David Cohn, executive director of First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin, knew that peer-to-peer fundraising could potentially help his nonprofit raise money, so he turned to CauseVox to help power a brand new community-driven fundraising event to support the organization’s mission.
100 Holes of Golf, a “marathon,” of sorts, engages participants who’ve raised anywhere from $500 to $1000 or more in a rousing game of golf, with every dollar going right back into the nonprofit.
Creating a fundraising campaign from scratch is notoriously difficult, but Cohn and the team at First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin met the challenge. In fact, they exceeded their goals and reached a new audience of donors using CauseVox-specific features such as a professional, customizable layout, campaign replication, and easily managed personal fundraising pages.
With two strong campaigns under their belt, Cohn is eager to get started perfecting a third peer-to-peer fundraising event with CauseVox.
About First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin
When young children learn core values such as playing fair, honesty, and integrity early on, they’re likely to practice them throughout their lives. Thankfully, there are organizations like First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin out there to help instill these values and nurture future generations through golf.
So, what exactly does golf have to do with life skills?
According to Cohn, the two absolutely go hand-in-hand. “The mission of The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin is to impact the lives of young people and their families by providing educational programs for youth that build character, instill life-enhancing values, and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.”
David is part of a two-person team committed to bringing the game of golf to children throughout the Milwaukee region. Their work is invaluable but unfortunately, there’s a lot to do, and limited resources to get it all done. With such a small staff, every second counts in ensuring the organization gets their message across to guarantee enough funding to continue this essential programming.
Small Team Struggles
It’s amazing just how much David and Program Director Tom Gerke accomplish in a given day. Like similar small nonprofit organizations, The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin’s limited staffing means each employee must pull their own weight, and then some.
“I am constantly pulled in many different directions,” notes David. “As the Executive Director and also the staff member responsible for all of our fundraising efforts, I always have to balance my time and resources effectively.”
Now or Never
Efficiency is especially important when it comes to fundraising. In 2017, David began searching for a fundraising technique that educates and inspires as many potential donors as possible. However, he didn’t want to spend his already maxed-out schedule fixing technical glitches or walking people through the online giving process.
David wanted to raise money online, without the common pitfalls.
After researching his options, David decided to try a peer-to-peer fundraising event because it seemed like a natural fit for the organization.
“I had high expectations for its potential,” said David, adding that mobilizing his biggest supporters to share the organization’s mission with others was paramount for continued growth.
The Right Solution: Why CauseVox?
The next step was finding the right online fundraising partner–a software program that makes the process of online fundraising easy and effective.
“Once we settled on the golf marathon idea, we explored multiple options for a software partner. We knew we wanted to find an all-in-one platform that allowed our players to easily create and manage their own fundraising page while providing an easy way for their supporters to contribute to the event. CauseVox checked all of those boxes for us,” David noted.
By using CauseVox to power his organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising efforts, David was able to raise money without the added stress of learning a new software program or spending a large portion of his proceeds.
David pointed out three CauseVox features that helped him meet his fundraising needs. These include:
- Ease of Use: David noted CauseVox’s simple platform that’s easy to use whether you’re an administrator or a personal fundraiser. Within minutes, fundraisers can set up a fundraising page and share it across multiple networks. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many of our fundraisers have told us how easy the process was to set up their fundraising page and share with their networks. We have not had any issues or challenges in helping them set up their pages.” At the end of the day, an easy platform saves an organization valuable time.
- Cost: Pricing is often one of the biggest hurdles for small nonprofits to overcome. Unfortunately, some online fundraising platforms fees don’t equate to superior service. But David found: “Based on our volume and needs, we have found CauseVox to be an ideal investment.”
- Consistency: If an online fundraising campaign works, you should be able to replicate it for years to come. Campaign replication helps ensure consistency and saves an organization time. David loved this specific CauseVox feature. “It was easy to replicate our event in the second year, copying most of the content while having the ability to make any needed changes.”
Considering functionality, cost, and the time savings, CauseVox was a smart choice for The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin.
Hitting a Hole in One
In its first year, The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin ran its 100 Holes of Golf campaign on CauseVox and raised $18,778, and impressive effort for any first-time peer-to-peer campaign. Then, in 2018, they mirrored their campaign and wound up raising an astounding $55,903. Wow!
This sort of growth is huge. Yet, to David, the fundraising wasn’t just about the dollars raised. “Not only has [peer-to-peer fundraising] brought in significant funds, but it has introduced many new friends to our work,” he told CauseVox.
Raising money. Engaging supporters. Growing a community.
Through CauseVox-powered peer-to-peer fundraising and key CauseVox features such as an easy to use registration and website creation, team fundraising, social sharing, and campaign replication, The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin is reaching a broader donor audience, engaging supporters, and raising money at the same time.
Congratulations to David Cohn, Tom Gerke, and all of The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin supporters for their tremendous fundraising successes and notable community impact. You’re a testament to the power of community-driven fundraising!
Let Us Help You
The struggles David experienced are common for most nonprofits. With limited funds and time, it’s easy to put new and expanded fundraising efforts on the back burner.
We get it. It’s increasingly hard to make ends meet.
But CauseVox is here to help. We created a simple, effective, personalized fundraising platform that can help you raise money for your organization without the need for extra staff.
CauseVox makes it easy for you to manage relationships with your supporters and create personalized fundraising sites, peer-to-peer campaigns, and donation pages, all in one place, while also providing a remarkable giving experience your supporters will love.
With CauseVox you get more than a tool. We combine powerful fundraising tools with best practices and an experienced team to guide you to success.
Schedule your free demo today talk with a member of our Customer Success team.
