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| Rotary International District #6060 |
| Rotary Meeting Make - up #30 |
Golf tournaments winning funds and influencing people
by Paul Engleman
The Rotarian -- June 2010
The Old Course St. Andrews, Scotland. Photo courtesy of St. Andrews Links Trust. G olf as we know it began in Scotland sometime in the 15th century.
Eighty years ago, when Rotary’s 25th anniversary convention was held in Chicago, Rotarians played golf at more than 30 clubs. Then, in 1962, golfers
from District 101 in Scotland and 728 in Pennsylvania, USA, played the first match in what has become an annual event. The next year, the idea for the
International Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians took root during a conversation between incoming RI President Carl P. Miller and 1963-64 Scottish District
Governor Gavin Reekie. That chat led to an international championship tournament of Rotarians in 1964 at St. Andrews. The first tournament drew 47
contestants from 10 countries. Last year’s event, held in Kitzbuhel, Austria, attracted 330 participants from 30 countries, including 80 first-timers.
The international fellowship’s current membership totals more than 1,200 from 60 countries, and there are more than 20 national golf fellowship groups for
Rotarians, the largest of which is in the United States. Next year’s championship tournament will return to the charm of Pinehurst, N.C., for the third time.
When it was last held at Pinehurst, in 1998, the tournament attracted more than 400 golfers from 28 countries.
While the annual competitions staged by these golfing groups serve Rotarians who are inclined to take the game seriously, countless clubs have found
that golf tournaments, when well organized, can be lucrative fundraising events.
The Rotary Club of Sacramento, Calif., has hosted a tournament called Golf 4 Kids since 1977. The event provides funding to five Sacramento-area
schools that help disabled children. Started in 1922, the club believes it to be the oldest continuous service project in Rotary. Bob Daly, the chair of last
year’s tournament, says that when an event has been ongoing for more than three decades, “the setup is pretty much down to a science.” He credits
much of the tournament’s success to Administration and Special Events Director Jenifer Jackson, who coordinates such duties as negotiating costs and
responsibilities with the different courses that are selected each year. He recommends designating one person to put it all together.
Daly says that planning for the tournament, held in the fall, takes about six months. “We start with a committee of three to five people, and then we assign
subcommittees for each part of the tournament – sponsorships, donations, raffle items, beverages, and tee signs. On the day of the tournament, we
usually have 8 to 10 volunteers working throughout the day.
“It is possible to get complacent and think that it will run itself,” he says. “But we do have some sponsors that give year after year, and we’ve been lucky to
get a lot of help from the clubs we select.” Last year, the fee to participate was $195 per golfer and $60 for those who came only for dinner. As for
contributions, “usually we rely completely on our club members to donate,” Daly says. But last year, facing the uncertain economy, “we looked beyond the
club to ensure success.” The result: The event netted a record $60,000.
“I can’t put into words how rewarding it is to go back to the schools and tell them that not only can we fund their request but that we also have an additional
$20,000 we would like to donate,” Daly says. “The need that we fill with this tournament is huge.”
"The need that we fill with the tournament is huge." Christopher Morrison was president of the Rotary Club of Coral Gables, Fla., in 2004 when the club
decided to try a golf tournament as an annual fall fundraiser. Mindful that the work of organizing major events often “falls on the shoulders of a few and
becomes a burden,” he decided to hire a local company, Florida Team Golf, which specializes in staging fundraising tournaments.
With the company handling most of the details, the club can focus on sales and donations, says Morrison, noting that last year the event netted $20,000.
Three years ago, while searching the Internet for additional fundraising ideas, he stumbled upon the notion of a golf ball drop, a contest in which
numbered golf balls are sold like raffle tickets (for $25 each) and dropped from a helicopter. The three balls that land closest to the pin are winners.
Morrison says the first drop added about $7,000 to the fundraising total. When clubs were asked to help match challenge grant funds from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Morrison proposed the golf ball drop as a district fundraising event. Nearly all of the clubs in the district agreed to participate.
“It is so easy, and the results have been unbelievable,” he says. “We have raised $91,000 for PolioPlus from two golf ball drops. The irony is that the drop
is far less labor intensive than the tournament and raises much more money.” But he points out that the tournament is needed as a platform, and it has
great fellowship value.
In 2007, Dave Ferguson was asked to chair the annual golf fundraiser for the Rotary Club of San Diego Downtown Breakfast, Calif. He says he agreed to
do so only if the majority of the proceeds would benefit those associated with the military: veterans, active troops and their families, as well as families of
those killed in action. Ferguson called the event Holes for Heroes, and the levels of participation and fundraising increased significantly over previous golf
tournaments. The maximum participation for any tournament is 144 players – two foursomes to a hole – and over the first three years, Holes for Heroes
has drawn an average of 128 players. The fee is $250, and the first three tournaments have netted more than $200,000.
“It takes an enormous amount of time to do a golf tournament, and typically the financial return is small for the hours and effort that you put in,” says
Ferguson. “It’s all about the economy, the price, and the cause. It’s important to support charities that have wide community need and interest. You should
not select a small cause that will only attract supporters of those affected. Big national programs such as cancer and MS [multiple sclerosis], while
important, have too much competition and too much national attention to be special.”
Ferguson says that planning for the event takes 12-18 months. “The key is to be able to obtain sponsors, which means you have to be in front of the
budget cycle for the following year’s budget,” he explains. Ferguson notes that well-organized live and silent auctions held at the post-tournament dinner
can add to the funds raised, and that it is important to make a point of inviting spouses to the dinner.
An essential part of the Holes for Heroes concept is that participants in the tournament get to play a round with the “heroes” – military combat vets, some
of whom were wounded. The tournament has been so successful that Ferguson would like to have at least one Rotary club in each state or region hold a
Holes for Heroes event. “It has broad community and corporate support, and it creates high visibility for Rotary,” he says.
by Paul Engleman
The Rotarian -- June 2010
The Old Course St. Andrews, Scotland. Photo courtesy of St. Andrews Links Trust. G olf as we know it began in Scotland sometime in the 15th century.
Eighty years ago, when Rotary’s 25th anniversary convention was held in Chicago, Rotarians played golf at more than 30 clubs. Then, in 1962, golfers
from District 101 in Scotland and 728 in Pennsylvania, USA, played the first match in what has become an annual event. The next year, the idea for the
International Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians took root during a conversation between incoming RI President Carl P. Miller and 1963-64 Scottish District
Governor Gavin Reekie. That chat led to an international championship tournament of Rotarians in 1964 at St. Andrews. The first tournament drew 47
contestants from 10 countries. Last year’s event, held in Kitzbuhel, Austria, attracted 330 participants from 30 countries, including 80 first-timers.
The international fellowship’s current membership totals more than 1,200 from 60 countries, and there are more than 20 national golf fellowship groups for
Rotarians, the largest of which is in the United States. Next year’s championship tournament will return to the charm of Pinehurst, N.C., for the third time.
When it was last held at Pinehurst, in 1998, the tournament attracted more than 400 golfers from 28 countries.
While the annual competitions staged by these golfing groups serve Rotarians who are inclined to take the game seriously, countless clubs have found
that golf tournaments, when well organized, can be lucrative fundraising events.
The Rotary Club of Sacramento, Calif., has hosted a tournament called Golf 4 Kids since 1977. The event provides funding to five Sacramento-area
schools that help disabled children. Started in 1922, the club believes it to be the oldest continuous service project in Rotary. Bob Daly, the chair of last
year’s tournament, says that when an event has been ongoing for more than three decades, “the setup is pretty much down to a science.” He credits
much of the tournament’s success to Administration and Special Events Director Jenifer Jackson, who coordinates such duties as negotiating costs and
responsibilities with the different courses that are selected each year. He recommends designating one person to put it all together.
Daly says that planning for the tournament, held in the fall, takes about six months. “We start with a committee of three to five people, and then we assign
subcommittees for each part of the tournament – sponsorships, donations, raffle items, beverages, and tee signs. On the day of the tournament, we
usually have 8 to 10 volunteers working throughout the day.
“It is possible to get complacent and think that it will run itself,” he says. “But we do have some sponsors that give year after year, and we’ve been lucky to
get a lot of help from the clubs we select.” Last year, the fee to participate was $195 per golfer and $60 for those who came only for dinner. As for
contributions, “usually we rely completely on our club members to donate,” Daly says. But last year, facing the uncertain economy, “we looked beyond the
club to ensure success.” The result: The event netted a record $60,000.
“I can’t put into words how rewarding it is to go back to the schools and tell them that not only can we fund their request but that we also have an additional
$20,000 we would like to donate,” Daly says. “The need that we fill with this tournament is huge.”
"The need that we fill with the tournament is huge." Christopher Morrison was president of the Rotary Club of Coral Gables, Fla., in 2004 when the club
decided to try a golf tournament as an annual fall fundraiser. Mindful that the work of organizing major events often “falls on the shoulders of a few and
becomes a burden,” he decided to hire a local company, Florida Team Golf, which specializes in staging fundraising tournaments.
With the company handling most of the details, the club can focus on sales and donations, says Morrison, noting that last year the event netted $20,000.
Three years ago, while searching the Internet for additional fundraising ideas, he stumbled upon the notion of a golf ball drop, a contest in which
numbered golf balls are sold like raffle tickets (for $25 each) and dropped from a helicopter. The three balls that land closest to the pin are winners.
Morrison says the first drop added about $7,000 to the fundraising total. When clubs were asked to help match challenge grant funds from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Morrison proposed the golf ball drop as a district fundraising event. Nearly all of the clubs in the district agreed to participate.
“It is so easy, and the results have been unbelievable,” he says. “We have raised $91,000 for PolioPlus from two golf ball drops. The irony is that the drop
is far less labor intensive than the tournament and raises much more money.” But he points out that the tournament is needed as a platform, and it has
great fellowship value.
In 2007, Dave Ferguson was asked to chair the annual golf fundraiser for the Rotary Club of San Diego Downtown Breakfast, Calif. He says he agreed to
do so only if the majority of the proceeds would benefit those associated with the military: veterans, active troops and their families, as well as families of
those killed in action. Ferguson called the event Holes for Heroes, and the levels of participation and fundraising increased significantly over previous golf
tournaments. The maximum participation for any tournament is 144 players – two foursomes to a hole – and over the first three years, Holes for Heroes
has drawn an average of 128 players. The fee is $250, and the first three tournaments have netted more than $200,000.
“It takes an enormous amount of time to do a golf tournament, and typically the financial return is small for the hours and effort that you put in,” says
Ferguson. “It’s all about the economy, the price, and the cause. It’s important to support charities that have wide community need and interest. You should
not select a small cause that will only attract supporters of those affected. Big national programs such as cancer and MS [multiple sclerosis], while
important, have too much competition and too much national attention to be special.”
Ferguson says that planning for the event takes 12-18 months. “The key is to be able to obtain sponsors, which means you have to be in front of the
budget cycle for the following year’s budget,” he explains. Ferguson notes that well-organized live and silent auctions held at the post-tournament dinner
can add to the funds raised, and that it is important to make a point of inviting spouses to the dinner.
An essential part of the Holes for Heroes concept is that participants in the tournament get to play a round with the “heroes” – military combat vets, some
of whom were wounded. The tournament has been so successful that Ferguson would like to have at least one Rotary club in each state or region hold a
Holes for Heroes event. “It has broad community and corporate support, and it creates high visibility for Rotary,” he says.
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