Apologies if this has been covered here before but I was wondering how people who have organized tournaments to benefit a charity (or charities) have structured the sponsorship, done payouts, etc. I seem to recall there were some very successful tournaments in Texas (and maybe elsewhere) that had used the benefit aspect to attract more sponsors so that the events both raised money for charity *and* had bigger prize purses. Any insights, templates, examples, woudl be most appreciated.

Thanks

I would like to know too because I am in the early stages of planning a ball golf vs. disc golf tourney and would def. like to know how to reward the winners while still giving the majority of the cash to the charity.

Contact someone (director, grant organizer, etc.) at the charity and inform them that you are interested in running a disc golf tournament to benefit them. Ask if they have a list of previous donors. Use this list as your first contacts for sponsorship.

Before you contact the possible sponsors you will need to write-up a sponsorship letter. I have one I can send you if you PM me. Also, hit-up some of your friends and ask if they would like to go in on sponsoring a hole, or maybe the place they work for may be interested.

The sponsorship money you receive will go directly into the tournament purse. The more sponsors, the bigger the payout. Part of the entry fee will go toward payout, charity donation, and tournament expenses.

Have you thought about sanctioning the event under PDGA's Competition Endowment Program (http://www.pdga.com/documents/2008/CompetitionEndowmentProgramDetails.pdf)?

Def look into using the Competition Endowment Program. I ran an event back in June (Jacksonville Open, June 7-8, 08) we were able to raise more money than ever before using this great program.
You will need to choose a highly recognizable charity in your local area. Choose the biggest one out there, but yet the biggest that still needs help from the little guys, us. Don't go after the big hospital charity in town that most likely already has tons of cash coming in the door. Find out who has the most clout out of all the local charities and thats the one you want to help out (That way the scratch your back later too).
Then hit the streets and start asking for money to support your event that is supporting your local charity. This is the real work, and its not easy. Just get out there and dont be afraid to ask for money, maybe even some serious money, we had a handful of sponsorships over $500.00.

PM me for a few other suggestions.

I have been running a tournament as a charity benefit for four years now and have attracted some good money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I spoke with several other people about it before I started, mainly Chris Himing who was doing great things with the Texas 10 series. Here are some of the things I learned:

1. First identify a charity. Talk to them and see if they are interested. I run my tournament as a benefit to the JDRF. Running a benefit is different. You do not fall under the same guidelines of being a chartiy. Check with the charity / benefit you are interested in.
2. Develop your paper work, if you want I can send you mine, before talking to sponsors. A package clearly defining how money will be used is very important.
3. Clearly define how sponsorship will be handled. For me, 40% of money used for sponsorship goes directly to the charity, 40% is used for tournament sponsorship and 20% is for handling. The 20% really is used to help pay for player packs, and other bills, to this day I don't think I used more than half of that 20%. All extra money went to either the charity or tournament sponsorship.
4. Some organizations will not be interested in sponsoring the tournament. If they are not interested in writing a check to you or the club, ask them if they would be willing to donate directly to the charity in the tournaments name. I have one fondation that gives $10,000 directly to the JDRF in the tournament's name. I have raised over $20,000 this way over the last 4 years. And with the other money a total of almost $30,000 has been given to the JDRF.
5. Explain to sponsors that since you are not a charitable organization, but only running a benefit or charity for one, that you cannot write tax deducatble reciepts, however since the sponsors are listed on the back of t-shirts, on hole sponsorships and in the brochures handed out to players, every dollar given or dollar value of merchandise can be considered as an advertising cost and is a business expence that can be deducted.