive revenue, and easy ways to receive your funds. It should also feature an attractive event website that serves as the home page for the tournament and presents your organization and sponsoring businesses in a professional light, with user flows that make it easy to complete transactions.

2. Is it easy to use?

When technology isn’t straightforward and easy to use and learn, your attention isn’t where it needs to be—attracting golfers, connecting with donors, selling sponsorships, and providing a great overall tournament experience. Tournament management software should be intuitive, so anyone on your staff or planning team can create an event in minutes and make changes, additions, and updates as necessary. If your organization holds multiple events, be sure the platform can easily duplicate events and has organization-level tools to standardize logos and branding.

3. Will it save time & effort?

Technology can certainly automate time-consuming tasks and manual labor, but poorly designed software, or tools that aren’t quite what you need, can quickly offset the time-saving benefits of technology with additional training, troubleshooting, and complicated workarounds. Choose a solution that’s both powerful enough to meet your needs and simple enough that you won’t spend hours training staff, trying to work out adaptations, and fixing problems. Look for features that ease common tournament planning pain points, like online registration, robust reporting, one-click hole assignments, live scoring, and sponsor onboarding. Any software solution should keep you organized by tracking golfer, sponsor, and donor information in the platform’s backend. What’s more, you should be able to easily export donor data for seamless inclusion in your nonprofit’s donor database.

4. Does it help promote my tournament?

Experienced tournament organizers and event planners will tell you that every fundraising event you hold should come with an event website. When evaluating event management software, ensure that it can generate a clean, sleek, well-designed event website where players and sponsors can find more information, register a team or sponsor the event, and submit secure payment. With an event site, promotion becomes as easy as sharing a link in email campaigns, social media, your organization’s website, and even on printed pieces with a QR code. This way folks can commit to your tournament right when they hear about it, instead of filling out a paper registration form and finding a stamp to mail it back.

5. Does it make my event look professional?

Tournament software should enhance the overall look and feel of your event. The best software lends a professional experience to every aspect of your tournament and gives it instant credibility, which can be especially helpful for first-year events. Processes and materials that look outdated or unsightly can cheapen your event, which can influence the caliber of players and sponsors it attracts. The ultimate goal is to provide a professional experience from the moment someone hears about your tournament and visits your event site to when they submit their team’s score on the live scoring app.

6. Does it include live scoring?

A golf-specific feature—sometimes underrated and underused by tournament organizers—to look for in your tournament management software is live scoring. Teams input their scores on a mobile app, which syncs in real-time to live leaderboards that allows golfers to see hole-by-hole standings, helps organizers judge the round’s progress and keep the overall event moving smoothly, and expedites finalizing the tournament’s results because there’s no need for golf staff to hunt down paper scorecards. Look for a solution that offers professional, glitch-free live scoring with a leaderboard sponsorship that offers digital exposure that can be sold at a premium.

7. can i share access with my team & the golf facility?

Web-based platforms give tournament organizers, planning teams, and even golf course staff the freedom to access everything that goes into launching and organizing an event from anywhere. Be sure the software you’re considering allows user access permissions as needed so your team can easily collaborate with each other and the golf course using up-to-the-minute information.

8. how much does it cost?

With limited budgets, nonprofits need solutions that work well and don’t cost a fortune. Software that’s so expensive that it forces you to limit resources in other areas isn’t actually saving time or money. When choosing a tournament software platform, certainly consider baseline costs, if there’s a cost per user or for support, and look out for hidden fees, any upcharges, and tricky contracts. Many solutions offer extremely limited access at no cost and then charge substantially more for necessary features. Look for straightforward pricing, fees, and payout procedures.

9. what about the golf facility?

Golf staff at your host golf facility stand to benefit from tournament management software as much as you and your planning team do. You should be able to share access to the platform with golf professional staff, so they can assist with finalizing hole assignments, flighting, tie-breakers, and other golf-specific tasks in the days leading up to the event. Look for pre-formatted printouts, like scorecards, cart signs, and alpha lists, so golf staff can literally just hit “print” instead of having to create these pieces from scratch, saving them hours of time and allowing them to provide better service to you and your tournament’s golfers. Some golf facilities have an internal system in place they rely on to manage and execute outside events, but at your request, they should be willing to accommodate whatever platform you decide to use.

10. Will someone be available to help me?

Failure to provide adequate support is, unfortunately, common among software providers. Be sure to ask about the support you can expect to receive. Are support staff in-house or out-sourced? As a user, do you have immediate access to the support you need leading up to your event? During your event? After? Is support available seven days a week and what tools are available to assist your team and the golf facility during certain timeframes, such as in the evenings and on weekends when events are in full swing?

get qualified for tournament management software—at no cost

GolfStatus’ mission is to help nonprofits tap into golf’s given power by providing tools, resources, and support to plan and execute golf fundraisers. Through the Golf for Good program, nonprofits and those planning golf events to raise money for one can qualify to use GolfStatus’ tournament management software at no upfront cost. Get a professional event website, online registration and payment processing, live scoring, exclusive sponsorships and add-ons, and live support seven days a week to make your next golf event the best one yet. Click below to learn more and get qualified.