Maybe you recently decided a golf fundraiser would be a great option to raise money for your organization. Or perhaps you held a spring golf event that was rained out or was so successful you want to add a second event this fall. You may be asking yourself—is it too late in the year to plan a golf fundraiser? Absolutely not! A successful, lucrative golf event can be planned in a matter of months. Here’s why now is a great time to plan an event and how to get started.

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Technology Makes Prep & Planning More Efficient

The right event management technology streamlines planning tasks and keeps you organized so you can successfully hold an event with less lead time. A web-based software solution built specifically for golf fundraisers keeps everything in one place, making it easy to collaborate with your planning team and the golf facility. You’ll spend less time tracking down and managing siloed information and more time focusing on attracting players and selling sponsorships.

You Can Start Promoting Your Event Right Away

An event website for your golf fundraiser can be built and launched in a matter of days, which means you can start promoting it right away. The beauty of using an event website for all of your promotion is that it makes promotion as simple as sharing a direct link to the website where golfers can register and buy add-ons and sponsors can commit to your event as soon as they hear about it. Plus, moving promotion online means you can skip the time-consuming process of creating registration materials and processes, collecting addresses, mailing flyers, and waiting for people to send in their information. Share the link on all your organization’s digital channels and ask your planning team, board members, volunteers, and supporters to do the same to cast the widest net possible.

Automated Workflows Save Tons of Time 

Online registration is a game-changer for busy event organizers. It eliminates the need for tons of spreadsheets, processing paper forms, cashing checks, sending receipts, and chasing down payments the day of the tournament. Instead, all pertinent information is collected right when someone registers a team or purchases a sponsorship and dropped into your event management software’s backend. Plus, when it comes time to manage hole assignments, team pairings, handicaps, and other unique details of a golf event, each golfer’s information is ready to go, right in the software so there’s no need to bounce between platforms or worry about working with out-of-date information.

Fall is a Great Time for Golf

In general, fall is an excellent time for golf events. You get favorable weather and appealing course conditions, plus lower, off-peak season facility costs. You’ll want to keep the shorter days that fall brings in mind when setting the tournament’s schedule, but can easily be addressed by a shotgun start or a shorter nine-hole event to maximize playable hours. If you’re in a warm-weather location, you have even more of the year to work with and can get a tournament on the books for November or December.

Resources Are Available to Help

Don’t worry—tournament planning resources are available to get you off on the right foot. Sample timelines, checklists, sponsorship packages, templates, and more can help take the guesswork out of planning, especially on a shorter timeline. When choosing an event management platform, be sure it’s supported by a knowledgeable, responsive client success team that knows the ins and outs of golf events and can respond to questions and resolve issues seven days a week. .

Getting Started is Easy 

GolfStatus’s golf event management tech is specifically designed to make golf tournament fundraisers easy to launch, plan, market, and execute. Our in-house customer success team is there to guide you every step of the way, from building your event website and creating sponsor packages to helping you select a tournament format and working with the golf facility. Through the Golf for Good program, qualifying 501(c) organizations get no-cost access to GolfStatus. Click below to get qualified!

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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