Fundraising Success #40

Fundraising Success - Issue #40 - Article: "Planning A Charity Golf Tournament"; Supplier Spotlight: "Doornbosch Brothers"; Free ebook: "Weight Loss Simplified"

No snow or sleet all winter long and only a few days below freezing.
My husband has mowed the lawn every month this winter. Talk about
your global warming!

The Supplier Spotlight is on Doornbosch Brothers. They provide
Dutch flower bulbs for fundraising at incredible prices. You can get 500
tulip bulbs for $125 which will really help you hit your spring fundraiser
goals!

This month's Bonus is a Free Sample of Celine Dion's new fragrance
"Almost Belong".  You need to act fast as these free perfume samples
always go quick. Details in the SiteSeeing section of the newsletter.

This month's ebook is "Weight Loss Simplified" which should come in handy
after eating all that Valentine's Day candy!


*-----------------Hot Tip------------------*

Free PC Security Software

Spam Virus Help has great information and links to free resources for
antivirus software, spam blockers, personal firewalls, and all the other
good stuff you need to keep your computer safe.

Free Adware Remover

*-----------------Hot Tip------------------*

----------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Q & A: "Selling on eBay"
----------------------------------------------------------------

Question: Kimberly, we'd like to sell some items on eBay to raise
funds, but don't have much online auction experience. Can you
offer some tips or recommend a company?
- Annette Davis

Answer: If you're unsure how to go about selling on eBay, you can
always use a trading assistant. They take a percentage of the sale,
but handle the auction listing and collecting payment.

A good site for information is Auction Resources.

- Kimberly


You will find my book, Fundraising Success, very helpful in any
fundraising endeavor.

Buy a copy today because you'll save both time and money!
Yours for only $17:

http://www.fundraiserhelp.com/fundraising-success.htm


----------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURE ARTICLE: Planning A Charity Golf Tournament
----------------------------------------------------------------

Looking for tips on planning a charity golf tournament? There are many factors to consider, so I'll stick to the four main ones for this article. The success of your charity golf event revolves around maximizing player turnout, increasing pledge sizes, obtaining sponsored prizes, and choosing the right tournament play format.

Player Turnout
Your success depends on how many players your golf event draws and how actively you have your players solicit sponsors for their own rounds.

To maximize turnout, you need to get major publicity for your event. That means putting out multiple press releases, getting local media coverage from newspapers and television stations, and placing ads in the sports section of the local paper.

For the best results, put your press releases out through PR Web. Appoint a spokesperson to handle all media contacts and follow-up. For more tips, read my article on fundraising publicity.

Charity Pledges
The key is getting each player to collect a certain amount of pledges.
I recommend a minimum of $100 per player in pledges. I've also played in tournaments where that number was $250 per player.

Obviously, you want to motivate the participants to raise as much money as possible. Some groups offer incentives for the top pledge getters. Others seek corporate sponsorships for that firm's players.

Pledge amounts determine the success of your charity golf event, so get input from experienced golfers and golf pros in your area.

Top Golfer Prizes
Generally speaking, you'll draw more golfers if you have great prizes for longest drive, closest to the hole, hole in one, lowest team score, lowest actual score, and best adjusted score (handicap).

You solicit local merchants to sponsor those prizes. Work with an insurance-related prize company for things like the hole-in-one contest. That way you can offer a bigger prize for a much lower outlay.

Aim to get 100 golfers (25 foursomes) and your small group could easily raise $10,000 or more. Larger turnouts will net even more with some charity golf tournaments drawing 500 golfers competing for big prizes.

Plan Ahead
Obviously, bigger pledges, more golfers, corporate sponsorships combined with massive publicity will work wonders for the bottom line of your charity golf tournament. With the right combination of these factors and good advance planning, you can certainly raise $75,000 or more for a charitable cause.

Contact local courses for group rates. Be sure to mention that you are planning a charity event and ask for discounts on cart and greens fees. Once you decide on your preferred location, reserve the date and tee times well in advance.

Tournament Play Formats

For those who are participating in your charity golf and fund-raising tournament, it helps to pick a format they are familiar with. The three most common formats are scramble, best ball, and alternate shot.

Scramble
This format usually is played with groups of four, but it certainly can be played with more than four players, or as few as two.

In a scramble, each player tees off on each hole. The best of the tee shots then is selected, and all players play their second shot from that spot. advertisement

The process is repeated until the ball is holed. Keep in mind that when playing a scramble, you can drop your ball within one club length from where the chosen ball lies, but no closer to the hole.


Best ball
This format usually is for four-person teams. Each player on the team plays his or her own ball throughout the hole and the round. On each hole, the lowest score among the four players counts as the team score.

There can be two best ball formats, where you must count two balls on each hole. The more balls that count helps keep all of the players involved in the fate of the team.


Alternate shot
This format usually involves two-person teams and is a competition where the team alternates who hits each shot.

The first player hits the drive, the second player hits the second shot, the first player hits the third shot, and so on until the ball is holed. The team also alternates who hits the drive on each hole, so the same player doesn't hit every drive.

Charity Golf Event - Final Tips

Plan ahead to maximize the success of your charity golf event. For best results, pick a monthday when courses and large blocks of tee times will be easier to reserve. You'll often get the best rates by going to the course in person and talking to the pro or pro shop manager.

Corporate sponsors are another good way to go. Get some celebrities to golf with corporate bigwigs and you can easily raise $100k-$150k. Of course, convincing celebrities to donate their time takes some doing, but it's well worth it.

If it's your first golf tournament, be open to suggestions from other golfers. Consider working with a fundraising consultant who specializes in organizing charity golf tournaments. They work for a percentage of the gross, but you usually end up raising more funds due to their experience and sponsor contacts.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Supplier Spotlight: Doornbosch Brothers
----------------------------------------------------------------

(Excerpt from my book, Fundraising Success!)

Supplier: Doornbosch Brothers
Phone: (800) 648-4526
Fax: (414) 427-7047
Website: Offline
Email: Unknown

Address: 11305 W. Forest Home
City: Franklin
State: WI
Zip: 53132

Description: Helping schools and organizations to meet or exceed their fundraising goals for 50 years with flower bulbs.

Direct importers from Holland. Great prices, i.e. 500 tulip bulbs for $120 average price.


Product Lines: Catalog Sales, Flower Bulbs

Terms: Terms available or prepay

Notes: Free shipping on orders over $500. Incentive program included. DBA.com stands for Dutch Bulbs of America.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Places To Go, Things To See, Bonus Item & More
----------------------------------------------------------------

Places to go:

Baseball Hall of Fame

You may enjoy taking in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s website. First-time visitors may want to begin by looking at some of the very nice online exhibits offered here. Some of the more delightful exhibits include the history of the baseball uniform as well as programs from World Series past.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/

Things to see:

Digital Orchid Library

This exhibit brings the world of those obsessed with orchids to the general public. These rather entrancing flowers have a substantial following and they remain a passion for many home flower enthusiasts. Working in collaboration, Michigan State University, the American Orchid Society, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the National Agricultural Library have assisted in the creation of this lovely online digitized collection.

Here, visitors can electronically traipse through such gems as the periodical “The Orchid World” from 1911 and 1912, then move on to more demanding texts such as “Die Orchideen von Java”, compiled by one Johannes Jacobus Smith. Accompanied by detailed illustrations of orchids, visitors will find much to delight in throughout these various taxonomical works.

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/orchids/

Bonus Item:

Free Sample Of Celine Dion's "Almost Belong" Perfume
Limited time offer on a free perfume sample from Celine Dion's new fragrance "Almost Belong". According to the site, it blends uplifting notes of mimosa, fresh violets & crisp amber that mingle & dance to create a fabulous new fragrance. Act quick on this one because they don't last long.

http://www.teenfreeway.com/coty/celine_always/always1.htm

Your Free Ebook:

14 page weight loss report that gives you practical and easy to understand tips and advice for weight loss. use a right mouse click and choose "Save As" to download.
14 pages, Adobe PDF format, 160kb download.

Sorry, no longer available.

That's all for this issue. See you next month.


----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 by Kimberly Reynolds. All rights reserved.

Maximize your fundraising success!

Related Pages

Newsletters - All the Back Issues!

Capital Campaigns - Capital campaign strategies for non-profit groups to increase their donor base.

Donor Recognition - How to use donor recognition to increase your capital campaign results.

Fundraising Ideas - Ideas for fundraising that focus on the best activities for high school, elementary school, sports teams, and youth groups to raise funds with events, activities, programs, projects and products.

Fundraising Events - Three profitable event ideas for small group or school fundraisers - Fundraiser events that are quick and easy - Event ideas you can do in a monthend that work anywhere from Canada to Australia.

School Fundraisers - Easy fundraising ideas for schools that consistently produce excellent results. Includes articles on cheerleading, high school football, soccer, and band, plus more great youth sports team activities and events for other high school groups.

Thank You Letters - Seven tips on writing thank you letters, notes, or simple donor recognition phone calls.

Fundraising Letters - See what fund raising letters work for other non-profit groups.

Fundraising Letter - How to generate the best response with your donation request letters.

How To Write A Fundraising Letter - Advice and tips on what works and what doesn't.

Nonprofit Software - Listings and descriptions of popular software programs for nonprofit groups. Donor tracking and recognition programs, nonprofit accounting, and capital campaign support.

Church Fundraisers - Church fundraising ideas for capital campaigns through donor recognition - Christian fundraiser charity activities and events that produce quick results.

Articles - Full list of articles on high school fundraisers, nonprofit fund raising, and great event ideas.

Fundraisers In The News