School Plans Golf Fundraiser in just Six Weeks to Raise $47,000 for Scholarship Fund
In his first six weeks on the job as Director of Development at Brazos Christian School (BCS) in Bryan, Texas, Clay Jackson settled into a new job, battled COVID-19, was appointed varsity golf coach, and even welcomed a new baby to his family. He also planned and executed a lucrative golf fundraiser from start to finish—for the first time.
Though it’s not ideal to plan a golf tournament in a matter of weeks, with the help of GolfStatus’s golf event management platform, the event went off without a hitch and raised over $47,000 for the school’s Thomas Scott Moore Memorial Scholarship Fund.
DOLLARS RAISED
$47,000
SPONSORS
25
FIELD SIZE
17 TEAMS
TECH SPONSORSHIP SELLING PRICE
$7,500
Organization Snapshot
BCS is a non-denominational school that serves roughly 450 students in preschool through 12th grade. Since 1981, BCS has provided families with the same academics, activities, and opportunities as public school, but with a Christian focus.
The longstanding annual golf tournament had traditionally been held in the fall over its 17 year tenure, but after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, it was moved to February. The event raises money specifically for the Thomas Scott Moore Memorial Scholarship Fund, which honors a 4th grade student who tragically passed away in 2010 and provides financial assistance to families to attend BCS. The fund has grown from $50,000 to an endowment of $1.2 million, thanks to the proceeds of the golf tournament. “We really want folks to understand that the tournament is raising money for a great cause,” says Clay.
The Challenge
When Clay started on at BCS in January, he found a long list of things undone for the golf fundraiser. First and foremost, he locked in the date with the Traditions Club at Texas A&M. Once the date was finalized, Clay turned his attention to promoting the tournament. He knew he needed a place to send folks to register and pay online. “Our school didn’t have any means of online payment processing,” Clay says. The tournament had previously relied on paper mailers and registration forms, but with the tournament just weeks away, there simply wouldn’t be enough time to go this route.
The Solution
Clay first started exploring generic event management platforms, not thinking that a solution existed specifically for golf tournaments. He stumbled onto Nonprofit Tech for Good’s website and came across a guest post by GolfStatus. “I thought, here’s everything I need to make this golf tournament happen!” Clay says. What’s more, because BCS is a nonprofit, the tournament qualified for GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program, which gave Clay access to the entire golf event management and fundraising platform at no cost.
Clay reached out to GolfStatus and in less than 48 hours had an attractive, fully-functioning, live event website ready to accept registrations and sell sponsorships. The GolfStatus team worked closely with Clay to walk him through the software and make sure he was comfortable navigating the software’s back end. “GolfStatus literally took ¾ of what I was worried about off my plate and made it work,” Clay says.
An attractive event website with online registration saved Clay a ton of time and made it easy to promote the event to golfers and sponsors.
“GolfStatus literally took ¾ of what I was worried about off my plate and made it work.”
The Results
Event Website & Online Registration
The online platform saved time and money almost immediately. Historically, the school spent around $1000 to print and mail flyers and registration forms (and as a result, was forced to track down payments and send receipts weeks or even months after the tournament). Clay simply included a QR code with a link to the event website on flyers that were sent home in students’ backpacks and a direct link in emails, social media, and on the school’s website where people could purchase team and sponsorship packages instantly. “It’s so much easier to send folks to a website!” Clay says.
When golfers and sponsors registered through the website, their information automatically populated the software’s back end, where Clay could see who had registered, which sponsorships had been sold, and the sponsor logos uploaded. “Online registration was awesome—it was exactly what I was looking for and more,” Clay says.
Sponsorship Success
The additional digital exposure provided through the GolfStatus platform—on the event website and the mobile app—allowed Clay to raise the price of hole sponsorships from $200 to $400. Hole sponsorships sold out, leading to an extra $3,600 raised without any additional costs to the school. What’s more, the presenting sponsorship (which included GolfStatus’s exclusive technology sponsorship plus additional recognition) sold for $7,500. The tournament also added a hole-in-one contest with a $10,000 cash prize and sold a sponsorship for $3,000.
Live Scoring
Clay and his wife welcomed a new baby the day before the golf tournament. He had wisely connected a co-worker with the GolfStatus team the week before, who walked her through starting the tournament and the basics of the software so everything would run smoothly. The tournament utilized live scoring for the event—golfers entered their scores via the free GolfStatus mobile app, which synced to live leaderboards so Clay (and others) could follow along with the round’s progress and even solicit additional donations. “It was a great way for me to follow along, and let staff on site know when they should prep for the awards ceremony,” Clay says. He heard from golfers who loved being able to track other teams on the live leaderboards and trash talk across the golf course.
Teams submitted scores on the GolfStatus mobile app, which automatically synced to live leaderboards where golfers and spectators could follow along.
Responsive Support
GolfStatus’s responsive, in-house customer success team was there every step of the way, answering questions from golfers trying to register and addressing any issues. A snafu with the golf course’s updated course layout meant a last minute panic on incorrect scorecards. “I reached out via the support chat during the Super Bowl!” Clay laughs, and says that by halftime, everything was fixed and new scorecards ready to go. “I was blown away by the customer success team and their amazing response time,” he says.
“I don’t know how I could have successfully pulled off this event at the level we did without using GolfStatus.”
“I don’t know how I could have successfully pulled off this event at the level we did without using GolfStatus,” Clay says. “The short turnaround meant there wasn’t enough time to do it the way that it had always been done. GolfStatus made my life a million times easier.”
Planning a Golf Fundraiser?
Leverage GolfStatus’s robust event management platform built just for golf, with built-in fundraising tools to help you raise more money for your organization or cause. Qualifying 501(c) organizations and those holding events that benefit one can get access to GolfStatus’s golf tournament management software at no cost, including a free event website, online registration, 24/7 support, and features to handle all the golf logistics that save you a ton of time. Click the link below to get qualified or email [email protected].