There’s no nonprofit fundraising event quite like a charity golf tournament. It’s a fun, social event that not only raises money, but boosts awareness for your organization and cause, forges or strengthens partnerships, fosters corporate support, and broadens your donor pool.

Because golf tournaments have so much potential to move nonprofits forward, it’s in your best interest to attract as many golfers as possible to play in your event. Here are 11 quick ideas to get golfers interested in your tournament.

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1. use an event website

If there’s one non-negotiable for a successful golf tournament, it’s an event website. You’ll meet people where they already are—online—to share information about your tournament and what you’re raising money for in a professional manner. Share the link in all your promotional materials to drive traffic to the website where they can commit as soon as they hear about the tournament.

2. make registration as easy as possible

Online registration is the standard for events these days, and golf tournaments are no different. It’s quick, convenient, and saves everyone—organizers and golfers alike—time and hassle. Everyone is busy, so an event site equipped with a simple registration checkout process is key to getting them on board. Be sure that the website is mobile-friendly so golfers can register right from their phones!

3. make it irresistible

It starts by understanding your target audience and what would appeal to them. Would they be interested in golfing at (and paying the corresponding registration fee) a high-end, private club? Or is a public course with a lower registration fee more appealing? Both can be a draw for golfers, depending on your supporters’ preferences. Attractive prizes, memorable add-ons, alternative or inclusive formats, and fun contests also go a long way toward getting golfers to say “yes” to your event, so highlight these throughout your promotions.

4. get in touch with past event participants & supporters

If yours is an existing event, start with past golfers. Invite them to come back and play in support of your mission. You might offer a special discount code or registration rate for returning players to sweeten the deal. If you’re getting a new golf event up and running, reach out to past participants in other events your nonprofit has held or participated in. Ask your loyal supporters to share the word about the upcoming golf tournament. You might provide some copy/paste verbiage or social graphics they can use on their personal channels.

5. leverage sponsors & other partners

Sponsors are a major part of your golf tournament’s success. Leverage their participation and networks to help attract players. Sponsors and businesses will often use charity golf tournaments to entertain clients, woo prospects, network, and even reward employees, so it makes sense to build a team or two into some of your sponsorship packages. Not only does this add value, but it also helps fill your tournament’s field in the process. You might also consider providing promotional assets (logos, verbiage, graphics, etc.) to your sponsors and invite them to share them on their social media platforms and with their employees.

6. get your board & planning teams involved

Ask each member of your nonprofit’s board and tournament planning committee to think of five to 10 contacts they’ll invite to play in the event. This bite-sized request makes it easy for them to follow up and broadens your pool of potential golfers. Set them up for success with talking points or email templates to help with their outreach.

7. send promotional emails

Email marketing is a cost-effective way to cast a wide net of potential golfers. Start with a save-the-date email to last year’s golfers and sponsors and/or your nonprofit’s email list as soon as you finalize the date and course. Send strategic reminder emails at intervals leading up to the tournament date. Consider adding an early bird registration period or a registration closing date to help create urgency among potential participants and get them to commit earlier.

8. use social media effectively

Social media is another cost-effective promotional vehicle for your event. Utilize your nonprofit’s presence to drive registrations via your event website. Create a Facebook event and make your planning team co-hosts so they can invite their networks to register and widen your reach. Tap into Facebook groups—there are often groups strictly for sharing nonprofit fundraising events, golf tournaments, or community events. If you have a few dollars to spare, consider a limited paid ad campaign that targets a specific geographic area or interests. If you spend even $100, but get one or two teams to register as a result, you’ve gotten good ROI!

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using social media to amplify your golf fundraiser

Download this free guide to find out how to leverage social media to make the most out of your charity golf tournament and raise the most money possible for your cause!

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9. Promote it to your community

Your community likely has event boards, community calendars, or other similar avenues to promote local events. Submit your tournament to such channels, and consider reaching out to local television and radio stations with a press release or an ask to list on their website. Use community gathering spots such as grocery stores, coffee shops, libraries, community centers, gyms, churches, or other locations to post flyers (with a QR code that links to your event site) advertising your tournament. The host golf facility may be willing to post flyers in the clubhouse as well, so don’t be afraid to ask!

10. leverage your tech stack

When you use GolfStatus to host your golf tournament website and manage your event, your tournament reaches tens of thousands of avid golfers in your area who actively look for local charity tournaments to play in. Your event will be listed on events.golfstatus.com as well as on the GolfStatus mobile app, helping you reach new golfers—and potential new supporters.

11. connect golfers to your cause

Be sure to help golfers understand 1. what they’re supporting by playing golf and 2. the impact of their participation on your work. Use your event website to help tell the story, and build in elements of cause connection to your tournament to help golfers get a tangible understanding—such as one team registration feeds a shelter pet for a month—of how they’re helping move your mission forward. You might use banners, signage, displays, guest speakers, beneficiary testimonials, or elements of on-course games to drive home the goals of the tournaments.

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No-Risk, No-Cost Tech for Your Next Golf Event

No matter if you’re holding your first golf tournament or your twentieth, you need a golf-specific event management tool to make your life easier. GolfStatus’ robust platform is built to handle the unique needs that come with a golf event, like team pairings, hole assignments, handicaps, and more. Built-in fundraising features and exclusive revenue-boosting add-ons and sponsorships help raise more money for your cause, while automations and our industry-leading support team help save you time and effort. Best of all, nonprofits can qualify for a free event website and no-cost access to the GolfStatus platform through the Golf for Good program. Click below to learn more and get qualified!

Ready to get started?

Click here to get qualified to use GolfStatus at no cost!

Golf has a ton of giving power. For nonprofits, a golf tournament is the chance to raise mission-critical dollars, engage supporters, build relationships, and ultimately, do more good. And while planning a tournament isn’t a small undertaking, the good news for nonprofit event planners is that the right technology can make it easier, more efficient, and more lucrative to organize a successful golf fundraiser.

So whether you’re planning your first golf tournament or your fiftieth, here are seven ways tournament management tech can upgrade and improve your golf fundraiser.

1. It Makes It Easier on Everybody

Golf tournaments come with a number of moving parts and specifics to handle that are much different than those that come with a gala or auction. Using tech tailored specifically to a golf event makes it simple to handle the golf details, like flighting, handicaps, tie-breakers, and live scoring. You’ll keep everything organized in one easily-accessible place, so you, your planning team, and even the golf facility staff are all on the same page and working with up-to-the-minute information and not bouncing between multiple platforms and spreadsheets.

Golf facilities love tech that makes it easier on them, too—they’ll spend less time in the back office creating cart signs, rules sheets, and alpha lists and more time out front assisting you and your tournament’s golfers.

2. You’ll Save Time, Resources & Effort

It starts with an event registration website with secure payment processing, where golfers, prospective sponsors, and supporters can learn more about your organization and event and commit to participating with just a few clicks. So instead of creating a costly promotional mailer, then asking supporters to fill out the form, track down a stamp, and mail it back, you simply share a link where folks can register online with a few simple, secure clicks.

Online registrations should automatically flow into the software’s backend, where you can instantly find golfer, sponsor, and payment information. That means no processing paper forms, checks, or receipts and no entering and re-entering information in different spreadsheets. What’s more, when it comes time to make team pairings and hole assignments, it can all be done right in the software. Your administrative burden is cut in half

3. Sponsors Get Better ROI

Sponsors get a ton of value out of the digital exposure provided by tournament management tech. Instead of being limited to signage on the golf course the day of the event, it’s amplified with the exposure throughout the platform before, during, and after the event. So every time someone visits your event site to register or just learn more about the tournament, sponsors get eyeballs on their brand.

Combine that with hole-by-hole exposure and push notifications in the live-scoring app, and businesses see even more value and ROI in supporting your tournament. Plus, sponsors can browse available packages, make a purchase, and upload logos and links right through the event website, eliminating time-consuming back and forth to collect assets and providing instant exposure.

4. You’ll Raise More Money

Any tournament management tech should come with tools that boost fundraising. At a minimum, you should be able to collect donations via the event website, but look for additional fundraising features like a donation tracker on the event site, multiple donation calls-to-action throughout the platform, the ability to round up and donate at checkout, exclusive sponsorships that can be sold at a premium, and fun add-ons that drive revenue (and bring fun and excitement to your charity golf tournament).

National Ag Science Center placed banners around the golf course to help golfers better understand their mission.

5. It Engages Golfers, Donors & Sponsors

Engagement—prior to, during the round, and following the tournament—is key to donor onboarding and stewardship. Instead of just sending golfers out on the course and not interacting with them again until after the round, look to technology to engage them in a variety of ways throughout the day. Live scoring is a great way to keep golfers engaged every time they check the current standings on the tournament’s live leaderboards (which also provides additional sponsor exposure and another opportunity for folks to make a donation).

Direct folks to the event website at the end of the tournament and challenge folks to make a donation, perhaps equal to that of the winning team or what their team shot. You can also leverage push notifications and email communications to share information and updates throughout the day. After the event, export your golf tournament donor data for inclusion into your donor CRM for additional follow up and stewardship.

6. You’ll Be Ready for Next Year

Rather than starting from scratch, you can simply copy your event in the golf tournament software platform, update the date and key details, and push it out to your audiences to save the date and keep it on their radar for next year. If you have a date set, include the link to your new event website in any post-tournament thank yous and follow-up communications to get a jump on promotion and sponsor sales.

7. You Don’t Have to Know About Golf

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a golf club, you hit the links a few times a week, or fall somewhere in between, you can plan a successful, lucrative golf fundraiser with the right tools and resources behind you. Your tech platform should come with a responsive, knowledgeable support team that’s there to coach you, answer questions, and troubleshoot issues for you and your event’s participants.

Golf for Good with GolfStatus

GolfStatus works with nonprofits and charities of all types and sizes to launch or level up their golf fundraisers. The robust platform streamlines the process from start to finish and is backed by an in-house support team available seven days a week.

Through the Golf for Good program, qualifying 501(c) organizations and others planning golf events that benefit a charity can use GolfStatus’ tournament management software at no cost, including an event website, online registration and secure payment processing, digital sponsor exposure, robust reporting, and more. Visit golfstatus.com/demo for more information or to get qualified.

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When golfers decide to play in a charity golf tournament, they often reach out to their friends, family members, neighbors, or colleagues to fill their team. This is good news for your organization—not only does it fill your tournament’s field, but your mission gets exposure to a brand new audience of potential new donors and supporters.

Take full advantage of this opportunity to introduce your organization to a captive audience at your golf event. Create a cause connection by helping golfers understand what your organization does, who it serves, and how their participation is a key part of fulfilling your mission. They may have come to golf, but when they see the tangible impacts of what the tournament is raising money for, it’s easier to convert them into donors.

Here are 10 ideas for your next golf fundraiser to connect golfers to your mission:

1. Add compelling photos and videos to your event website.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words, so take advantage of your event website’s customization features to add photos that illustrate your organization’s work and impact. If possible, add video too—anything from a simple slideshow of photos set to music, an impact story, or a polished marketing video are effective in telling your organization’s story visually.

Help golfers connect to your cause with powerful images and videos on your event website.

2. Invite a guest speaker to share their experience.

Kick off the tournament with a speaker who has benefited from your nonprofit’s services. Or add a presenter to a luncheon, banquet, or awards ceremony. Hearing first-hand from a beneficiary drives home the impact of your work. For example, Riverside Ranch, a therapeutic horse riding program, invited parents of riders to speak at their golf tournament’s luncheon and share what the Ranch meant to their family.

3. Include promo materials in player gift bags and golf carts.

A one-page flier, brochure, annual report, or other collateral can help golfers understand the depth of your mission. Be sure to include QR code on any printed materials with a direct link to the donation page on your event website where folks can donate right from their phones! Drop these in player gift bags or leave them in golf carts for golfers to peruse at their leisure. If your golf facility has carts with video capabilities, inquire about showing a video or photo slideshow on the screens. RiseUp Malawi, which provides educational opportunities in the African country of Malawi, played a video with a welcome message from some of the children the organization serves. They also provided each golfer with a book about Malawi with handwritten notes from the kids and on-site staff.

4. Place signage and banners around the golf course.

These pieces should be placed strategically around the course for maximum visibility. High traffic areas such as registration, driving range, putting green, and inside the clubhouse (near the bar or front door are good choices) are all guaranteed to get golfers looking. You can also place smaller signage unobtrusively on the golf course with information about your organization, facts related to your cause, or ways to take action. QR codes are a great addition to these as well to solicit donations.

National Ag Science Center placed banners around the golf course to help golfers better understand their mission.

5. Highlight your organization’s beneficiaries.

Depending on the work your nonprofit does, you could invite beneficiaries to attend or participate in the event. Personal connections are incredibly powerful, so provide opportunities for them to engage with golfers and sponsors throughout the day. For instance, if your golf tournament benefits a school, teachers or administrators could greet golfers as they arrive or even be added to teams. This isn’t limited to human beneficiaries, either! For example, pet rescue organizations could have adoptable pets at the golf course and an accompanying adoption drive.

6. Take advantage of downtime.

Downtime is a great chance to engage with a captive audience! Whether folks are waiting on the tee box, to check in, for a turn on the driving range, or for final results to be announced, your organization’s staff, board members, beneficiaries, or even volunteers can mingle with golfers to chat and have a conversation about your mission. You could also strategically station these folks on various tee boxes throughout the golf course (perhaps on a par 5 that might take groups longer to play through) to talk with golfers as they play their round or rethink your format to add in more opportunities for face time with participants. For example, Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, an organization that removes barriers to outdoor experiences for those with special needs, used tee times rather than a traditional shotgun start to give them a few minutes to visit with each group as they waited for their turn to tee off.

7. Hold an accompanying event.

If it makes sense for your organization, hold an event in conjunction with your golf fundraiser that drives home your mission. Outlook Enrichment, a nonprofit that serves the visually-impaired, holds a blind golfers clinic alongside its annual charity golf tournament. The clinic features instructors and volunteers helping visually-impaired golfers putt, chip, and play a few holes. Many organizations also hold events targeting non-golfers, such as golf lessons, a wine tasting, blanket-tying or meal-packing event.

A volunteer coach helps a participant line up their shot during Outlook Enrichment’s blind golfers clinic.

8. Send push notifications.

Your golf event management platform should be able to send push notifications to golfers via a mobile app for easy communication. These notifications can help connect golfers to your mission by including a link to your website, testimonials from beneficiaries or volunteers, or even solicit donations for a specific program or outreach effort. Keep the notifications short, impactful, and time them strategically.

9. Display photos or memorabilia on the course.

Golfers want to know what the tournament is raising money for—what better way than to display photos or related memorabilia on the golf course. For instance, the Pat Neal Memorial Golf Tournament raises money for brain cancer research in honor of the tournament’s namesake, Pat Neal. A photo of Pat was placed on the course and golfers were encouraged to sign the photo as a keepsake for Pat’s family.

Pat Neal’s three children post with his picture on the golf course at his memorial golf tournament fundraiser.

10. Provide opportunities to take action.

The ultimate goal of helping golfers understand your mission is to have them take some sort of action, so give them the opportunity to do so. You could set up a donation station where folks can contribute, solicit volunteer sign ups, have a pop up shop to sell branded merchandise or products, or let folks start the process of adopting a pet.

Wrapping Up

First and foremost, technology is a major asset in creating cause connection. From your event website to push notifications to impact videos, leverage tech tools to be effective (and make it easier). Use tech to tell your organization’s story; engage with golfers before, during, and after the tournament; and ultimately, compel golfers and sponsors to further support it through a donation or future events. In doing so, you can demonstrate the impact your organization has on your community at large.

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Get Qualified for No-Cost Event Technology

GolfStatus’ Golf for Good program gives back to nonprofits by providing access to its full golf event management and fundraising platform at no cost, so event planners can focus on building relationships, stewarding donors, and doing more good. Get qualified by clicking the button below!

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A corporate golf outing is an especially attractive option for companies looking for a way to engage employees, clients, and even the community. It’s an opportunity to raise awareness about your brand in a unique and meaningful way, while also advancing important business relationships and even raising money for a nonprofit or cause. 

But if you’ve been tasked with planning such an event, you know that there are a number of moving parts and important aspects to consider to ensure the outing delivers a positive return on your company’s investment. Here are five keys to a great corporate golf event:

1. Use Tools That Save Time

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.

Online registration is a must-have—golfers seamlessly submit their information and payment online, saving hours of dealing with spreadsheets, checks, and receipts. Plus, all 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. Need to quickly communicate with all registrants? Look for built-in communication tools like emails and push notifications. Want to print branded score cards and cart signs? Use a platform that comes with pre-formatted, professional printouts.

A golf-specific event management platform lets you easily make hole assignments and team pairings while handling flighting, handicaps, and other golf-related details.

2. Raise Money for Charity

Golf has an undeniable tie to philanthropy—the sport contributes nearly $4 billion to charity annually. Its capacity for fundraising is unmatched and provides high visibility for the benefiting organization to raise awareness about its work. So whether it’s a corporate foundation, partner charity, or favorite nonprofit, raising money as part of a corporate golf event not only provides a ton of brand lift, but fosters goodwill among your company’s employees, the community at large, and your client base.

More and more, people want to work for and do business with organizations that prioritize community impact, which makes a charitable golf event a banner addition to your company’s corporate social responsibility portfolio. An event website is the perfect place to share the charity’s story, why you’ve committed to raising money for it, and even collect donations from folks that may not be able to participate in the golf event.

Golf outings not only provide high visibility for the benefiting charity, but a ton of positive brand lift and fosters goodwill among your company’s employees, the community at large, and your client base.

3. Promote the Outing

Particularly if your golf outing has a charitable component, drum 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. Focus on a Great 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. 

Beyond a well-run event, add-ons and extras like contests, auctions, on-course entertainment, and custom player gifts make for a top-notch experience and one participants won’t soon forget! Live scoring adds an element of professionalism unlike any other and lets 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.

Above all, your corporate golf outing should offer a top-notch experience that provides a positive return on your company’s investment.

5. Use the Day Wisely

As most corporate professionals can attest to, a ton of business happens on the golf course. Unlike other events, a golf outing gives you three to four dedicated, focused hours on the course to engage with clients, partners, and vendors. What’s more, think about ways to connect with employees, whether it’s 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. Make sure any event management system you use has the capability to easily assign holes and pairings.

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Technology Makes the Difference

The right technology streamlines your company’s golf outing. GolfStatus provides an event website for your tournament where golfers and sponsors can register (complete with secure payment processing), find more information about the benefiting organization, see details about the course, and even make a donation to the charity. The platform’s reliable live scoring gives any event a professional feel and keeps golfers engaged throughout the round and even lets spectators follow along with the progress.

Through the Golf for Good program, nonprofit organizations and individuals, businesses, corporate entities, or other partners holding a golf event that benefits a nonprofit, can qualify for no-cost access to GolfStatus’s technology. It offers solutions to all things golf tournaments—flighting, hole assignments, mobile scoring, and much more. Click below to get qualified or email [email protected].

The benefits of a golf fundraiser are many, including being ripe with opportunities to make additional donation asks of participants, spectators, and other supporters before, during, and after the event. While teams and sponsorships will bring in the majority of the fundraiser’s revenue, there are multiple ways to bring in additional dollars by leveraging the generosity of golfers. You certainly don’t want to interrupt the fun of the day, so your asks should be strategic, well-timed, and not intrude on the golfer’s round. The key is to be equipped with a mobile-friendly event website with a simple and easy way to make a donation to the event. 

Here are six things to consider when making a donation ask at your golf tournament.

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1. Connect Attendees to Your Cause

While some attendees may be loyal supporters of your organization, they often tap into their personal and professional networks to fill a team for the golf tournament, and these folks may not know much about your organization or what you do. Share an impact story at the tournament’s kickoff or post-event gathering, have a beneficiary on site to share their experiences, and/or set up banners or posters that describe the impact of what your organization does. Follow these up with an ask that helps attendees understand how their donation makes a difference.

Pro tip: Use your event website to tell your organization’s story with text and imagery. GolfStatus event websites include donation buttons right on the site’s home page (and on live leaderboards).

2. Use Email, In-App & Push Notifications

You need an easy way to get in touch with donors at the right moment during the fundraiser. The right event management technology will have built-in communication tools that let you quickly and easily communicate with event registrants without having to use multiple platforms. Determine when you will send messages and set a schedule for the day. At events powered by GolfStatus, a free live-scoring mobile app is used to track each team’s round. When golfers use their phone to enter their score, they’ll see the in-app and push notifications.

Pro tip: Be strategic about when you send messages. Don’t inundate golfers with emails or notifications or they’ll tune them out. Space them out and consider coupling them with important information and announcements.

3. Set a Day-of Fundraising Goal & Keep People Updated

A day-of fundraising goal can motivate donors to make an additional contribution to your cause. A well-timed update on the progress towards this goal reminds folks what they’re playing for. What’s more, when the overall event experience is top-notch, they’re even more likely to chip in to help you reach the day’s goal.

Pro tip: Make the goal something tangible that donors can connect with. For example, set a goal to raise an extra $2000 the day of the tournament, which will provide 10 underserved schools with new books or feed 200 shelter dogs for two months.

4. Have a Donation Station

Set up a donation station at one or more locations at the golf tournament. It’s a good idea to have one in a visible (but unobtrusive) location near the registration area. Have volunteers at the station ready to talk about your organization and its mission, and help folks make a donation via the event website if they need it. You could also have a station at the turn or somewhere on the golf course. A par three hole that’s likely to get backed up is a great option—you’ll have a captive audience! If your event has a post-golf gathering, set up an additional station in the event space (near the bar is a good idea!).

Pro tip: Include a QR code on any flyers, posters, or handouts that links directly to the event’s donation page so folks can quickly make a contribution without hassle.

5. Leverage Live Leaderboards

Anyone, anywhere can follow along with a tournament via GolfStatus live leaderboards. Share these links in the days leading up to the event via email and social media and challenge spectators to make a donation. Be creative and have fun with this! If folks are following a certain team, you could ask them to donate if there’s a birdie, eagle, or even a bogey on a specific hole or offer a prize drawing specifically for online donors.

Pro tip: Give social media shoutouts to those following along that make a donation, and be sure to follow up after the tournament with a thank you.

6. Ask Golfers to Donate Their Final Score

A common appeal at the end of each team’s round is to ask for a donation that equals their final score. So if they shot a 72, they would donate $72. Another option after the scores are finalized is to ask golfers to donate an amount equal to the winning team’s score—or even the last place team’s score.

Pro tip: If your event includes an awards ceremony, it’s a great time to make this particular ask. When you announce the winning team and score (or multiple teams and scores, if your event includes different flights or divisions), challenge attendees to get out their phones and donate the amount of the winning team’s score via the leaderboard.

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Raise More Money With Your Golf Event

It’s easy to collect donations when you have the right technology for your golf fundraiser. GolfStatus’s intuitive, full-service golf event management and fundraising platform streamlines the process. Its attractive event websites include online registration, the ability to collect donations, and secure payment processing. Qualifying 501(c) organizations and those holding golf tournaments that benefit one can get full access to GolfStatus’s tech—at no cost through the Golf for Good program. Click the button below to get qualified or email [email protected].

Organization Snapshot

Marriott Business Councils bring together hotel management and employees from across a region to network and work together to give back to the larger community. The Colorado Marriott Business Council has been active for over two decades, with a strong presence in the Denver area and beyond that engages Marriott hotel brands, its employees, and the community at-large. It formed a millennial/next generation committee to involve future leaders and provide direction to the Council at large as well as an active committee focusing on LGBTQ issues. 

Chad Conrad is currently the chair of the Colorado Council and has been involved in its work for over 23 years. “Marriott believes in taking care of its employees while also taking care of its community,” Chad says. “The goal is to make people feel like you’re at home when you’re not at home. Employees are just the ambassadors of that idea, taking care of each other and expanding it into the communities where we operate,” he explains.

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Annual Tournament

20 years +

Dollars Raised

$35,000

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At the national level, Marriott has been a banner sponsor of Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals for over 30 years. This support has trickled down to local and regional Marriott groups, including business councils. Across its 675,000 associates in the U.S., there’s strong buy-in to the commitment to CMN Hospitals across the country. “Associates’ kids benefit from these top-notch facilities,” says Chad. The tie to CMN Hospitals is important to him personally, as both his daughters have been in children’s hospitals at one time or another. 

For over 20 years, the Council has hosted an annual golf tournament to raise money for Children’s Hospital Colorado, the local CMN hospital. He and the planning team have made a concerted effort to set their event apart from other fundraisers and offer a different experience each year, working closely with vendors and other partners. One of its hallmarks has been featuring executive chefs from various Marriott hotels cooking a signature dish on each hole. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19’s profound impact on the tourism industry—layoffs, reduced hotel occupancy, and labor shortages—have impacted the Council’s work and people power. “A lot of our committees fell apart as we lost staff,” Chad explains, but notes that as the workforce rebounds these groups can be rebuilt and re-engaged.

The Challenge

For Chad and Marriott employees from across the state, the annual golf fundraiser’s support of Children’s Hospital Colorado resulted in a meaningful tie to the community. He has been involved in the golf tournament since its inception, and has seen it grow and flourish over the years.

But as COVID-19 hit the tourism industry hard, hotels were short-staffed and the golf event was forced to be pared down. The Council lost several members due to layoffs and closures in hotels, including two who helped Chad head up the golf tournament each year, leaving him as the lone organizer. “It fell 100% on my plate to make it happen,” Chad says. Though he didn’t necessarily want to learn a new platform or system, he knew in order to keep the event alive, he needed to employ some type of technology to save time, automate processes, and make planning as simple and efficient as possible.

The Solution

Chad turned to GolfStatus, the official golf event management platform for events benefiting CMN Hospitals, to get the event back on its feet. He saw its easy-to-use technology as an all-in-one solution to promote the event, register golfers, onboard and recognize sponsors, and collect funds. 

With limited manpower and resources, the switch to GolfStatus for the golf tournament couldn’t have come at a better time. Because the event was raising money for a nonprofit—Colorado Children’s Hospital—it qualified for no-cost access to GolfStatus’s platform through the company’s Golf for Good giveback initiative. 

The Results

Though COVID-19 upended the golf tournament and drew fewer golfers than in past years, momentum is building and Chad hopes to get back to a full slate of teams in the next few years. “Since it’s been around for over 20 years, it was important to me to keep it alive,” Chad says. The tournament date was moved from June to August and couldn’t include any extras beyond the round of golf. And while the tournament attracted about half of its historical attendees, the event still raised about the same amount of money for the hospital, around $35,000. “We were thrilled about that,” he says.

Highlighted Platform Features

• Golf for Good program

• Event website

• Online registration

• Secure payment processing

• Messaging feature

Event Website

Because the golf tournament benefited a nonprofit in Children’s Hospital Colorado, it qualified for GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program, which provides no-cost access to the event planning and fundraising platform at no cost. The GolfStatus team built an event website in partnership with Chad, along with custom team and sponsorship packages that people could purchase directly on the website with just a few clicks. The event website also lets golfers, sponsors, and spectators make a donation directly to the cause, raising even more money for Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Online Registration & Payment Processing

When the tournament was organized by a much larger planning team, one member of the planning team handled all the money—processing paper registration forms and checks, sending receipts, and tracking payments. With a one-man show for this year’s event, Chad says the online registration and payment collection aspects of using GolfStatus was the best upgrade for the event. “I barely had to do anything with it,” he points out, as the platform sends automated receipts upon registration. As an organizer, he could quickly and easily see who had registered in the software’s back-end. “The value behind this was priceless,” he says. What’s more, he heard from golfers how easy it was to register and nice to get a receipt immediately. “It’s expected to have online registration today.” he says.

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“The value behind this was priceless.”

— Chad Conrad, Chair of the Colorado Marriott Business Council

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Sponsor Recruitment & Recognition

Chad has worked with a core group of vendors and partners to support the golf event over its 22-year tenure, but has continued to explore new avenues and opportunities to attract additional sponsor support. “When we partner with a new hotel through the Council, it opens doors to a new set of sponsors,” Chad explains. The golf event’s website and accompanying free GolfStatus mobile app gives sponsors a ton of digital exposure for their investment, before, during, and after the tournament. 

Easy Communication

Chad used the platform’s built-in messaging feature to send emails directly to registrants, alerting them of updates and specifics about the event. He used it to share information about the day’s timeline, where folks should check in, and the included breakfast. Since all registration information is stored in the platform, there was no need for him to export email addresses into another service to send a simple email—it could all be handled within GolfStatus. 

CMN Partnership

GolfStatus has partnered with CMN Hospitals to help event organizers—whether they’re passionate supporters, hospitals or hospital foundations, corporate partners, businesses, or other volunteers—put on a golf tournament to benefit member hospitals. A common technology platform makes it as easy as possible for anyone to organize a golf fundraiser and raise even more money. Marriott’s continued commitment to children’s hospitals is evident in its support of this technology for golf events that benefit CMN Hospitals. What’s more, Chad made sure representatives from Children’s Hospital Colorado were able to share information and explain the tournament’s impact on the hospital, making a connection to the cause the tournament was supporting.

Golf & Fundraising Success

In Chad’s 22 years organizing the golf tournament fundraiser, he’s seen the impact it has in raising money for Children’s Hospital Colorado and the benefit for participating hotels. “So much business is done on the golf course,” he points out. “Whether you’re a good golfer or not, you can still make connections and do business while raising money and having fun.” Chad says his number one focus is to bring the hotels together to raise awareness and funds for the hospital. “We could throw a dinner party or do something different but we wouldn’t have the success of a golf tournament,” he says. “A golf tournament has staying power.”

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“Whether you’re a good golfer or not, you can still make connections and do business while raising money and having fun.”

— Chad Conrad, Chair of the Colorado Marriott Business Council

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Growing With the Event

Though Chad was a one-man show in organizing the event this year, his goal is to build the Business Council back and involve more folks in the golf fundraiser again. “The GolfStatus team made it super easy,” he says, explaining that it would be simple to collaborate with a planning team in the future. “I don’t know that I can ever go back to how I used to do it!”

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Golf for Good

GolfStatus’s Golf for Good giveback initiative through GolfStatus.org helps nonprofits and those holding events benefiting them streamline their golf events to save time and raise more money. It starts with a free event website and no-cost access to GolfStatus’s event management and fundraising platform for qualifying organizations and events. Get qualified here or email [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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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If you’re planning a golf event for spring, you may be facing a mixed bag of challenges. On the one hand, golf is on the rise. Courses nationwide are seeing a huge uptick in participation; if this pace continues, you’ll likely have an easy time filling teams and attracting support. On the other hand, it’s difficult to make decisions amid so much uncertainty. Either way, there’s one simple step you can take now to set your organization up for success in the spring: Launch a golf event registration website (free for qualifying nonprofits through GolfStatus.org’s Golf for Good program). Here’s why it matters and how nonprofits can qualify for a free custom site build.

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10 Ways an Event Website Sets you Up for Success

1. The event becomes easier to promote.

You’ll want to get in front of donors and sponsors earlier than usual for this spring’s events. A golf event registration website makes it easy; instead of printed materials, you promote your event online and through emails—taking advantage of targeted digital marketing and inviting players and sponsors to sign up through a link to your event website.

2. You can plug it into your existing site.

If your organization has a great website already, you’ll want a way to list sponsorships and teams and plug in the registration component seamlessly. With GolfStatus’s custom event sites and golf event management platform, donors and sponsors click a link and find themselves on a page specifically about your golf event where they can purchase teams, browse sponsorships, and learn more about the outing.  

3. Staff and volunteers save tons of time.

Collecting registrations online streamlines everything. No need to track down mail-in forms, checks, and receipts; manage information across endless spreadsheets and emails; or enter and re-enter information. Instead current registration and sponsor info is accessible in real-time.

4. You have options.

You don’t necessarily need to have every single detail of your event hammered out before launching a website. It can be as simple as listing the date and time, with a note that more details will follow. The key is to get on the radars of donors and sponsors as early as possible. If you end up needing to transition the format of your event, you have options as the event gets closer. 

5. You can even go virtual if you need to.

Use an event website provider specifically designed for golf events—like GolfStatus—so you can seamlessly integrate live scoring and make adaptations like virtual formats and remote participation if you need to.

6. Live-scoring is a breeze.

Players registered through the website are ready to live-score through the free GolfStatus app during the event. Live leaderboards update in real time and can also be used to collect additional donations online and on mobile. They’re also a great sponsorship option.

7. Players and sponsors are more likely to commit.

When registration is just a click away, golfers and sponsors are able to commit to your event the moment they hear about it—whether it’s through email, social media, word of mouth, or other promotion—they’re substantially more likely to register if they’re able to do it right then and there.

8. Communication is super simple.

As details for your event are firmed up, simply update your website with pertinent information. GolfStatus’s tournament management platform also makes it easy to send emails to all registered participants with a few simple clicks.

9. No need for duplicative work and tedious data entry.

When golfers register on your event website, there’s no need to enter and re-enter information, which creates more opportunities for errors and takes tons of valuable staff and volunteer time. Online registration keeps everything updated, accurate, and accessible.

10. You capture crucial donor and sponsor data.

It’s common for more familiar donors to fill a team with friends, family, and colleagues. These members of donors’ networks are incredibly valuable to your cause. Collecting their information at the time of registration ensures that no existing or potential donor goes untraced—so you can forge valuable relationships.

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Get Qualified for a Free Event Website for your Golf Event

In addition to custom golf event registration websites, GolfStatus has everything event organizers need to save time in planning golf outings large and small. It’s powerful technology that gives you options like easy player and sponsorship management, digital sponsorships you can sell to raise more dollars, live-scoring and leaderboards, and the flexibility to go virtual if you need to. 

Best of all, access to GolfStatus is available at no cost to qualifying nonprofits through GolfStatus.org and the Golf for Good program.

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