How to Plan a Charity Golf Tournament With No Upfront Costs
- Nonprofit Learning Lab
- Mar 26
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 3
This is a guest blog by Golf Status.
Golf tournaments are a powerful and proven fundraising tool, but many nonprofits are hesitant to jump into planning because they assume golf events require a large upfront investment. The truth? You don’t need a big budget to host a successful golf fundraiser for your nonprofit. With the right strategy, smart use of technology, and creative revenue streams, you can cover your costs and maximize fundraising potential without spending a dime upfront.
Here are best practices for planning a high-impact charity golf tournament with no startup funds while increasing donor engagement and driving long-term support for your cause.
Overcoming the Fear of Losing Money
One of the biggest concerns nonprofit fundraisers have when considering a golf tournament is the fear of losing money. Budgets are tight, and the idea of spending money you don’t have to raise money can feel risky. But with the right tools and strategy, you can avoid this risk altogether.
The reality is that you don’t need a huge upfront investment. Tournament funds start rolling in as soon as you open registration, and you don’t have to wait until the event is over to use them. Expenses like course fees and vendor orders are often due later in the planning process, giving you plenty of time to generate revenue before invoices are due. The key is to secure funds early through online registration and sponsorship purchases and then strategically use those funds to cover costs as you go.
Covering Event Expenses
1. Open Registration Early
The earlier you open your tournament’s registration, the sooner you’ll start collecting funds. Registration fees provide immediate cash flow and give you a clear sense of participation levels. Registration prices should cover basic costs for each golfer, such as greens fees and cart rentals.
Consider offering an early bird price to encourage early sign-ups to help bring in money sooner. You might also include the option to add a donation at checkout—most golfers understand that they’re supporting a cause and would be happy to contribute extra.
2. Secure Sponsorships to Cover Hard Costs
Sponsorships are where you’ll generate the most revenue from your golf tournament and should be leveraged to cover the event’s hard costs and further drive revenue. Here’s how:
● Create a sponsorship for specific tournament expenses. For example, create a Lunch Sponsorship, T-shirt Sponsorship, or Pin Flag Sponsorship to ensure those costs are covered.
● Add digital exposure to every sponsorship package. Digital exposure costs you nothing but adds even more value for sponsors. Exposure through your event website, live scoring apps, social media, and live leaderboards makes sponsorships more attractive to businesses.
● Don’t order materials until the sponsorship sells. If you need to order branded materials for a specific sponsorship, like shirts, golf balls, or hole signage, wait until the sponsorship sells so you’re not stuck paying out of pocket.
3. Make Sure Registration Fees Cover Costs
Your registration price, whether it’s for a team or individual golfers, should be based on the cost of the venue and factor in other expenses. Include basic amenities like greens fees, cart rental, range balls, meals, and player gifts in your pricing structure to provide value.
If your tournament is held at a public golf facility, your cost per golfer and corresponding registration fee will be lower. If your event is held at a private or high-end golf club, golfers will expect to pay more for the more exclusive experience. Online registration ensures that golfers pay upfront, so you don’t have to chase down payments on event day or worse, have to eat the cost of any no-shows.
Generating Revenue Beyond Registration & Sponsorships
A well-planned tournament builds multiple revenue opportunities into the event beyond registration and sponsorships. Try these three ideas:
1. Add-On Sales
Add-on sales can quickly increase your tournament’s revenue. Offer these as a package option at registration, but make sure you’re equipped with a mobile-friendly event website to sell add-ons and accept payments on tournament day. Some common, lucrative add-ons include:
● Mulligans. These are essentially “do-overs” that give golfers a second chance on a shot to improve their score.
● On-course games. Games not only have the potential to drive significant revenue but also add a lot of fun to the tournament. Golf ball cannon, hole of fortune, plinko, wrong hand challenge, single club hole—the options are endless!
● Contests. Contest entry can be built into the registration cost or offered as an add-on purchase. Popular contests include hole-in-one, closest-to-the-pin, putting, longest drive, and beat the pro.
● All-In Packages. Offer an all-in package that includes add-ons like entry to games and contests for a flat fee.
2. Strategic Donation Asks
Because you’re raising money for charity, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for direct donations, but it’s crucial to be strategic and purposeful:
● Set up a donation station at the clubhouse and on the course
● Place QR codes that link directly to your event website around the course to facilitate online donations.
● Challenge golfers to donate the amount of their final score to your nonprofit.
● Use push notifications through your golf event management platform’s mobile app to encourage donations.
3. Raffles and Auctions
Both raffles and auctions can be easily added to your tournament and are excellent revenue generators with minimal cost if you secure donated items. Tap into sponsors and partners to secure donated raffle prizes and auction items that would be attractive to your audience.
Sell raffle tickets at registration and offer additional tickets for sale on event day. You could even offer raffle tickets as prizes in your on-course games.
Silent auctions tend to work well with golf tournaments, particularly when you leverage a mobile bidding platform golfers can use to place bids before, during, and after their round.
Leveraging Partnerships to Lower Costs & Expand Reach
Strategic partnerships can help your nonprofit reduce tournament costs, boost exposure, and attract more golfers and sponsors. Here’s how:
1. Reduce or Eliminate Specific Costs
Tap into your networks to identify businesses and individuals who already support your organization in some way and invite them to support your golf tournament. If they’re not in a position to provide financial support, perhaps they can make an in-kind donation that offsets tournament costs, such as food and beverage, prizes, or professional services.
2. Help Market the Tournament & Reach New Audiences
Partners can assist with tournament marketing by using their channels—like social media, employee newsletters, email campaigns, or networking events—to promote the fundraiser. This helps you reach new audiences and shows how the partner is supporting your cause. You should strive to make it as easy as possible for partners to promote your tournament by providing ready-to-go content and graphics they can fold into their messaging.
3. Recruit Volunteers Through Partnerships
Sponsors and community partners can also be tapped to provide volunteers to help with event prep and on tournament day, reducing the burden on paid staff. This can be especially helpful for nonprofits with a small planning team. Invite sponsors and partners to run a contest or on-course game or any other task that lets them interact with golfers.
Using Tech to Save Time and Money
Technology simplifies golf tournament planning and execution, increases efficiency, and reduces costs—especially when you use a platform designed specifically for golf events.
● Look for tech with no upfront cost. You don’t want to be saddled with costly fees for different users, to access support, or to accept payments. Look for a platform that doesn’t charge extra for these and is available at no upfront cost.
● Use an event website online registration. With an event website, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on printing and mailers. You simply share the site’s link on your digital channels.
● Use online registration. Your team can set it and forget it. There’s no need to hassle with paper forms, checks, or receipts—it’s all automated so your team can focus on selling sponsorships and teams.
● Let participants cover fees. Online platforms charge a fee for payment processing, so giving golfers and sponsors the option to cover them or requiring them to cover fees ensures more dollars go to your nonprofit.
What’s Next? Tips for Getting Started
● Research local golf facilities, pricing, amenities, and payment terms.
● Survey supporters to gauge interest in a golf fundraiser.
● Identify potential sponsors within your networks.
● Identify a potential event date that works with your nonprofit’s calendar.
● Secure your golf event management platform.
● Launch an event website as soon as possible to drive registration and sponsorship income.
● Track tasks, expenses, and income to stay on track, organized, and profitable.
GolfStatus Helps You Raise More With Less
You don’t need a big budget to host a successful golf tournament. By leveraging early registration, securing strategic sponsorships, and maximizing tech, you can generate revenue and create an exceptional event experience without taking financial risks.
GolfStatus makes it easy with no-cost access to its platform through the Golf for Good program, helping nonprofits save time and raise more money. Book a quick 15 or 30-minute meeting to find out more!