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After 10 years of putting on a charity golf tournament, the American Heart Association in Little Rock won’t hold one this year.

“It was harder and harder to get sponsorships because a lot of companies were cutting back,” said Terri Clark, communications director for the Heart Association.

Also the Heart Association found it too difficult to compete with just about every other nonprofit in Arkansas that used a golf tournament as a way to raise money, she said.

So the Heart Association decided to focus on its other fundraising events throughout the year and forgo its golf tournament, which in 2009 grossed $125,000, down 17.22 percent from 2008. Its goal, though, had been to raise $180,000 at the tournament for cardiovascular research and heart health education programs.

The Heart Association aside, golf will con-tinue to serve as a chief fundraising effort for many of Arkansas’ major nonprofits. Most of the groups recently contacted by ArkansasSports360.com said their golf tournaments raised about the same amount of money in 2009 compared with 2008.

“We were concerned about [the economy] because we had heard that other golf events were making 20 percent less from the previous year,” said Paige Cox, president of Junior Achievement of Arkansas. “Fortunately, we didn’t have the same situation.”

The Junior Achievement AT&T Golf Classic, held in September at Chenal Country Club in west Little Rock, raised about $100,000, Cox said. In 2008, it raised the same amount.

The charity tournaments range from helping youth service charities, such as the annual Centers for Youth and Families annual autumn event, to newer events that benefit such causes as the fight against prostate cancer.

Some of Arkansas’ professional golf stars have turned to the events to support their favorite causes — Ken Duke’s “Day With the Duke” scramble at Maumelle Country Club benefits Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where Duke was treated as a teen for scoliosis, and alma mater Henderson State’s men’s and women’s golf teams, plus other charities.

Arkansas charities also benefit from the two major professional events held annually in Arkansas: the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic and the LPGA’s Northwest Arkansas Classic Presented by John Q. Hammons. In both cases, a condition of holding the tournament is that a sizeable amount of the proceeds go to local charities. Both have pro-ams leading up to the actual competition between the pros.

When April rolls around, a businessperson with the ability to spread vacation days around the year could nearly play as much as a pro — or at least play in a dozen or more charity scrambles in Arkansas at the swankiest country clubs where otherwise they’d need to know a member to play. While everyone is supposed to have fun and enjoy the day, don’t think there isn’t a little competitive streak among some of the loaded, top-flight teams who don’t fret the $1,000 or more they might have paid to enter — they just want to brag about shooting 20-under par in an 18-hole scramble round.

Good Business

The key to a successful charity golf tournament is neither the longevity of the event nor

the cause of the organization, said Phil Im-mordino, chairman of Golf Tournaments Association of America, which has its head-quarters in Phoenix.

“The biggest difference is if a nonprofit organization can apply business principles to their event, they will be successful,” Immordino wrote in an e-mail response to a question.

And that success starts with the nonprofit’s golf committee, said Roger Caldwell, owner of Great Golf Events of Mission, Kan.

“It’s a relationship-type business,” he said. “We have a 9-4-4 rule. If you have nine committee members and they each brought on four foursomes each, you just sold out the golf tournament.”

The players’ fees typically cover the expenses for the event, while the sponsorships provide the profit, Caldwell said.

Some organizations in Arkansas, however, experienced a drop in sponsorships in 2009.

Last year, the Arkansas Foodbank Network saw its sponsorship revenue decline, which resulted in the organization raising around $19,000, when in 2008 it hauled in more than $31,000, said Sarah Cowan, marketing and communication coordinator for the nonprofit.

“We lost [sponsorships] because people told us flat-out, ‘The economy is tough on us right now … and we don’t have the extra [money],’” Cowan said.

But other charity golf tournaments reported an increase in revenue in 2009.

The First Tee Golf Classic, which benefits The First Tee of Central Arkansas/Jack Stephens Youth Golf Academy, was only in its second year in 2009, but it raised $55,000, according to Chad Kauffman, the First Tee’s executive director. In its inaugural year in 2008, it generated $35,000.

The First Tee didn’t hesitate starting its own golf tournament, even though other nonprofits were jockeying for donors to play in their events.

“We decided to start one because we’re an organization that works with kids … and use golf as context to teach them life skills,” Kauffman said. “So it made sense toward our mission … to do a golf tournament.”

Still, even charity events that have been around for years had a dip in revenue in 2009.

The Bolo Bash Golf Tournament, which benefits the Baptist Health Foundation, raised $700,000 in 2009, down from $725,000 in 2008, said Missy Lewis, executive vice president of the Baptist Health Foundation.

Lewis said she was happy with the numbers considering the country was in a recession.

So far, this year, though, the organization is $100,000 ahead of its 2009 pace for its Bolo Bash Golf Tournament, which will be held in May at Chenal Country Club, Lewis said.

To ensure a charity golf event survives year after year, one of the keys is hosting a first-class event, Caldwell of Great Golf Events said.

More than 80 percent of the people who participate and sponsor a golf event will return, he said.

So downsizing the tournament because of the economy could backfire, he said.

If charities cut corners on the golf course or the welcome gift bag, players and sponsors will notice, Caldwell said.

“And that’s when you start to lose [the players],” he said. “But [the nonprofits] don’t understand that. It’s so hard to get that across to them.”

The LPGA Tour event held at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers prides itself on being a first-class event, said David Shoemaker, tournament director for Octagon of Norwalk, Conn. The event, which started in 2007 and is named the P&G NW Arkansas Championship presented by Wal-Mart, went from awarding $125,000 to charities its first year to $135,000 in 2008 and more than $200,000 in 2009, he said.

The event has a total purse of $2 million.

Shoemaker said one of the keys to making it a top-notch event is the fan experience.

The LPGA has had a free concert and fireworks on the Fourth of July, though the tournament now has moved back to its original early September date.

Other events focus on the welcome bag for its participants. Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation’s largest charity golf tournament is Will Golf 4 Kids, held at the Kingsdale Golf Complex in Bella Vista.

A number of Wal-Mart vendors, suppliers and employees participate in the August event, said Jennifer Selig, director of development for the foundation.

“I think it’s the things that you do for your participants that set it apart,” she said. “Also how you incorporate the message of the cause. You’ve got to remind people why they’re there, why they’re doing it, so they come back the next year. They feel like they’re making a difference.”

In 2009, the Will Golf 4 Kids tournament raised $770,000, up from $766,000 in 2008.

The Centers for Youth & Families mixes up its gift bag each year because many of the sponsors are repeat participants, said Kirsten Dickins, major and planned gifts officer.

“This past year, we did a large golf umbrella,” she said. “The year before, we did a soft cooler bag that was on wheels.”

Other tournament event officials target the golf course as way to improve the experience for the players.

The Bolo Bash holds the tournament at Chenal Country Club, making it a draw, said Lewis of the Baptist Foundation.

“It’s an outstanding course,” she said. “Most people don’t play at Chenal.”

Cowan, with the Arkansas Foodbank agreed that the venue is key. Players want to go to a course “that is members only and this is their opportunity to play on it,” she said.

Concerned about the recession, some charity directors tinkered with the entry fee.

The AT&T Golf Classic raised its fee to $1,750 per four-person team to support Junior Achievement. In 2007, the fee was $1,600 per team.

The First Tee of Central Arkansas, though, lowered its fees from $1,600 per four-man team in 2008 to $1,000 in 2009.

“We priced it at $1,600 thinking we would get all the people we wanted,” said Kauffman, of The First Tee. “Well, we really didn’t.”

So The First Tee dropped the fees in 2009. “And it worked,” he said. “We ended up with less per player, but more players.”

Expenses

Keeping a lid on expenses is key to making sure the charitable event is successful.

The First Tee has an advantage over the other charity golf tournaments because it can hold the event at its own course, Kauffman said.

“Our overhead is nothing,” he said. “Everything besides a little bit of the food is donated. So our gross and net are very close together.”

Most golf tournaments have to pay a country club to use the courses. The average golf course generates $5,500 per tournament, Immordino said.

And golf charity tournaments spend about 30 percent of the money raised to cover expenses, said Baptist Health Foundation’s Lewis.

The Bolo Bash spent 12 percent of the money it raised on expenses in 2009, she said. “We have an unusually high amount of money that we raise, so we’re able to reduce our expenses,” Lewis said. “We run a very tight ship.”

The CARTI Kids Golf Classic tries to keep its expenses under 25 percent, said Kathi Jones, president of the CARTI Foundation in Little Rock.

CARTI’s golf tournament raised $223,000 in 2008 and had $44,000 in expenses. In 2009, though, the tournament’s revenue dropped to $210,000 and expenses rose to $47,000, Jones said.

Jones said she searches for the best price on everything associated with the golf tournament so there’s as much money as possible going to CARTI.

“That’s what charity events are all about,” she said.