Golf has grown in popularity during the pandemic and proved a valuable way of fundraising for many nonprofit organizations.

Source: Forbes, David Hessekiel Contributor -- The pandemic’s restriction of big group events have made the last two years very challenging for nonprofits so development executives are on the lookout for ways to enhance their fundraising efforts.

Interestingly, one growth area has been golf tournament fundraising which has been on the rise for several reasons:

• Since golf is played outdoors, tournaments can easily be arranged to enable social distancing.

• The sport saw record rounds played during 2020 and then continued to increase by 5% in 2021, according to the National Golf Foundation.

• After years of primarily being managed manually or using very unsophisticated systems, online technology has emerged that streamlines golf tournament fundraisers and handles golf-specific elements like hole assignments, team pairings, facility information, and sponsorships.

• Golf remains a generally upscale activity with golfers having a median household income of $125,000 and a high penetration of upper level executives.

The Cameron Steinberg Foundation is an example of a small nonprofit that has successfully leveraged these trends. The organization was founded by the parents of Cameron Steinberg who passed away at just two months old from hyproplastic left heart syndrome. The foundation raises funds to help other families dealing with congenital heart disease.

Nationwide Children's Hospital was one of the beneficiaries of the Cameron Steinberg Foundation's 2022 golf tournament.

The Ohio-based foundation raised $30,000 at its first golf event in 2021, and was selected as the winner of a $10,000 donation through the inaugural Play It Forward campaign. After using inefficient platforms and systems to plan and manage the tournament in 2021, the event converted to an online golf tournament management platform for the 2022 event, held May 23, 2022, and raised $64,000, more than double the amount raised in 2021.

A more sophisticated, technology-empowered approach to managing the event led to such positive outcomes as selling more and higher priced sponsorships, a 50% reduction in the administrative workload and better tools to promote the program and enable people to make direct donations, according to cofounder Sam Steinberg.

Back in 2021 the group used Venmo to collect credit card payments, had to process cash and checks and tracked everything in spreadsheets which were a “huge headache,” Sam explained.

A good way for nonprofits to determine whether golf tournament fundraising could work well for them would be to review this introductory guide.

Source: Forbes

Play It Forward seeks to reward those who are using golf for good.

LINCOLN, Neb., June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GolfStatus, the leading technology platform for nonprofit and charity golf fundraisers, is teaming up with its giving partners at Dormie Network and Dormie Network Foundation for the Play It Forward campaign to give back to organizations that are using golf to make an impact.

Now in its second year, the campaign is a unique opportunity to "play" it forward. Individuals nominate a golf fundraiser to receive a $10,000 donation and have the chance to win a one-year honorary membership to Dormie Network, a national network of private golf clubs, plus a $10,000 credit toward onsite golf and lodging.

"From small, local fundraisers to massive charity tournaments, golf is a great way to bring people together in support of a cause," said Brian Schenk, Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Dormie Network Foundation. "Play It Forward celebrates organizations golfing for good and doing incredible work in their communities and beyond."

The 2021 Play It Forward nonprofit winner was the Cameron Steinberg Foundation's inaugural golf fundraiser, which was nominated by Dr. Michael Gaies. The Foundation honors the life of Cameron Steinberg, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and tragically passed away at just two months old. Cami's parents, Mel and Sam, created the Foundation to help families affected by congenital heart disease. The $10,000 donation was made to the Foundation's second annual golf tournament, held May 23, 2022. The event's second year utilized GolfStatus's golf event management platform—which is available at no cost to qualifying nonprofit organizations through the Golf for Good program—and more than doubled the dollars raised from its first year.

The giveaway launched May 31 and nominations will be accepted through July 4. Winners will be announced via press release and on GolfStatus's and Dormie Network's social media channels in August.

Visit www.golfstatus.com/play-it-forward for official rules and to submit a nomination.

About GolfStatus

GolfStatus is golf's premier tournament management solution and golfer engagement platform. Its full-service tournament management software streamlines outings from start to finish, yielding professional, high-end events that add value for golfers, sponsors, and golf facilities. Through GolfStatus.org, we make our powerful technology accessible to nonprofits to streamline fundraisers and help charitable organizations engage more supporters, raise more mission-critical funds, drive impact, and do more good. Learn more at golfstatus.com.

About Dormie Network and Dormie Network Foundation

Dormie Network is a national network of private destination golf clubs that includes ArborLinks in Nebraska City, Nebraska; Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia; Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas; Dormie Club in West End, North Carolina; Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey; Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana; and a seventh course built from the ground up in the Nebraska Sandhills, with a planned opening of 2024. Each offers a premier golf experience in a relaxing and accommodating environment ideal for business or leisure. The Dormie Network Foundation supports nonprofits through in-kind donations and direct cash grants, and seeks to build long-term relationships with its nonprofit partners to help them raise the bar on fundraising opportunities. Learn more at dormienetwork.com.

Media contact:
Ashley Watson
[email protected]

Source: PR Newswire

---

LINCOLN, Neb., April 9, 2022 /Nonprofit Tech for Good/ --

Organization Snapshot

Habitat for Humanity partners with communities all over the globe to help build homes, with the vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Globally, Habitat for Humanity has worked in more than 70 countries and helped more than 39 million people with improved living conditions since 1976. On the local level, affiliate organizations work with trusted partners and residents to improve communities and build strong neighborhoods. In Chicago, Habitat’s commitment is to local families to achieve strength, stability, and self-reliance through housing and development projects. Four in 10 Chicagoans live in declining conditions, making Habitat’s work critical to helping the city thrive.

Chris Johnson, a Real Estate Broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, serves as the President of the chapter’s Associate Board, whose charge is to raise funds for the organization’s work. He’s worked in Chicago’s real estate market for nine years and is intimately familiar with the city’s need for denser, more affordable housing options. Chris says Habitat is helping address these issues, not only through physically building homes and neighborhoods, but by educating people and helping them navigate what can be an overwhelming and complicated process. “It’s not about giving away homes, it’s about creating generational change, a steady and safe environment for families, and building wealth in their home,” Chris says. “There are only so many homes that can be built, but when we’re able to help prepare people for homeownership through education, financial literacy, and sound advice, we can help even more.”

The Challenge

One of Habitat for Humanity of Chicago’s flagship programs is HomeBuyer University, a pilot effort that began in 2019 to break down barriers to becoming a homeowner by helping prospective homeowners understand the process and how to prepare for applying for a mortgage. Funds raised by the Associate Board help underwrite the costs of this program, which is a key part of fulfilling the local chapter’s mission.

After COVID-19 forced the cancellation of an annual yacht party fundraiser, Chris wanted to shift gears and establish a golf event as the board’s main fundraiser. “Folks were exhausted with virtual events and wanted a way to gather safely, and I’ve loved golf since I was a kid,” Chris says, so he dove headfirst into planning a golf event. He knew launching a brand new tournament was going to be challenging, but also knew that they needed to move forward. “I presented a golf tournament to the rest of the board as a feasible way to get a fundraising event done and established.”

Chris, with the help of Associate Board member Brian Doyle of BMO Harris in Chicago and the rest of the planning team, set a conservative goal to raise about $8,000 for the tournament’s first year. Several board members had played in charity tournaments in the past, but no one had experience planning an event.

The Solution

Chris knew there had to be an option for live scoring and easy registration for golf tournaments. A little online research led him straight to GolfStatus. “To take on an event like this in its first year without any experience was a little daunting, but having a tool like GolfStatus that took things off my plate and made the logistics easier to handle was so great,” Chris explains. He wanted one centralized place to keep things organized, take payments, manage sponsor assets, and print cart signs. “GolfStatus had all this and more,” he says.

The Results

The first-year tournament surpassed its fundraising goal, taking in $13,000. It attracted 19 teams for the four-person scramble. Teams live-scored via the free GolfStatus mobile app, which made confirming the final results much quicker and more efficient than relying on paper scorecards. Nine sponsorships were sold through the GolfStatus platform, including the premium technology sponsorship, which boasts premium visibility on the event website’s homepage, live leaderboards, and across the mobile app.

Massive Time Savings

Chris says the time savings the platform provided was invaluable. Every GolfStatus event website includes online registration with secure payment processing, allowing golfers and sponsors to purchase packages directly on the event website, eliminating the need to manually process paper registration forms, handle checks or take credit card information, or track information in multiple spreadsheets. Chris, Brian, or anyone on the planning team could log into GolfStatus and see who had registered or purchased a sponsorship with a few clicks. “Having everything in one place really made my life easier,” he says. “I could focus on the experience and day of things that needed to be handled.” Plus, sponsors can upload graphics and links directly through the event website, saving a ton of time. “Going back and forth with sponsors to get logos and such can really be a time suck,” Chris points out.

Connecting to the Cause

While many people are familiar with Habitat for Humanity, they often have misconceptions about what Habitat does. “People think we give away houses!” Chris says. In fact, families that are selected for a Habitat home are part of the building process and pay a 0% mortgage. “People think it’s a lottery, but it’s a long-term commitment to the neighborhood and community,” Chris says. At the start of the tournament, Chris made a point to speak about what Habitat for Humanity Chicago does and passed out educational materials as folks checked in for the tournament so they had a better understanding of what they were supporting.

Second-to-None Support & Resources

Chris and Brian worked closely with the GolfStatus team to build out the event website, which was provided at no cost as part of the Golf for Good program. Qualifying 501(c) organizations, like Habitat for Humanity, and those holding golf tournaments on their behalf, get access to the entire suite of GolfStatus’s tournament management and fundraising solution, in addition to an in-house support team. “The support team was great,” Chris says. “I had a question early on a Saturday morning and someone answered by chat almost immediately.”

Looking to the Future

Having one year of tournament planning experience under their belts has led to a number of things to improve on for next year’s event. First and foremost, Chris, Brian, and the rest of the team plan to get the event website up and running in the spring for the September event. “Chicago starts to thaw out in April and people are thinking about getting outside,” he says. They also plan to rethink the day of the week of the tournament, which was held on a Saturday in its inaugural year. “Saturday is a great day to play golf, but it was harder to get sponsors to commit to sending a team on a weekend or consider entertaining clients on a weekend,” Chris points out.

He hopes the annual golf tournament will become the board’s marquee fundraising event for Habitat for Humanity Chicago. “I love Habitat. I love being on a job site and watching homes come together,” Chris says. “It’s a lot like what they say about golf—a bad day golfing is better than a good day doing something else. Well, volunteering for Habitat is the same. You’ll work hard but the impact is worth it.”

Golf for Good

Through GolfStatus and the Golf for Good initiative, qualifying 501(c) organizations and those holding events that raise money for one can get access to GolfStatus’s full-featured golf event management and fundraising platform at no cost. Get started at golfstatus.com/demo or email [email protected].

Source: Nonprofit Tech for Good

LINCOLN, Neb., March 28, 2022 /The Chronicle of Philanthropy/ -- Fundraising for nonprofits boils down to two simple things: finding new donors and keeping existing ones. Both are critical to a nonprofit’s fundraising success—and to the overall success of the organization. Golf tournament fundraisers, when planned and executed properly, are avenues to successfully do both. Here’s what you need to know about using your golf fundraiser to attract new donors and make sure they (and your other longtime supporters) keep coming back to support your mission.

Why Are New Donors Important?

New donors are crucial to moving your organization’s cause forward. Just as a for-profit business must attract new customers or clients to grow market share, a nonprofit must raise awareness about the organization, the cause, and its work to grow its donor base. While some level of donor attrition is natural, without onboarding new donors to replace those that have lapsed, your network begins to stagnate and your organization ends up with an increasingly narrow donor pool. Indeed, the golf fundraiser presents an opportunity to raise awareness and bring in dollars while simultaneously attracting new donors.

Why Is It Important to Retain Donors?

While new donors are certainly important and more than worthwhile to pursue, retaining donors is equally, if not more, important. Returning donors already care about your cause and believe in how your organization is addressing the issue. They’re more likely to make larger gifts, and are already on the road to being long term donors. What’s more, the costs associated with onboarding new donors—both in terms of dollars and staff time—are significantly higher than with simply retaining existing supporters. You’ve likely invested time and effort in stewarding donors, which means attrition essentially undoes all the good that new donors bring to your organization.

How Does the Golf Event Do Both?

Golf fundraisers present tremendous opportunities for nonprofits—not only to raise funds to fulfill your mission, but to attract new and steward existing donors.

People Want to Golf

The golf industry saw unprecedented growth during 2020 and 2021, and while the National Golf Foundation reports that the sport’s growth has cooled slightly, golf is still more popular now than it was pre-pandemic. Many golfers actively look for golf tournaments to play in because they enjoy the game. And it’s not just the die-hard golfers—more casual players than ever are getting involved in the game and are eager to play in tournaments, which opens the door for even more donors to steward. The best part about a golf fundraiser is that when your event is focused on something people really want to do and enjoy—like golf—they’re bound to come back year after year.

Players Tap Their Network to Field a Team

Golf may be an individual sport, but charity golf tournaments tend to be scrambles, which means that folks must field a team to participate and tap into their personal and professional networks to do so. One of your supporters registers for the fundraiser, then brings three others who aren’t necessarily familiar with your cause, but will be once they play in the tournament. This instantly multiplies your donor outreach. And when you retain these new donors, your network snowballs. What’s more, these new donors are likely to return in future years and even bring others.

Golf Attracts a Particular Demographic

Golfers typically represent an affluent and influential demographic, with an average net worth of nearly $740,000 and an average household income double the national average. Over half of golfers are between the ages of 25 and 55 (the age group with the most spending power), and one in three are top-level managers. In short, these are folks you want in your organization’s donor database.

It’s an Important Networking Opportunity

Many golfers use charity golf tournaments—especially higher-grossing events held at prestigious golf courses—to network and do business. With four focused hours on the course, golfers can entertain clients, connect with prospects, build professional relationships, and network. This makes golf tournaments uniquely positioned to attract new high-capacity and connected donors that are often invited to fill a team.

You Can Reconnect With Lapsed Donors

Golf events let you reconnect with supporters who have contributed in the past but may have missed a year or more. Perhaps they played in a golf tournament years ago but haven’t returned, joined as a member but didn’t renew, made a year-end gift but didn’t respond to additional asks, or participated in a program and subsequently fell dormant. No matter what the cause, an invitation to a golf tournament is a low-pressure opportunity for lapsed donors to reconnect with your organization through an activity they enjoy—and for you to steward these relationships.

Capture Donor Data & Take the Next Step

In order to truly maximize your golf fundraiser as an outreach opportunity, you need to know who is playing in the event. This is an exercise in capturing donor data, getting it into your donor database, and effectively using it to attract folks to future events (like your golf tournament) and get them engaged in your mission.

Technology can help. Upgrading to online registration has a number of time-saving advantages and allows for thorough, real-time collection of donor data. Using a professional event website with online registration geared specifically toward the golf tournament allows you to capture each player and sponsor’s information. You’ll want to couple online registration with a platform that makes it easy for one player to purchase a team without necessarily knowing who they’ll tap to play with, and the ability to add that information later.

If you’re a nonprofit or planning an event that benefits one, you likely qualify for a free event website and no-cost access to GolfStatus, a golf event management platform that allows event organizers to effortlessly collect valuable donor data while streamlining the planning process. The result is an easier way to plan a golf outing that attracts new and stewards existing donors through an all-around great experience.

Ready to hit the easy button on a first-year golf event or streamline an existing tournament? Click here to get qualified or email us directly at [email protected].

Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy

LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 28, 2022 /The NonProfit Times/ -- 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.

Chad Conrad is the current chair of the Colorado Council and has been involved in its work for over two decades. “Marriott believes in taking care of its employees while also taking care of its community,” Chad says. 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.

For over 20 years, the Council has hosted an annual golf tournament to raise money for Children’s Hospital Colorado, the local CMN hospital. For Chad and Marriott employees from across the state, this support of Children’s Hospital Colorado has 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.

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 hotel closures, including those who helped Chad head up the golf tournament. “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 going, he needed to employ some type of technology to save time, automate processes, and make planning simple and efficient.

Turning to Technology

Chad turned to GolfStatus, the official management platform for golf events benefiting CMN Hospitals, to get the event back on its feet. “Since it’s been around for over 20 years, it was important to me to keep it alive,” Chad says. The switch to GolfStatus couldn’t have come at a better time—it gave Chad an easy-to-use, all-in-one solution to promote the event, register golfers, onboard and recognize sponsors, and collect funds.

GolfStatus’s partnership with CMN Hospitals helps event organizers—passionate supporters, hospitals or hospital foundations, corporate partners, businesses, or other volunteers—put on a golf tournament to benefit member hospitals. Because these events benefit a nonprofit, they qualify for GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program, which provides access to its full-featured golf event management and fundraising platform at no cost.

The GolfStatus team worked with Chad to build an event website where people could purchase team and sponsorship packages or make a donation with just a few clicks. When the tournament was organized by a larger planning team, one person 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 secure payment processing features were priceless. “I barely had to do anything with it,” he says, as the platform sends automated receipts upon registration and he could quickly and easily see who had registered in the software’s back end.

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. “I don’t know that I can ever go back to how I used to do it!” Chad says.

The Impact of Golf Fundraising

Chad has seen the impact the golf tournament has had for over 20 years, not only for Children’s Hospital Colorado but 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 has worked with a core group of vendors and partners to support the golf event over its tenure, but has continued to explore new 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.

While the tournament attracted about half of its historical attendees, it still hit its benchmark goal of around $35,000 for the hospital, thanks in part to the time savings GolfStatus provided that allowed Chad to pursue new sponsorships. “We were thrilled about that,” he says. 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.”

Golf for Good

GolfStatus’s Golf for Good giveback initiative 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 platform for qualifying organizations and events. Get qualified here or email [email protected].

Source: The NonProfit Times

LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 24, 2022 /Nonprofit PRO/—GolfStatus, an event management platform for golf fundraisers, has partnered with celebrity booking agency The Celebrity Source to help connect charity golf tournament organizers with celebrities, athletes, influencers, and other public figures. The partnership provides event organizers planning charity golf outings and golf fundraisers with access, options, and first-rate service in sourcing a range of celebrities that best fit their event's needs.

Through its Golf for Good program, GolfStatus serves nonprofit clients, businesses, corporate entities, and others holding charity golf outings and fundraisers—providing access to its software at no cost to these organizations. The event management and fundraising SaaS platform makes it easy to organize and execute professional, high-end golf events. The Celebrity Source, which has a strong tie to and focus in cause-related marketing, is known for creating organic, authentic celebrity matches for their clients to gain more visibility for charity events and fundraisers and the important causes they support.

"We're not just a booking agency, we are a strategic partner who digs deep into our clients' needs and fulfills them," said Laurie Kessler, CEO of The Celebrity Source. "We know from experience that celebrity support can help quantum leap charity golf tournaments in terms of exposure and funds raised, so partnering with GolfStatus and their Golf for Good program was a no-brainer for us."

To get started with GolfStatus's technology and connect with The Celebrity Source, visit golfstatus.com, email [email protected], or call 402-413-9650. Learn more about Celebrity Source by visiting thecelebritysource.com, emailing [email protected], or calling 917-626-8368.

Source: Nonprofit PRO

---

LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GolfStatus, the leading event management platform for golf fundraisers, has partnered with celebrity booking agency The Celebrity Source to help connect charity golf tournament organizers with celebrities, athletes, influencers, and other public figures. The partnership provides event organizers planning charity golf outings and golf fundraisers with access, options, and first-rate service in sourcing a range of celebrities that best fit their event's needs.

Through its Golf for Good program, GolfStatus. serves nonprofit clients, businesses, corporate entities, and others holding charity golf outings and fundraisers—providing access to its software at no cost to these organizations. The event management and fundraising SaaS platform makes it easy to organize and execute professional, high-end golf events. The Celebrity Source, which has a strong tie to and focus in cause-related marketing, is known for creating organic, authentic celebrity matches for their clients to gain more visibility for charity events and fundraisers and the important causes they support.

"We're not just a booking agency, we are a strategic partner who digs deep into our clients' needs and fulfills them," said Laurie Kessler, CEO of The Celebrity Source. "We know from experience that celebrity support can help quantum leap charity golf tournaments in terms of exposure and funds raised, so partnering with GolfStatus and their Golf for Good program was a no-brainer for us."

To get started with GolfStatus's technology and connect with The Celebrity Source, visit golfstatus.com, email [email protected], or call 402-413-9650. Learn more about Celebrity Source by visiting thecelebritysource.com, emailing [email protected], or calling 917-626-8368.

About GolfStatus

GolfStatus is golf's premier tournament management solution and golfer engagement platform. Its full-service event management software streamlines outings from start to finish, yielding professional, high-end events while also saving time and improving the event experience for golfers, sponsors, and golf facilities. Through GolfStatus, its powerful technology is accessible to nonprofits to streamline golf fundraisers and help event organizers use them to engage more supporters, raise more mission-critical funds, drive impact, and do more good.

About Celebrity Source

The Celebrity Source has been in business over 30 years and has access to thousands of celebs from film, TV, music, sports, fashion, digital stars and influencers. Among the company's specialties is cause-related celebrity outreach and coordination whereby the celebrities may not be paid—The Celebrity Source knows what it takes to get a celebrity to say yes apart from money. The Celebrity Source has helped hundreds of corporate and non-profit clients find authentic celebrity matches for events (live and virtual), PR/Marketing/Advertising campaigns, corporate meetings and cause-marketing strategies.

Contact:
Ashley Watson, Director of Marketing
[email protected]
812.202.0019

Source: PR Newswire

---

Play Yellow’s Ben Parker on Using Golf to Raise $100 Million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals

LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 12, 2022 /Association of Fundraising Professionals/ — For Ben Parker, Senior Director of Play Yellow at Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals, golf has been a constant. His passion for golf stems from playing competitively in high school and college, going on to become a PGA Professional. He found ways to stay connected to the game throughout his career, hosting a golf television show and producing celebrity golf tournaments. Eventually, he landed at CMN Hospitals to spearhead the Play Yellow effort, in partnership with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, with the goal to raise $100 million in five years for children’s hospitals.

Ben has long believed in the power of golf to do good in the world. “Supporting kids reaches the soul of the golfer,” says Ben, who has seen firsthand the sport’s impact in the outpouring of support at all levels of golf for CMN Hospitals. “When we can combine something they love—golf—with helping kids, it creates a meaningful connection. We give it an identity with Play Yellow.”

CMN Hospitals & Golf Fundraising

When Ben came on board at CMN Hospitals, there were thousands of golf events across the country raising money for local children’s hospitals. Organized by hospital foundations, corporate entities, community organizations, and dedicated supporters, these tournaments essentially happened, as Ben describes it, in the background, without CMN Hospitals knowing who was organizing, sponsoring, or playing in them.

“The more I worked with my teammates, I realized there was a massive opportunity to cultivate, grow, and simplify golf fundraising with our network,” Ben says. His experience working with charity golf tournaments of all types and sizes gives him a unique perspective on how tournament organizers operate and what motivates them. He explains that the majority of volunteers who organize a golf event aren’t typically golfers themselves; they’re passionate supporters and volunteers who are willing to jump in and make things happen. They see how golf is a very powerful mechanism for bringing people together and raising money.

Ben and his CMN Hospital colleagues on the Innovation team dug in to look for a solution to expand and strengthen golf fundraising and make the process easier for organizers across the board. “We want organizers to be able to spend less time on the minutiae of planning a golf tournament and more time on the fun stuff,” Ben says.

The amount of work that goes into a successful golf tournament isn’t lost on Ben and his team, which is why they make every effort to simplify the process and help organizers see the impact of their time and dedication. He points out that when tournaments are organized as Play Yellow events, they’re part of a larger CMN Hospitals ecosystem that has deep ties to corporate sponsors, individual hospital communities, and media partners, which gives their event instant credibility, tools, and support. “For someone whose day job is something else, to suddenly be charged with making a massive impact in a golf fundraiser, it can be overwhelming,” Ben says. “But we’re there to help organizers see how the golf community loves to support kids in need and connect them to this larger network so they can be successful.”

The $100 Million Jack Nicklaus Challenge

Play Yellow’s humble beginnings include a plate of cookies and a kind gesture for a child dealing with cancer. Jack Nicklaus, the legendary golfer who won 18 majors over the course of his illustrious career, befriended a young fan in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, named Craig Smith. Craig was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, that would tragically take his life at the age of 13. During one of their many conversations, this one following one of Jack’s tournament wins, Craig said he knew Jack would come out on top because he was wearing a lucky yellow shirt.

Jack would continue to wear yellow on Sundays over the years in honor of Craig. When he won his sixth Masters in 1986, he wore yellow for the final round. Ben explains that this story didn’t surface until some 20 years later, when Jack was asked if there was something different about that particular day of golf—when he had a career round and won the tournament—and he pointed out that he was wearing yellow that Sunday.

Jack and Barbara Nicklaus were already dedicated supporters of children’s hospitals in Ohio and Florida and wanted to further amplify those efforts with CMN Hospitals and their influence in the golf world. To that end, Jack called PGA TOUR Commissioner, Jay Monahan, to meet with them at their home in Florida over a plate of Barbara’s chocolate chip cookies. Jack set the audacious goal of raising $100 million for CMN Hospitals in just five years through golf, and Play Yellow was born.

Getting to the Goal with Technology

Prior to the pandemic, Play Yellow had raised about $24 million for CMN Hospitals through golf. “When COVID hit, all these golf events that we had built momentum behind went into shutdown mode,” Ben says. “There was some panic because we knew that hospitals needed this unrestricted funding to care for kids, and we knew there would be a huge fundraising gap to close in 2020 because these events weren’t going to happen.”

Creating efficiencies and better supporting tournament organizers with user-friendly tools, while at the same time strategizing how to get tournaments back up and running, led CMN Hospitals to a partnership with golf technology company GolfStatus. The platform puts powerful fundraising technology built for golf in the hands of individual event organizers, while also providing key insights at an enterprise level, broader sponsorship opportunities, and a central event directory for larger organizations like CMN Hospitals that have hundreds or even thousands of events that benefit them.

GolfStatus’s tech solved many challenges right off the bat, with built-in features to live-score tournaments, send in-event messages to golfers and sponsors, and an in-house customer success team to build a website for each tournament and provide support every step of the way. The platform greatly simplifies registration and payment collection and processing, which saves organizers a huge amount of work, making the prospect of putting on a tournament less daunting. In the face of COVID-19, GolfStatus’s features also allowed tournaments to mitigate touchpoints by moving registration, scoring, coordination, and other logistical tasks online and providing options for virtual and hybrid events.

What’s more, the value of using a common technology for Play Yellow events goes well beyond saving organizers time and effort. Indeed, one of the strongest arguments for such a platform is the ability to securely and responsibly collect donor and sponsor data in an efficient manner, helping CMN Hospitals as a whole and its member hospitals and foundations gain a better understanding of who is supporting them through golf. “Hospitals may not have the oversight they need for these events or even know who is organizing golf tournaments on their behalf,” Ben points out. “The power of this information, and how best to support these third party events, is crucial to making fundraising decisions.”

Ben is excited about the future of CMN Hospitals’ golf fundraising using GolfStatus. “GolfStatus fits the unique needs of golf event organizers,” says Ben. “As a partner, GolfStatus sees the long term vision of what we want to accomplish with Play Yellow and for CMN Hospitals.”

To support CMN Hospitals through golf, you can play in a tournament near you or even organize your own golf fundraiser.

GolfStatus.org—the social impact division of golf technology company GolfStatus—provides no-cost access to its golf event management and fundraising platform to nonprofits through its Golf for Good program. A proud partner of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, GolfStatus.org’s mission is to help nonprofits leverage golf to engage more supporters, raise more mission-critical dollars, drive impact, and do more good. Learn more about the Golf for Good program and get qualified at www.golfstatus.com/demo.

Source: AFP

---