United Cerebral Palsy Association
Autumn Classic Golf Tournament (Case Study)
United Cerebral Palsy Association of Orange County hosted an 8K Bastille Day race for nine years. After evaluating the event during my first year as Development Director, I demonstrated how the event did not contribute to a positive bottom line toward fundraising goals. From this information, a decision was made to replace the race event with a new event.
Event Goals
- Earn minimum net revenue of $75K.
- Replace event manager with active volunteer committee.
- Generate marketing buzz to attract corporate sponsor participation.
Solutions
- Gained the buy-in of influential businessmen to support a sponsor-driven golf tournament. Packages included all costs associated with a tournament. No out-of-pocket expense for guest players. Foursome sponsorships were $2500, $5,000 and $10,000 for title sponsor.
- Volunteer committee featured representation from corporate sponsors giving them vested interest in presenting a successful event.
- Silent auction is typically labor intensive. The “What if?” question produced a novel answer: Securing a Porsche Boxster through a committee-member connection and selling limited number of opportunity drawing tickets. The net was $55K.
Outcome: Total net revenue raised was $90K in its first year. Now in its 18th year, the tournament nets $100K – $150K annually.