Using a golf tournament budget can help organizations plan and prepare for successful events by anticipating income and expenses.
This golf event budget comprises all significant golf outing income and expense categories for a fundraising tournament. It includes a profit/loss summary for estimated and actual expenses. This budget will help predict and estimate costs and assist in monitoring income and expenses throughout your tournament planning. Further, the budget can be reviewed for product ordering and profitability goals.
Download Our Free Golf Tournament Budget
Sample Golf Tournament Budget
Projecting Tournament Income
Setting estimated values for incoming revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, online donations, and product sales can help you estimate projected income and establish financial goals for your fundraising event. Once your goals are set, you can continually monitor your progress and identify shortcomings. This is a critical step, as you cannot measure the success of your charity golf tournament without establishing these goals.
If you have earned less than projected in sponsorship dollars, perhaps you can rethink your sponsorship levels. What about the benefits? Do sponsors see the value in your offering? Monitoring incoming donations is easily done on your charity golf tournament website. Your organization sets a fundraising goal and automatically tracks this progress as donations come in with a fundraising thermometer and other macros. If your organization is falling short of reaching your goal, you can do last-minute appeals via email and Social Media to your constituents, informing them of the gap and need for funds and helping to rally last-minute donations.
Here are questions to consider in projecting your fundraising income:
- How much are you charging for golfers and foursomes? Estimate the number of event attendees and the amount you intend to raise from ticket sales.
- Do you intend to secure sponsorships from local businesses?
- Do you plan to host a charity auction or fundraising raffle as part of your event?
- Will you sell fundraising merchandise (i.e., t-shirts, hats, golf balls)?
- Do you have access to volunteers who can help minimize staffing fees?
- Can you receive in-kind donations or services to help you save money?
Charity Golf Tournament Income Categories
Golf tournament income can come from the following categories:
- Golf registrations
- Sponsorship sales
- Ancillary sales – golf merchandise, mulligans
- Auctions – live and/or silent auctions
- Raffle ticket sales
- Golf tournament contests
- Awards Ceremony or dinner tickets for non-golfers
- Donations
Estimating and Recording Tournament Expenses
Estimating expenses can help during golf tournament planning to ensure you stay within your budget and don’t spend too much time or money on any specific initiative. But with expenses, surprises always come up! Be sure to update your costs as the event progresses.
Below are some questions you’ll want to ask when putting together your fundraising budget expenses:
- Will you need to rent tents, tables, chairs, microphones, or other equipment, or does the golf course provide these?
- Will you pay staff, vendors, caterers, and entertainers?
- How much will you spend on decorations?
- Do you intend to spend money on event promotion (ads, press releases, media)?
- Does your tournament require permits or event insurance?
- Will you have other general expenses, such as postage and printing fees?
Golf Tournament Expense Categories
There are a lot of expenses to consider when running a successful golf tournament fundraiser. Popular expenses can include the following:
- Golf course or facility rental and fees
- Marketing materials and publicity expenses – such as a website and golf tournament flyers
- Golf cart rental
- Food and beverages
- Decorations – flowers, candles, balloons
- Prizes and awards
- Gifts and goody bags
- Rentals – tables and chairs, linens, sound systems
- Custom Tee signs and banners
- Labor
- Performers and entertainers- band, DJ, emcee, or celebrity
- Hole-in-One insurance
- Transportation
- Event planner fees
- Credit card fees
- Photographer
Download Our Free Golf Tournament Budget Template
This sample fundraising tournament budget template includes a profit/loss summary to help you visually compare income and expenses so your organization can know your breaking point and profitability margin. Whatever size golf fundraiser you are hosting, this event budget will help predict and estimate costs and income.
Sample Golf Tournament Budget
Remember that the items included in this sample golf tournament budget are only an example of a typical outing, with sample values that may differ from your actual fundraiser. Please edit this to reflect the income and expenses associated with your specific event. Pay attention to the formulas embedded in the worksheet to ensure your values are totaling correctly. You may also want to review your fundraising budget with a committee or consultant to assist with product ordering, fundraising, and profitability goals.