events

‘The Penny Raffle’

A stunning and simple idea to raise both awareness and funds for your charity. This is a scheme which will work well with a golf club, in particular one which has chosen your charity as their ‘Charity of the Year’.

In escence it is no more than a Raffle. However, instead of selling tickets at a set price, you sell each ticket at the face value. For example:

Ticket 1 = 1p; Ticket 2 = 2p; Ticket 3 = 3p etc, etc.

For this example we’ll assume that you have 500 tickets to sell. This means that you will never ask anyone for more than £5 to buy a ticket. The total prize fund when you have added all the ‘Pennies’ is £1252.50.

Here is where you can get the golf club working with you to help boost the interest in the raffle.

The club promote the raffle by announcing that the winning ticket, drawn when all are sold, will have their annual membership fee paid. The rest of the pot will be donated to the charity. (You may even get the club to donate the membership fee)

Offer spot prizes throughout the draw so that people have a chance of winning some other prizes. Wine or Beer from the club bar; voucher from the club pro; meal at the club restaurant etc, etc.

When the tickets have been sold the club then organises a grand draw evening to reveal the winning ticket. You could even organise a golf day beforehand. It will guarantee a huge turnout to the club as members will be very interested to see who wins the top prize.

The golf club wins because their bar bill will go through the roof; you win because you have an event with nil cost and great exposure. You can have your tickets printed with your logo so that people are reminded about your cause.

(By the way, sell 1000 tickets so the maximum ask is now £10, and you’ll raise £5005!)

As ever, you have to be very careful when selling this concept, as you CAN NOT sell the tickets to the general public, only members of a club. This is why you run this fundraising scheme at a golf club, or club with members. 

Don’t get too greedy with this idea. The best way is to keep ticket sales to a maximum of 500. The clubs where I have seen this fundraising scheme in action, always sell this number quickly by asking members to buy their tickets when they are at the bar of the club.

The best times to catch people is usually at the weekend when most people are present at the club. Asking people for the change in their pocket will determine the ticket they receive.

Hope this helps.

Our 1st UK Partnership is now available via this blog.

The costs just £69.99 and packs a mighty punch both on, and off the golf course. We’ve been testing the card for close to a year and have saved over £1000 using it day to day.

All purchases made during July attract a £15 donation to your charity via Charity Golf Days. Plus the membership will last for two years instead of one.

A great way to raise money through your golfers, without them having to hit a ball in anger.

Visit our store for purchase

Why the need for a University?

Well, the overwhelming feedback thus far has called for a more detailed resource for those wanting more than an ebook.

With our planning for the new semistar well under way, we are today releasing details of the ‘Overview’ we perform when starting to organise a charity golf day.

Follow the University link and join the University Forum which is FREE. We’ll email our FREE Charity Golf Day Audit for your completion and return.

When we have received your audit, we’ll compile our review and return it together with:

• The University of Charity Golf Prospectus
• 10% Voucher to redeem when joining the University
• 10% Voucher to redeem when purchasing the Charity Golf Days Ebook

Your details will be kept completely confidential, and not passed onto anyone else within the Charity Golf Days Organisation.

You are under no obligation to either join the University or to buy the Ebook by taking part in our FREE Charity Golf Day Audit.

The long awaited ebook guide for Charity Golf Days is now approaching fast.

In addition to the guide, organisers are to have the opportunity to join the first University for Charity Golf. Through this unique medium under-graduates will be able to learn direct from industry experts, month by month, as they study towards their degree in Charity Golf.

Jason Elton, founder of Charity Golf Days, commented:

“The response to the blogs from the last few weeks has been phenomenal, and greatly appreciated. With the clamour for more in depth knowledge being requested, we decided to put together a package whereby training and development, could lead towards better fundraising at a charity golf day.”

“The chance for a volunteer golf fundraiser to tap into expert charity knowledge will ensure that revenue will increase during the golfing events, and provide them with the platforms to develop long term relationships for the charity corporate fundraiser beyond the 19th hole.”

Registrations for the Charity Golf University are being finalised during the next week for launch after the ebook and website. Be sure to bookmark the University section of this blog for up to date details.

Friday June 6th, saw 27 golfers take part in the Home Start (North East Hants) Golf Day.

A fantastic day was had by all, and despite a low turnout the charity still raised £1300.

During the day Charity Golf Days, hosted the longest drive competition and also ran a quiz to entertain the golfers on the course and at dinner.

The videos and other comments from the day, can also be found at Home Start Golf.

Another great way to keep your golfers focused during their round of golf and after in the bar, is to offer them a quiz.

This works a treat during the day, and there are plenty of groans when the answers are read out.

The golf phrases listed below are intended for the UK audience but, I’m sure, that our American friends have plenty of their own phrases we don’t know about.

Hope this helps.

Jase

A Sally Gunnell - not pretty but a good runner

A Paris Hilton - an expensive hole

A Dennis Wise - a nasty 5 footer

A Diego Maradona - a very nasty 5 footer

A Salman Rushdie - an impossible read

A Rio Ferdinand - Lipped out

A Rock Hudson - thought it was straight, but it wasn’t

A Cuban - needs one more revolution

An Elton John - a big bender that lips the rim

An Adolf Hitler - two shots in the bunker

A Yasser Arafat - ugly and in the sand

A Kate Winslett - a bit fat but otherwise perfect

A Kate Moss - bit thin

A Gerry Adams - playing a Provisional

A David Trimble - tentative prod

A Glen Miller - kept low and didn’t make it over the water

An Arthur Scargill - a great strike but a poor result

A Russell Grant - a fat iron

A Peter Mandelson - an unbelievable iron

A Rodney King - over-clubbed

An O.J. Simpson - got away with it

A Paula Radcliffe - not as ugly as a Sally Gunnell but still a good
runner

A Princess Grace - should have taken a driver

A Princess Di - shouldn’t have taken a driver

A Robin Cook - just died on the hill

A Michael Jackson - gradually fading

A Douglas Bader - looked good in the air, but didn’t have the legs

An Arsene Wenger - everyone saw where it went but you

A Ken Livingstone - quite far left

A Jean-Marie LePen - a long way right

A Ladyboy - looks like an easy hole but all is not what it seems

A condom - safe but didn’t feel real good

A circus tent - a BIG top

An Anna Kournikova - looks great, but unlikely to get a result

A Vinnie Jones - nasty kick when you’re not expecting it

A Ryanair - flies well but lands a long way from the target

A sister-in-law - up there but I know that I shouldn’t be

1000cc Driver

No it’s not a car engine. It is in fact a golf club, twice the legal size of any a golfer is allowed to carry during their round.

It will be one of the highlights at the Home Start Charity Golf Day tomorrow at Oak Park, Farnham.

Golfers will be asked to take part in the Longest Drive Competition using the 1000cc driver instead of their own club.

It is a great ice breaker and good fun to see people reduced to just hitting the ball a few yards with the big club.

Naturally there is a charge to use the club, and unfortunately it is only available to right handed golfers but, even the lefties have a bash, so it raises money.

Not got a 1000cc driver? Think outside of teh tee box with this one. There are plenty of hickory shafted clubs for hire, use them.

If you’re in the United Kingdom, drop me a line and I’ll see if we can get the 1000cc driver to your next tournament. Watch out for the video tomorrow of some of the swings! 

Hope this helps.

Jase

Heads & Tails

A great way to kick off any after golf fundraising activity, just before you get people to sit down at their table to eat.

Ask everyone in the room to point to the sexiest person on their table - always interesting at male dominated golf days - and get this person stood on their feet for room approval. These sexy people are now your fundraising partners throughout the rest of the day.

Ask the sexy people to collect £5, £10, £20 whatever amount you wish (so long as it folds!) from each person at the meal table. Once collected from each table you can now play Heads & Tails, when someone will win half the pot you’ve just collected.

Get everyone stood on their feet, and ask them to select which way they think the toss of the coin will go by…

Placing their hands on their heads for ‘Heads’ or placing their hands on their bums for ‘Tails’

Flip the coin and announce the result. All those that have chosen correctly stay in the game; all those who chose incorrectly sit down.

Repeat the same process until you have just three people left. Get these three people at the front of the room and repeat until you have a winner.

It will not eat up too much of your time; I promise you this will be over in 5 minutes.

Now here’s the clever bit.

When you hand over the winning pot to the winner, suggest in front of everyone that they really would rather donate the pot back to the charity, wouldn’t they.

Works nearly everytime and is a great ice-breaker for the start of your after golf fundraising activity.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Start Your Own Golf Society

Golf is an incredibly social sport to particpate in. Having played in your charity golf day, the chances are that your golfers will carry on playing charity golf and organising their own rounds of golf.

Harness the spending power of the golfers by forming your own golfing society. You don’t have to aim for anything too grand to start off with.

Providing a society for your charity offers you countless opportunities to foster long term relationships, with a regular income.

Charge an annual fee (membership fee) and start to give the members the chance to carry on fundraising for your charity on the back of yoiur successful golf day. Don’t lose them.

The highlight will still be the annual golf day which you organise, but encourage your audience to obtain automatic qualification for the following year by reaching a fundraising target.

Once you have a membership you can start to influence their spending power within all the other areas of the charity. Talk to the other people in the charity and introduce them to your membership.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Bunker Fines

This is a great fundraising tip for those charities which have been chosen as a Golf Club ‘Charity of the Year’.

In conjunction with the club captain and course professional, choose one of the bunkers on the course which golfers find it hard to avoid.

Write a polite notice for all club members, reminding them that there is a £1, £2, £5 fine every time they visit the bunker during the year. Again, you set the amount. It doesn’t have to be huge, but make the challenge engaging for the members.

Offer a prize for the person who donates the most - a few tips on how to avoid bunkers - and fine the rest of the members for not matching their efforts!

I once attended a golf day where someone was fined for wearing shorts in October, and having paid his fine, he then fined everyone else for not wearing shorts in October!

Hope this helps.

Jason

Auction Caddy Slots

A popular way of raising additional income is to auction a caddy slot prior to your golf day.

This works best if you have a couple of well known celebrities playing on your golf day, as you can involve the local radio station to help you promote the idea.

It’s a bit like all those children you see at football matches when the teams are being led out. You could make it a competition for school kids, or anyone really.

Your local radio station will love it as it is something a bit different, and it will get you great airtime.

Or you could get the local paper to run a competition.

It may only make you a say £200 or £50, but it is a neat way to gain extra exposure for the golf day.

Hope this helps.

Jase 

Yellow Ball Challenge

With this challenge the emphasis is on giving something back to the golfers, while still raising a bit of money for the charity.

The challenge can be played with teams of 3 or 4, and each team is issued with a ball coloured yellow. It can be any colour but it must be recognised as different to any other.

The first player, at the first hole uses the yellow ball to play that hole and then passes it on to another player for the second hole etc, etc.

The challenge is to complete all 18 holes with the yellow ball still in play. Extra points can be awarded for the yellow ball on certain holes to make the challenge more exciting. You will not believe the pressure on a player with the yellow ball if he has to make a shot over any water!

Anyway, the team returning with their yellow ball earning the most points can claim a prize. Round of drinks, sleeve of golf balls, it’s up to you.

Charge each team £5 for the yellow ball challenge. 18 teams gives you £90, and remember, they haven’t hit a ball and they’re already fundraising for you.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Longest Putting Competition

Putting Competitions are strangely difficult to administer. It may seem straight-forward on the outside but they can eat a lot of time in an already tight time schedule. Yet, many charity golf events still insist on having any putting competition as the golfers have just finished their round of 18 holes.

The last thing they want is to play more golf; believe me they are headed for the bar!

So, make things easy on yourself. Host the putting competition at the start of the day. Most of your golfers will go to the practice putting green so trap them with the Longest Putt Competition at this stage of the day.

Choose a hole with the course professional which is at the edge of the putting green. Have a couple of tee pegs handy, and get a golfer to attempt to putt a ball from 3 feet away. Don’t forget to get them to donate for their putt - say £1 a go.

When a golfer has got the ball in the hole, congratulate them and move the challenge back 1 foot, and repeat until the ball has gone down the hole.

Eventually you will get more people donating for a try at the Longest Putt, and the beauty with this tip is that you can involve anyone. While your golfers are out playing on the course, challenge a few members who’ll be around.

When you go around on your buggy during the day tell the golfers how far the Longest Putt is, and you’ll find them armed with their pint, having a go when they have finished.

Don’t forget that the main idea is to get their donations. Have some prizes ready for those putting the ball into the hole. You must have some mouse mats, key-rings with the charity logo on somehwere.

You’ll find that this will add a little more drama to the end of the day, as the putt will gradually creep across the putting green, extending to 20 or 30 feet in some cases.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Home Start - North East Hampshire - have asked Jason to help boost their charity golf day income at their Annual Charity Golf Day.

The event to be held on Friday June 6th, will take place at Oak Park Golf Club, just outside of Farnham where golfers will test their skill once again with the Longest Drive Challlenge, with a 1000cc driver.

Jason said, “Last year we had a great day and we will look to develop the challenge a little further this year.”

Keep an eye on the news section here for a full report on the day.

Here is a tip which can be run throughout your golf day, in conjunction with the ‘Mulligans’ tip described in Tip No. 1.

During the day it is a great idea to get out onto the course to visit all the teams playing in the day. Get your self known to the golfers. Most of them will be guests invited to form a team, and will have little idea about the charity.

Get the course professional to take you out on one of the buggies and when you reach a team, introduce yourself, the course professional and your latest fundrasising tip.

In return for a donation to the charity, the course professional will take the tee shot of any of the team.

It works a treat in getting you known to the golfers as the charity contact, and reminds them that they are here to fundraise. It’s also a great opportunity to get to know the course professional.

Your charity may not have been chosen as the course host charity for the year but, make a good impression with the course professional and your half way to securing host charity for the next year.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Pirates of the Caribbean

A great little way to end a charity golf day.

Set up your Pirate Challenge on one of the Par 3 (shortest) holes.

The challenge for the golfers is to get their tee shot onto the green in one shot…playing with one eye.

Make the challenge a bit of fun by selling pirate eye patches for the charity.

It is a great laugh at the end of the round. People are hopeless with one eye disabled, while others hit better shots than they did during their original round.

Keep it simple, by charging £1 per go for the challenge, and make sure you have some cans of beer or a bar token handy for any golfer hitting the green.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Don’t Forget your Euros or Dollars.

Here is a great little win for all those organising a charity golf day abroad.

Remember that all donations made by your golfers at events overseas qualify for Gift Aid.

Why is this important?

Well, your fundraising can be boosted by another 25% with Gift Aid. Many hosts of charity golf days forget this trick.

It doesn’t matter what currency/country hosts your fundraising golf day. HMRC will still apply Gift Aid to the currency.

Hope this helps?

(Only applicable to UK Charity Organisations)

Jase

Design you own Golf Scorecard

A little bit more organisation required with this fundraising tip.

More often than not, your golfers will be given a scorecard at registration from the host golf club. Every golfer likes to keep their own score as well as a card to keep track of any team score or competition you may hold.

A unique part of every golf scorecard isn’t where the scores are recorded, but the information on the reverse side. Why?

They’re packed with adverts from local companies supporting the club.

So design your own scorecard for your golfers to use on the day which highlight the companies supporting your charity.

It is a great way to thank your corporate support.

More importantly, it is also a great way to get the main message behind the charity over to all the golfers.

You can even fit a donation/pledge form on the scorecard.

The possibilities are endless.

Hope this helps.

Jase

Drive In Competition

A Drive In Competition is often carried out at Golf clubs when a new club captain is welcomed to their year of office at a ‘drive in’.

All the members of the club gather round the 1st tee and watch as the new captain makes his shot down the fairway.

As you won’t have a captain, nominate yourself. Or, if you have a celebrity or well known personality playing, get them to host the drive in. Remember the day is about FUNdraising. You don’t need to make everything serious.

Draw a big poster of the 1st hole. Then place a grid of squares over the drawing of the hole.

Best to use one a piece of paper, flipchart size.

You can then encourage the competitors to select a square, on the drawing in return for a donation of course, which they think represents where the ball we land for the drive in.

It’s a great way to start the day. Build up a bit tension for the drive in, and get everyone betting. Golfers like nothing more than a bet; they do it all the time on the course.

How much to charge…Try this one.

“I want all your loose change please.”

No minimum, no maximum just empty your pockets.

Hope this helps.

Nearest The Pin (NTP) Competitions always prove a winner at a Charity Golf Day.

Usually, an organiser will choose one of the Par 3 shorter holes to set the challenge for NTP. Try this idea to challenge the golfers.

Select a Par 4 longer hole for the challenge; one which has a dog-leg is best, and the challenge now becomes Nearest the Pin with the second shot.

Set a £1 fine for any golfer not hitting the green with their second shot, and you’ll be surprised how many golfers will come back moaning about missing the Nearest the Pin challenge.

Hope this helps.