Surfing Florida Museum Partners With GolfStatus & BackSwing Golf for Its First Annual Golf Fundraiser
Surfing is part of the fabric of life in Palm Beach County, Florida. The Surfing Florida Museum was created to preserve and share the history of surfing in Florida. Its collection highlights the area’s rich surfing history through rare archive photos, club jerseys and memorabilia, a collection of historic surfboards, and curated local art.
As a completely volunteer-driven organization, the Surfing Florida Museum relies on donations and events to fund its pop-up exhibits and long-term goal of opening a permanent location. Several board members had been pushing the idea of a golf tournament fundraiser for several years, and finally decided it was time to make it happen.
First annual golf fundraiser
Susan French has a long history in the surfing industry, owning and working in surf shops before becoming the accountant at the Surfing Florida Museum. She worked closely with Scott McCranels, an orthodontist, legendary surfer, and a major backer of the museum, to make the golf tournament a reality. While Scott had played in several golf tournaments, he’d never planned one from the ground up, so they needed some guidance and infrastructure to plan the event.
The Surfing Florida Museum Golf Fundraiser was nominated for Play It Forward, a give-back campaign from GolfStatus and Dormie Network Foundation. Scott and Susan connected with the GolfStatus team and liked what they heard—particularly that the event qualified to use GolfStatus’ software at no cost through the Golf for Good program. They got set up with an event website where people could learn more about the organization, register to play in the event, or become a sponsor, plus access to GolfStatus’ entire golf-specific tournament management platform to handle all the golf details.
Getting a new fundraiser off the ground presented some challenges for the planning team, in terms of creating processes, building a base of golfers and sponsoring businesses, and finding effective ways to promote the event. “Next year will be easier in several ways, especially because people will have heard about it or already played in the tournament and had a great time,” says Susan. She and Scott reached out to companies in the surfing community to sponsor the event, and had a good response, both in terms of purchased sponsorships, playing in the event, or making a monetary or in-kind donation.
Overall, the first-year event raised over $28,000, a great haul for a small, inaugural event. With several team spots still open about a month before the tournament, the planning team decided to switch things up and open registration to single golfers or twosomes, which were then grouped together to create foursomes. “We found that some people didn’t want to commit to a foursome, so this was a good option to get more golfers involved,” Susan says.
Backswing golf events
Scott had chatted with a friend who had played in a golf tournament where they had a “beat the pro” contest featuring a pro from BackSwing Golf Events. BackSwing Golf Events is a group of lady professional golfers who provide on-course activities, contests, and additional fundraising. At the same time, BackSwing helps support female golfers trying to make it on the LPGA tour
The pros at BackSwing Golf Events
The museum board met with BackSwing and were impressed with what they had to offer, so they got on board to have them at the tournament. Pro Michaela Linn, who also plays on the Epson tour, was stationed on one of the course’s holes for a “beat the pro” contest. Golfers essentially bet on whether or not they could hit a better tee-shot than Michaela.
“Michaela was super professional and made the tournament more than just the usual 18 holes of golf,” Susan says. “We were really impressed. It was a fun addition to the event.” Susan says the BackSwing pro helped them raise over $2,000 extra dollars for the museum. BackSwing’s business model is a 50/50 split of whatever is raised through their presence on the golf course.
GolfStatus has partnered with BackSwing Golf Events as a vendor in its Marketplace. Susan says GolfStatus’ backing was a plus in making the decision to use BackSwing. “Knowing that GolfStatus has teamed up with BackSwing lets us know they’re a legitimate option to raise more money.”
“Knowing that GolfStatus has teamed up with BackSwing lets us know they’re a legitimate option to raise more money.”
leveraging technology
Susan and the museum’s CPA used GolfStatus’ reporting feature to track registrations, sponsorships, payments, and donations. Once golfers or sponsors registered via the event website, their information dropped into the software’s backend, where the planning team could see real-time participant information and quickly export reports for financial purposes.
GolfStatus’ in-house support team was available to help Susan, as well as golfers, with any questions or issues. “A couple people reached out with questions about registration and the guys at GolfStatus were there to help right away. The support team was great!” Susan says. She worked closely with her dedicated rep to update sponsor logos and event site content. “I had a million questions, but the support team was so helpful and responsive! GolfStatus was definitely a plus for our golf tournament.”
“I had a million questions, but the support team was so helpful and responsive! GolfStatus was definitely a plus for our golf tournament.”
The Surfing Florida Museum’s golf event was held in late October, with the holidays just around the corner. Because the museum’s website doesn’t have the capabilities to collect donations, Susan worked with the Client Success team at GolfStatus to tweak its event website to help a donation push around the holidays. “That was nice to use since we were already set up to process payments through GolfStatus and the site was there,” Susan says.
Surfing Florida Museum shifted the focus of their GolfStatus event website to collect donations over the holidays.
Golf for good
GolfStatus’ Golf for Good program gives qualifying nonprofits, charities, and those planning golf fundraisers on their behalf access to its golf event management platform at no cost. GolfStatus streamlines prep and planning to save busy organizers a ton of time and its built-in fundraising tools and exclusive sponsorships help raise thousands more dollars. Whether you’re kicking off a new event or looking for ways to improve a decades old event, GolfStatus can help. Plus, our in-house support team has your back every step of the way. Ready to get started? Click below to get qualified!