Wrightwood Community UMC had been supporting The “Imagine No Malaria” campaign with a pledge of $100 a month. But, they decided to also have a Fundraiser to raise some more money, better and faster.
Here’s their story:
We needed an event that was unique and could inspire people’s imagination. We also needed an event that could be measured or counted so people could donate according to the progress. We decided to have one person play 99 Holes of Golf in 1 Day and we called it “Take a Swing At Malaria”. We would ask people to pledge either a set amount ($10, $20, $50, etc . . ) or an amount per hole. A $1 per hole would raise $99. If someone pledged 50 cents a hole that would be $50. We raised over $11,000 which will be added to the $1,000 dollars that was our monthly pledge.
The golf was the easy part. This event took a lot of preparation to pull off. Here is what we did.
1. Secure a golf course that would allow someone to play that many holes in one day. Ashwood Golf Course in Apple Valley was very gracious in accommodating us. They provided the course and golf carts for free.
2. Get the local newspapers to cover the event. The paper in Wrightwood wrote an article as well as the paper in Victor Valley.
3. We had a $25 per person Prime Rib Dinner along with entertainment. There was also a raffle for prizes that were donated. We raised over $1,500 that night because someone donated all the food.
4. We sold Tee Shirts to promote the event for $20 a shirt. We raised about $400.
5. We asked for businesses to sponsor the event by buying a Tee Marker for $150 and they would get their business printed on a Tee Marker that was place on the course. There was also a Donor Board to advertise their business. To our surprise we had some individuals that wanted a Tee Marker. We raised another $1,800 this way.
6. We promoted “Imagine No Malaria” during our Pancake Breakfast which raised a few hundred dollars.
7. We wrote to golf organizations and professional golfers asking them for assistance.
8. The local television station heard about our event and sent someone to film us on the day of the event.
9. The Sunday School made candles and sold them after church. They raised almost $200.
10. Here is the backbone of the event. People in the church did not have to raise all the money themselves. In fact most of the money came from outside resources. Everyone was asked to be a Sponsor and then to get others to donate a set amount or a per hole donation. They called friends, neighbors and relatives. We got donations from all over the country. People put the event on Facebook and we found many donors that way. We promoted that $10 saves the life of one child, so we thought here is an opportunity to get kids to help other kids, so we asked the local school as well as the Boy and Girls Scouts to help out.
As we said, this is not an easy event to pull off without proper preparation but it was well worth it. The church was extremely supportive and the enthusiasm grew over time. We went well past our expectations but this is probably a one time event for any church. If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 760-249-3084.
