In addition to being a golf professional, Anne Marie has spent time as a tournament coordinator, helping many charities achieve their fundraising goals.  She gets asked from time to time, "How can I arrange a tournament to raise money for my church, charity, or a specific person?"  She would like to offer some advice that might point you in the right direction.

First off, ask your self a couple of important questions.  What is your goal?  Would you be happy with making $5,000 or do you need to make $30,000?  How many people are willing to step up and help you make this happen? What is your target audience?  If it is the kind of tournament you want to charge $200 a person to play, have it at a resort, semi private upscale type facility that can server or cater a more expensive type of meal, vs. charging $45 a player, serving on site and having it at a more casual public facility.  It all depends on your target group and how much money you need to make.

Once you have an idea of what type of event you want to have, you need to find a place to hold it. Decide on what time of year you want to hold the event, and what day of the week. Call around to local golf courses and see what type of rate you can get.

You will get a cheaper rate if you have your event Mon-Thurs, but it's sometimes hard to get people off work to play.  You will pay more to the golf course on a Fri-Sun, but if you can get an afternoon time, they might work with you to keep your cost lower. Ask if they will throw in free range balls for the group or give a discount on gift certificates purchased as prizes in the pro shop.

Once you have decided on a place and have negotiated a price, consider what type of food you plan to serve. Chic-Fil-A is known for doing a super job.  Don't be afraid to ask if they will donate part of the food cost, or get someone to agree to sponsor the food.  The less you have to pay out of pocket, the better the profit in the end.

Once you have the location, price, and food locked in, then get to work on the fliers or brochures. Keep it simple, and put it on colorful paper.  You'll need more than 1,000 of them so don't pay more by printing 500 at a time. 

To make the most out of your time, get a group of people to volunteer. Make a list of places to go and divide it up among your people.  They can drop off the fliers, ask for sponsorship,  and ask for gifts to be donated all at the same time. Think of places like hair salons, restaurants, anywhere that YOU might spend money.  Business owners had a hard time saying NO to me when they knew I spent money in their shop every month.

As far as hole sponsors, decide on a price and what you are willing to give in return. I have sold 50 business card size adds  for $25 each for a local charity to put in their tournament fact sheet. It cost no money other than to print the paper and to list them on a poster in the club house. That worked better for me than trying to find 12 people at $100 each.

I recommend $25 for business size ads, $50 for smaller hole sponsor signs, and $100 for bigger ones that are also listed in the club house. $300-$500 for beverage sponsors or food sponsors.  To be perfectly honest, unless you know someone in big business, the days of getting $1,000 from a company are over.  Once thing that is possible, however, is getting a title sponsor.  That would be like, "The First Annual Modern Toyota Hospice Tournament". Modern Toyota as an example, might pay money to be listed in every brochure, poster, etc.  That is especially a big deal if your event gets a lot of TV or Radio time.

The day of the event, you can sell mulligans, raffle tickets, or even hold a silent auction.  I have used an auction company to come in and bring items to be sold.  At the end, the charity keeps some of the money and the auction guy gets the rest. It's a good, no risk way to try and increase your revenue.

Finally, you need to consider what type of item you plan to give away either as a prize or in your goodie bag.  You can purchase gifts, especially those with your tournament name on them, and use those items as prizes.  You can buy trophies or plaques.  You can just give out cash. I recommend not getting too "top heavy" in the prize department. Give a lot of little prizes so most people walk away with something. I was at an event where the winners got a trip to Germany.  The fight over who cheated was massive.  Remember it's a charity and the focus should be on that and not prizes.

If you have any questions, feel free to e mail me at amgoslak@aol.com. I will be happy to help you.