What Should You Ask Companies to Donate for a Charity Golf Outing?

For a charity golf outing, ask companies for items that work in four places: the goody bag at check-in, contest prizes on the course, the raffle or auction table, and the dinner afterward. In our directory, Callaway Golf and Topgolf donate outright, Snowshoe Mountain donates a round of golf for four, and restaurant and retail programs fill out the prize table. Two well-known golf names, PING and YETI, sell at a discount to charities instead of donating, so budget for them or leave them off the ask list.

Where donated items fit in a golf outing

Golf companies: who donates and who discounts

Donate outright:

• Callaway Golf considers product donations through its Product Donations Portal for events run by U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofits in five focus areas: youth development, military and veterans, disability advocacy, health and wellness, and growth of the game. Allow six to eight weeks for processing. An organization can receive one donation per calendar year, and Callaway cannot fill requests for specific products or models, so ask for golf product in general rather than naming a club.
• Topgolf takes requests through one online form 30 to 90 days before the event. You can ask for game play certificates, goody bag game play coupons, golf instruction, a 50% game play discount for an event hosted at Topgolf, or volunteers. The event or organization must be within 40 miles of a Topgolf, and its focus must be education (except private schools), military, golf, health and wellness, animals or disaster relief. Submitting the form also commits you to recognize Topgolf at the event with its logo, so plan where that will go.
• Snowshoe Mountain donates vouchers including a round of golf for four, valid midweek, mainly to West Virginia nonprofits. Submit its form 60 days before your event; one request per year.

Sell at a discount instead:

• PING says it does not make pure donations. Its Charity Purchase Program sells certain products at a special price to qualified charitable organizations. Request at least two months ahead through PING's Contact Us form, and plan to pre-pay one month before the event. All sales are final.
• YETI cannot make in-kind product donations, but nonprofits with active 501(c)(3) status can buy select products at a discount through its Fundraising Program, for raffles, auctions and giveaways. Full payment is due when you order, and YETI's delivery estimates run from 10 to 15 business days plus transit, longer for custom items.

No active program right now: our pages for Golf Galaxy and Golfsmith show no active donation program, so spend those requests elsewhere. Our golf category lists every golf company in the directory.

Prizes beyond golf

Golfers bid on more than golf. Programs in our directory that fit a raffle or auction table:

• Total Wine & More donates an auction item or a private wine class for 20 to 501(c)(3) nonprofits in states with a store. The applicant must be 21 or older, and requests need at least eight weeks' notice.
• Big 5 Sporting Goods donates Big 5 cards that can be used for raffles, auctions, prize giveaways and drawings; one donation per organization a year, requested only online.
• Grizzly Coolers takes requests through the form on its website, one per organization per year, with options for both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) groups.
• Landry's donates a $25 Complimentary Dinner and Drink card to 501(c)(3) charities near its locations. Mail a request on letterhead to its Houston office at least 60 days ahead.

For more, see companies that donate silent auction items and outdoor and sporting goods companies that donate.

When to send

Build the list early and send in order of each program's stated notice. Send to Callaway and PING first, eight or more weeks out; Total Wine at least eight weeks out; Snowshoe and Landry's at least 60 days out; and Topgolf inside its 30-to-90-day window. If you are buying from PING or YETI, leave time for payment and delivery as well as approval.

Ask as the organization running the outing

Callaway does not donate to individuals or to events run for profit, and Topgolf does not donate to third parties raising funds for charity. If a golfer or a club is running an outing to benefit a charity, the request is strongest coming from the charity itself, with its tax-exempt paperwork attached. Our guide to what a donation request letter should include covers the rest of the request.