PRESS BOX
PGA TOUR Drive to $1 Billion Achieved! - Charities and Communities Across the Country Benefit from PGA Tournaments Charitable Giving
BUICK INVITATIONAL HAS RAISED $9.3 MILLION SINCE 1968 GOAL SET TO REACH NEXT BILLION IN 10 YEARS
In October of 2005, the PGA TOUR announced that it has
reached the $1 billion milestone in charitable contributions.
During the 2005 season, the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour and their tournaments, including Buick Invitational, participated in Drive to a Billion, a year-long campaign focused on reaching the milestone and celebrating the spirit of giving and teamwork in 100 communities across the country. Since the TOUR’s first recorded donation of $10,000 in 1938, more than 2,000 charities and one million lives have been helped annually.
Since 1968, The Buick Invitational has raised more than $9.3 million for San Diego based charities.
“While the Century Club was hoping that the Road to a Billion checker flag was to be waved at a Buick in our January 26-29 Buick Invitational, we are proud of the $9.3 million we have distributed to local schools and charities since our inception,” said Bill Potter, President of the Century Club of San Diego. “Our goal in the next 10 years is to grow our gifting to a much larger percentage of the next billion. The improvements made and scheduled to be made at Torrey Pines provides us with a world class venue to hold a fundraising PGA TOUR event. The challenge we look forward to with our title sponsor Buick is to leverage the tournament, the Torrey Pines assets and Century Club’s “giving back” passion into more charity dollars.”
The players take tremendous pride in the fact
that
our sport is known for giving back, and that each week,
when we step onto the course, another community
is going to be better off than it was before.
~ Vijay Singh
“Thanks to the incredible generosity of the tournaments, fans, volunteers and business partners who support the PGA TOUR, our goal of giving a billion dollars to charity is a reality,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “We hope the focus on this event inspires a continued enthusiasm for giving that ensures more and more money is donated every year. Our goal is to give our next billion in just 10 years.”
PGA TOUR champion Vijay Singh added, “The players take tremendous pride in the fact that our sport is known for giving back, and that each week, when we step onto the course, another community is going to be better off than it was before. We owe a big thank you to all of our fans and sponsors.”
Unlike any other professional sport, the PGA TOUR relies on 80,000 volunteers a year to run its events, and nearly all of its 100-plus tournaments are structured as non-profit organizations designed to donate 100% of net proceeds to local charities. Community beneficiaries include a wide variety of local organizations including hospitals, youth development organizations, growth-of-the-game programs and food banks.
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