The Easy Way to Upgrade Your Golf Fundraiser

Live-scoring and leaderboards are the standard at professional, high-end golf tournaments, displaying scores and rankings for teams and players both in person and online during the event. It used to be that live leaderboards were only feasible for professional-level pro-ams and Tour events. Not anymore.

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Live Scoring & Leaderboards From GolfStatus

1. Golfers use the free GolfStatus app to keep score and access live leaderboards during the golf outing.

2. Scores update in real-time, and golf courses display them on TVs in the clubhouse and at comfort stations.

3. Spectators, donors, sponsors, and others follow and share live and final results online.

Why It Matters

Players love live leaderboards because they make golf outings more competitive and memorable. Facilities love that live scoring saves them tons of time at the end of the event; everything is automated and there’s no need to spend hours painstaking tallying scores by hand at the end of an event. Sponsors love them because they’re a great exposure opportunity—the place everyone’s looking during the entire event and after.

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How It Works

GolfSatus makes live-scoring super simple through a free mobile app that players or scorekeepers use to input scores during the event. Scores feed into an in-app leaderboard in real time that players can check at any time (another great exposure opportunity for sponsors). The golf facility can also display live leaderboards on clubhouse and comfort station TVs, as well as online on the event website and on social media.

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How to Do It

Live scoring and leaderboards are part of the deal when you leverage GolfStatus.org, which streamlines everything from event setup to online registration, hole assignments, and all the other logistics involved in planning a golf fundraiser.

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Interested in learning more about live leaderboards for your golf fundraiser?

Submit an inquiry here
or
email us directly at [email protected]

Whether you’re a golfer looking for tournaments to play in, a sponsor looking for opportunities to align your brand with community efforts and great causes, or a tournament organizer spreading the word about an upcoming fundraiser—the events page from GolfStatus helps everyone get connected.

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Easy Exposure for Event Organizers

Spreading the word about your organization’s golf outing is crucial to its success. Whether you’re using the event to grow your donor base, steward existing donors, or facilitate corporate partnerships, don’t forget that golf fundraisers are a chance to raise the mission-critical funds needed to sustain and expand your capacity to serve. When you take advantage of GolfStatus.org, your organization is able to leverage our user base (thousands of avid golfers nationwide) and networks to reach more players and engage more sponsors. The result is outreach that requires zero additional effort on your part, a better turnout the day of the event, and better outcomes overall.

On-the-Spot Registration for Golfers

Golfers looking for golf tournaments to play have a couple easy ways to find them. Golfers use the free mobile GolfStatus app to track their rounds on the golf course and earn rewards and exclusive offers from partner facilities and sponsors; when they’re looking for a tournament, they simply tap the tournaments icon to browse listings for upcoming events. Registering—including purchasing teams, mulligans, raffle tickets, and other package add-ons—is quick and easy. Golfers also visit https://events.golfstatus.com to browse and search events by name or facility. The reality is that people are busy, and when they have to take extra steps like mailing in forms, writing checks, or picking up the phone, they’re less likely to do so. With the right promo and simple registration channels, golfers can find your event and register right from their computer or mobile phone.

A Time-Saving Convenience for Sponsors

These platforms also make it easy for brands and businesses to find events to support and to purchase sponsorship packages and teams instantly. Golf tournaments provide focused exposure to a high-value demographic in an environment that casts businesses in a positive light—making these events an ideal sponsorship opportunity. Sponsors can browse sponsorship packages customized by the tournament organizer and purchase them instantly and securely from a smartphone or computer without hassle. Sponsors then become eligible to display their branding on the sponsor page for the event—which is seen by players and other sponsors searching for events—as well as on live leaderboards, on the course, and through a number of other channels the day of the event.

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Interested in promoting your upcoming event through GolfStatus? Contact us at

[email protected]

to learn more.

A Timeline & Checklist for the First-Timer or the Veteran Event Organizer

Maybe you’ve been tasked with organizing a golf fundraiser for the first time, or you’re thinking about pitching the idea. You’ve heard horror stories, but you know the benefits—the fact that golf events are an ideal way to reach new donors, that they’re a great way to get face time with key supporters and connect with corporate partners and sponsors, and that the funds raised can be huge. In fact, for many organizations, the golf tournament is one of two or three key annual fundraising events. Even so, the thought of planning and executing a successful charity golf outing can be a bit intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a breakdown of considerations to make, and an outline to help you kick-start a game plan.

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1. Outline your goals.

Start by considering your goals, which might include: raising funds, raising awareness, attracting prospective donors, engaging or stewarding current donors, forging or strengthening sponsor relationships, connecting your donor and sponsor networks, teeing up larger initiatives and outreach efforts, or others. Your goals will dictate key details like the type of event you hold, the committee or volunteer help you’ll need, the event schedule, who you invite, your budget and revenue projections, and the facility you choose.

2. Outline cost and revenue projections and set a preliminary budget.

Consider your goals, revenue projections, and available resources to outline a budget for the event. Expenses might include: golf facility usage (green fees, cart usage, range balls, banquet space, service fees and gratuity), food and beverage, player and sponsor gifts, team prizes, marketing materials, shirts, and signage. At the same time, consider revenue sources, including entry fees, mulligans, raffle tickets, donations, and sponsorships. Note that sponsorship packages can be tiered to attract supporters large and small, or created in an a-la-cart fashion. Consider price points for sponsorship packages based on the demographic you expect to attract, the quality of the venue, past years’ price points, and the expenses you’ll need to cover. Note that using the GolfStatus.org platform opens the door for branded pin flag sponsorships (the kind you see at professional-level events) as well as a special Technology Sponsorship category that includes online and live leaderboard exposure, as well as in-app exposure opportunities.

3. Designate a point of contact, committee, or task force and delegate.

Outline available resources and consider how you’ll engage and collaborate with peers and volunteers. Whether you’re on your own, working with a team of volunteers, borrowing time from well-connected and influential board members, or a combination of all three, you’ll need to stay on the same page so it’s easy for folks to lend a hand. That’s especially easy when you use web-based tools. Take advantage of user access permissions so you can delegate the component parts of organizing a golf fundraiser (sponsor management, registration oversight and event promotion, and even details like hole assignments) to specific members of your organization or volunteers as needed. GolfStatus.org checks each of those boxes, and makes it super easy to pass information to the golf professional staff at the facility, who can use it to do hole assignments, print tee sheets and cart signs, and perform other time-consuming tasks in the days leading up to and on the day of your event. When everything is in order, staff are calm and collected, and available to provide assistance and service to event attendees.

4. Choose a date and golf facility.

Reach out to your networks to leverage connections that might make it possible to play a private facility or get in at an attractive price point. Consider the membership or customer demographic for the facility and the surrounding area and be sure it aligns with your goals. Work with the facility to coordinate a date, taking into account course conditions and scheduling, holidays (especially travel holidays), competing local events, and other factors that might affect turnout. You’ll also need to finalize the time and format, as well as pricing, sponsorship packages, and schedule so you can start promoting the outing.

5. Set up your event and registration website.

This takes about 15 minutes when you use the GolfStatus.org platform. Simply plug in event details (format, number of participants, start time, et cetera), give your event a name, and create it instantly. It’s a good idea to include campaign and outreach efforts in your event information, which provides players and sponsors with the information they need to join your cause. The key advantage of an event website—one that’s tailored specifically to the golf fundraiser—is that it provides a central platform for accepting and organizing team and individual registrations, collecting sponsorships, processing payments, and staying informed about the event. That includes details ahead of the event, live leaderboards the day of, and final results displays and keep people talking and sharing your event even after it’s over.

6. Promote the event to attract participants and sponsors.

Promote the event instantly by making it public in GolfStatus’s tournament marketplace, where players can search for and find events, then register for them from a mobile device in minutes. Also be sure to share and promote your event (linking to your event website as the call to action for player and sponsor registrations) on social media, via personal emails and blast campaigns, through texts, and even in flyers, post cards, and other print materials. Create a Facebook event page for your event and add GolfStatus.org as a co-host (click here for a step-by-step guide on how to do it); we’ll share your event across our networks to help spread the word. Be sure to connect with the golf facility and encourage cross-promotion through your social channels and theirs. It’s also a good idea to reach out to local media outlets (newspapers, local news channels, and even local blogs and influencers) to let them know that your event is in the works, and update them when a major sponsor joins your cause.

7. Leverage your networks.

Encourage staff, board members, and volunteers to reach out to their networks and share registration information. Whether you simply brainstorm prospects or segment them automatically from your database, create a list of players and corporate supporters to reach out to. Pro tip: Consider asking board members and highly engaged volunteers to each list five to 10 prospects at your monthly board meeting, then report back on their registration status at each meeting in the months leading up to the event; this provides a small but concrete and actionable list that each member can act on and a little accountability with the understanding that follow ups are impending.

8. Coordinate with sponsors to manage assets and messaging.

As sponsorships are purchased, you’ll need to keep the brand assets for each (logos, imagery, and messaging) organized and be sure they are always displayed nicely and in the proper locations. GolfStatus.org makes this easy with a sponsorship management interface that keeps track of everything. It’s super easy to use and access, and access permissions let you delegate easily to one or more staffers or volunteers. You can pop in and check things out as needed, or let them run with it. When you’ve sold the Technology Sponsorship for your event, give GolfStatus a heads up so we can order branded pin flags and coordinate with the facility to get them up for the event.

9. Coordinate with vendors, get quotes, and fill in cost details.

Track and manage costs and details in a simple spreadsheet as you call on and finalize vendor orders. You may only need to consider a few vendors depending on the size and scope of your event: a print design company for your t-shirts; a food and beverage provider (if the clubhouse isn’t full-service), décor and signage as needed; and a tee gift provider.

10. Touch base with the golf facility.  

In the weeks and days ahead of the event, you’ll need to coordinate some final details with the golf facility—including the number of players you’re expecting, vendor deliveries, setup times, and other key details. They’ll also want to dig into team pairings and hole assignments, which can be done right from the GolfStatus.org platform. The golf professional staff can also instantly format and print all the materials they’ll need the day of the event (including cart signs, tee sheets, and alpha lists) right from the software. This time savings is huge, as it keeps staff free to assist you and your event participants—instead of tied up in a back office with paperwork.

11. Get ready for the next round.  

One key advantage of using the GolfStatus.org platform is the ability to copy a previous event, pulling in format and other specifics with the ability to edit details like date and time. This means that your next event is already set up and basically ready to go. You just login when it gets a little closer, update any details, and start spreading the word.

(It’s super easy!)

Setting up a Facebook event for your fundraisers is an easy (and free!) way to keep them in front of attendees, participants, sponsors, and other supporters. Event pages are easy to share and follow, they make it easy to communicate info to participants and supporters, and they pop up when folks within your supporters’ networks follow and share them. They’re also free, and only take a few minutes to create. If you’re organizing a golf fundraiser, be sure to create one. Here’s how to do it.

1. Create an event. From the Facebook business page for your organization, select events, then create event.

2. Fill in details. Add a title for your golf fundraiser, upload a photo, fill in additional details, and select a date and time. Choose the golf facility that will host your event in the location field. Choose an event category and add keywords, which will make your event easier for potential participants and supporters to find. Keywords also help Facebook determine where and how to recommend your event to people who might be interested.

3. Add GolfStatus.org. Under co-hosts, begin typing and select GolfStatus.org. Adding us to your event keeps it on our radar, so we can promote it to our followers—many of whom are avid golfers and involved in nonprofit work. As you post and share your event, we’ll do the same to help spread the word.

4. Add your event website. In the ticket URL field, paste the link to your GolfStatus registration website. This directs Facebook users right to your event’s online registration page, where they can instantly purchase an individual or team registration and/or sponsorship.  

5. Share and engage. Once set up, share your event page regularly, tagging GolfStatus.org, sponsors, the golf facility, and other supporters. Tagging these folks is a great way to show appreciation and recognition for their support; it also ensures that your posts reach a larger audience.

6. Promote. As the event draws closer, consider boosting your posts as you make one last push to attract supporters. The day of the event, be sure to share live leaderboards on your organization’s page so spectators can follow along and stay engaged.

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Get your event website up and running and start promoting your golf fundraiser today.

Contact us at [email protected].

How to Automate with a Custom Event Website

When you’re trying to recruit players and sponsors for a golf fundraiser, the easier it is to spread the word and get folks registered, the better! An event website lets you quickly and easily promote your golf outing, while at the same time providing a central location to collect registrations, entry fees, and sponsorships.

Simple Event Promotion

Golf fundraisers powered by GolfStatus.org have the key advantage of a sleek, professional event website that simplifies the process of collecting registrations and makes it easy to seamlessly coordinate with the golf facility—all at no cost to your organization. With a simple copy-and-paste of the event link, you can instantly promote your outing on social media, through email campaigns, personal messages, and texts, or anywhere online.

Public events are accessible to avid golfers through the free GolfStatus app, where users can search for and register for events from a mobile device quickly and easily. GolfStatus also makes it easy for registrants to invite teammates, drawing more players to the tournament.

Streamline Registration

A custom event website for your fundraiser gives golfers everything they need to make a decision: complete event details, entry pricing, sponsorship package details, round information, and a list of confirmed participants and event sponsors. Sponsors can also register and pay directly on the event page, giving busy executives a hassle-free way to commit and submit payment at their convenience. With instant payment and a clear list of sponsor options, decision makers lock in sponsorships as they’re registering, at the crucial time when their interest is piqued.

Registrations and payments are easy to track and manage on the backend, so you won’t be scrambling to track down checks the day of the event or working out details on where and how funds needs to be allocated after the fact. It's all automatic with secure and reliable integrated payment processing.

Coordinate with the Golf Facility

Player information automatically populates into the GolfStatus.org platform so you can seamlessly hand it off to the golf facility. Ahead of the event, club staff can quickly and easily manage teams, drag and drop hole assignments, format and print tee sheets and cart signs, and complete other logistical tasks.

During the tournament, the event website displays live leaderboards, so players, spectators, and sponsors (both at the event and not attending) can follow and share scores in real-time.

To learn more about custom event websites and streamlined event registration (both of which are available to nonprofits through GolfStatus.org at no cost) submit an online inquiry here.