PDGA TD School | Episode 5 | Event Resources – Fundraising and Community Partnerships

Video Transcript

It's TD School and today it's all about the money, namely strategies and tips for how you can successfully fundraise and enable your event. Let's get started. While events can be run very cheaply or even for free, having a firm understanding of how money can be raised and used at an event will always be beneficial to you as a TD. In today's episode, we'll go over how to raise funds and allocate them. Most C-Tiers and leagues have lower costs and a budget based only on player entry fees, with minimal needs beyond payout. This is particularly why this is a great way to start your first event. At a lower tier, players pay to play and that money is reallocated between things like payouts or other costs like park fees, player packs, or other player benefits. Larger events or higher tiers with sanctioning requirements for payout, infrastructure and amenities will have larger budgets that may require sponsorship or fundraising. These higher cost items may include things like course improvements, printing, porta potties, added payouts or player packs, player parties, player and staff meals, paid staff, and even media coverage. These items represent opportunities for TDs to improve the player experience and add value to their event. At the lower tier, these add-ons are optional but become increasingly necessary as the event grows in size. Some of these costs, such as amateur player packs, porta Johns, greens fees or park rental fees and player meals can be deducted from entry fees, but many other costs cannot. In some cases, these expenses will be required by PDGA Tour standards. For example, TDs are required to add cash to the received entry fees in order to increase payouts at higher tier events. That is all events sanctioned as a B-Tier or higher. The first step to successful fundraising is to set clear, realistic fundraising goals. Determine how much money you need to raise and break it down into specific categories such as course improvements, player amenities, or player packs. One of the most effective ways to raise funds is through sponsorships. Approach local businesses, disc golf equipment manufacturers and visitor bureaus offer various sponsorship levels and highlight the benefits they'll receive, such as logo placement, recognition, and exposure to the disc golf community. It's important to understand the difference between cash and in kind donations. Both types of contributions can...