Golf Raises $3.9 Billion For Charity

Few--if any--sports promote charitable giving the way golf does. Last year, according to Golf 20/20, the game raised $3.9 billion for local and national causes across the United States.

While we're all aware of the charitable beneficiaries of the PGA Tour events, we often underestimate the impact of golf as a fundraising vehicle on the local level. According to a study conducted by the National Golf Foundation, golf funded charitable causes through

• 12,000 golf facilities (75 percent of the U.S. total)
• 143,000 events
• 12 million participants

All told, golf raised an average of $26,300 per function. That's a lot of $400 foursomes in your local Firefighters Against Smoking In Bed Annual Golf Outing And Hot Dog Feast.  The charitable impact findings are based on qualitative calls and data collection from a coast-to-coast sampling of public and private golf facilities, and non-profit organizations producing golf events.

“Regardless of the economic climate, golf is a key driver of charitable giving in the U.S.,” says Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation, administrator of GOLF 20/20.  “As a major focus of the golf industry, working with organizers of philanthropic events helps improve millions of lives.”

Beneficiaries include health, youth, education, environmental and cultural groups nationally, regionally and locally. More than 85 percent of organizations conducting golf events find them important because, in addition to raising significant funds, they are easy to organize and provide exposure and networking opportunities among supporters.

Donations, including those from professional tournaments, are a significant part of the golf industry, which is comparable in size to the motion picture and video industries.

GOLF 20/20 is a unique collaboration of all segments of the golf industry, from associations and manufacturers to golf course owners / operators and the media.  It was launched in 2000 and is designed to unite and activate the industry around key strategic initiatives that increase participation and retention, involvement and interest in the game.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf