EP 25: Golf Tournament Fundraisers -- How to Plan, Promote, and Profit

Positioning review: Reframed several prescriptive statements into experiential/descriptive language. Removed direct "you should" directives and replaced with "what tends to work" or softened framing. See Original vs. Revised pairs below.

Original: "don't be afraid to fail either" --> Revised: kept as-is; this is a guest's natural encouragement, not prescriptive advice from Handbid.

Original: "I always tell people, don't be afraid to go big and throw a bunch of options out there" --> Revised: kept as-is; this is the guest describing his own coaching style.

Original: "don't be afraid to accept just in-kind donations" --> Revised: kept as-is; natural conversational encouragement from the guest.

Intro: Welcome to the Elevate Your Event Podcast, where we talk about how to plan and execute an unforgettable event that will dazzle your guests and generate more income for your organization. From fundraising and securing trendy auction items to event production and logistics, get the best tips and advice from seasoned fundraising and event professionals who have been in your shoes.

Jeff Porter: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event Podcast, where we talk about all the many ways that you can make your fundraising event better. Today, because it's getting warmer -- well, wishing that it gets warmer -- we are going to talk about golf, one of my favorites. In Colorado, it can get warmer and you get super excited and then you get a hailstorm or some snow and it just really depresses you for a few days, especially because they close the course or the driving range. We're entering that golf season and we know a lot of you are planning a golf fundraiser, so we wanted to bring a special guest on today, somebody who's an expert in how to run golf fundraisers. We'd like to introduce Logan Foote from Golf Status.

Logan Foote: Hi, everyone. Glad to be here.

Jeff Porter: Why don't you tell us a little bit about what Golf Status does, and then we can dive into some questions about golf tournaments.

Logan Foote: So Golf Status is a golf technology company. We specialize in the golf fundraiser specifically. The golf event is unique, and our technology handles all those golf-specific tasks that general event software really struggles with. It saves organizers a ton of time. We also have some really cool built-in areas where events can leverage sponsorships and just make the event as fun as possible while raising as much money as possible.

Jeff Porter: I love that part -- raising as much money as possible -- because we've had experience with Golf Status and it's absolutely true. Everything from automating the registration to helping drive sponsorship revenue to automating how guests are scoring to the leaderboard at the end, all of that is automated, and it absolutely makes a huge difference. It was fun to use your software. I had a tournament I was at, so I totally understand the benefit. If you're looking for ways to make your event better, there are kind of two things you can do. One is what we call the aspirin -- you eliminate the headaches. Some of the stuff around who's coming to my event, did they pay, how do I make it easy for them to pay, all the way down to how do I get all those scores at the end.

Jeff Porter: I ran a golf tournament with my sister for at least 11 years. And I remember one year, the pro -- they must go to handwriting class or something. They put this gorgeous leaderboard up, and the guy sat there with a Sharpie marker and drew the most beautiful scores, and then his marker ran out. Everything stops as they're looking for another marker. That tells you technology has some benefits on the backside of this. But Logan, why don't you talk about what we were mentioning before we started the podcast -- just in general with golf tournaments, what do you see? How do you help people that are diving into this for the first time? They're probably overwhelmed.

Logan Foote: Yeah, absolutely. Always look for those subject matter experts, especially when you're a first-timer and you don't know where to start. With a golf event, the first thing is always when do I want to do this? Spring, summer, fall are the peak seasons. If you live down south, you can really do it any time of year. Then find your golf course. Who has availability? Who can accommodate your needs? Public course, private course -- a private course, you're probably going to be limited. Usually they reserve Mondays for their outside audience. They're going to be a little more expensive, but that could also be a nice draw to get people to sign up. A public course will be a little cheaper and you'll probably have more options in terms of availability and what day of the week.

Logan Foote: From there, I always emphasize really utilizing technology as much as possible. Move registration online. That's going to save you so much time, make it easier to promote. Drive everyone who's interested in the event -- whether they want to play, sponsor, or just donate -- to the same place. That streamlines your promotion. Having the ability to take not only registrations online but payments is so important.

Jeff Porter: Skin in the game, right?

Logan Foote: Absolutely. That is such a huge key -- not only to save time, but to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Ad Break: Hey, just want to let you know this event is brought to you by Handbid. Handbid is mobile bidding and auction technology software built by fundraisers for fundraisers. We're able to help you with everything from ticketing and registration to mobile bidding to live auction recording appeals, you name it. If you want more information about what we do, click on the link below or reach out to us at handbid.com and we'd be happy to talk to you.

Jeff Porter: This has been awesome. Logan, thank you so much for your time. Thank you guys for listening to this episode. We'll be back soon with another episode of Elevate Your Event. Until then, happy fundraising.