By GiveGrove• 7 min read • Published 2026
A family who lost their baby girl in 2014 later wrote to Christmas Commandos about what they found on their doorstep that Christmas morning. Their six-year-old son, they said, decided the gifts had come from his little sister's helpers.
That's the work Mission on the Green was raising money for. Mission on the Green was Christmas Commandos' first-ever charity golf tournament fundraiser, an 18-hole scramble played Monday, October 12, 2026, at Morris Park Country Club in South Bend, Indiana. The Commandos used GiveGrove, the South Bend-based fundraising event platform, for one job: a Fund-a-Need page where golfers bought mulligans, team throws and raffle tickets.
As of this writing, Mission on the Green had reached 67% of its fundraising goal, according to its GiveGrove event page. It was Christmas Commandos’ first golf tournament, and 16 businesses sponsored it.
Who are Christmas Commandos?
Christmas Commandos is a nonprofit that anonymously delivers Christmas gifts to families grieving what it calls an out-of-order loss: losing a child, a parent or a partner too soon. In the organization's own words, the goal is to remind those families they're loved by their community and haven't been forgotten. It describes itself as non-faith-based, despite the name. (Christmas Commandos)
It started in 1998 in the founder's basement in Granger, after her daughter's pediatric cancer diagnosis. That first Christmas, the group shopped for, wrapped and delivered gifts to five families. The work spread to Indianapolis, then to Denver in 2018, and Christmas Commandos now counts more than 5,000 families served across Indiana, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina and Virginia. (Our Mission)
Everything runs on nominations. A contact close to the family, sworn to secrecy, tells the Commandos about each person's hobbies and needs, and volunteers spend the year shopping and wrapping. Then, the week of Christmas, the Commandos caravan to each home. They leave boxes of gifts on the doorstep along with an angel that stands for the family's loss, and they cover the yard in garland and tinsel so the family walks out to all of it in the morning. Nobody signs a card.
Golf was already part of how the Commandos give. Along with the gifts, they try to give each family an experience, and a golf outing is one of the examples they've named, next to a night at the movies or tickets to the symphony. (Catholic World Report)
Mission on the Green: a charity golf tournament in South Bend
Mission on the Green brought Christmas Commandos' fundraising back to the South Bend area, where the organization started, with a golf tournament at Morris Park Country Club on Monday, October 12, 2026. The Commandos put the registration link at the very top of their homepage. That's the right call for a small nonprofit: anyone who lands on the site that month sees the tournament before anything else. (Christmas Commandos)
The format was a classic 18-hole scramble with a 10 a.m. shotgun start, open to golfers of every skill level. Teams could buy mulligans and ball throws to help their score, and after the round everyone came in for a lunch program and a silent auction. Sixteen businesses signed on as sponsors, including two personal injury law firms and a radio morning show. (event page)
The Commandos also worked local media ahead of the event. In September, two of their team members went on WSBT's HomeTown Living to talk about the tournament and the families it supports.
The date was smart. An October 12 tournament lands about ten weeks before the Commandos' delivery week, so the money is in hand while volunteers are still shopping and wrapping instead of arriving after the fact.
How Christmas Commandos used GiveGrove's Fund-a-Need
Christmas Commandos used one GiveGrove feature for Mission on the Green: Fund-a-Need. Most nonprofits save Fund-a-Need for a mission appeal at dinner. The Commandos turned theirs into a menu of game-day add-ons instead, with five items: 5 Raffle Tickets, 20 Raffle Tickets, Team Throw, Team Mulligan and a Hacienda Donation.
We like this setup a lot. Mulligans, throws and raffle tickets are the small purchases that add up at every golf outing, and they usually get sold out of a cash box at the check-in table. On a Fund-a-Need page, a team captain can buy mulligans for the whole foursome by card, and every purchase is recorded on the event's GiveGrove page instead of in an envelope somebody counts after the course closes.
The event page itself kept the basics in one spot: the date and venue, a donation box for anyone who couldn't play, and the running total against the $70,000 goal.
What Mission on the Green raised
As of this writing, Mission on the Green had reached 67% of its fundraising goal, according to its GiveGrove event page. It was Christmas Commandos’ first golf tournament, and 16 businesses sponsored it.
Money raised in mid-October reaches Christmas Commandos as it heads into the busiest stretch of its year, when nominations turn into shopping lists and the wrapping starts in earnest.
How to plan a charity golf tournament fundraiser
A charity golf tournament makes money from golfer registrations, from sponsors, and from whatever you raise on the course and at the meal afterward. Most of the planning comes down to getting all of that onto one page and one timeline, so golfers and sponsors can say yes without emailing anybody.
When should you schedule a charity golf outing?
Schedule a charity golf outing by working backward from when you need the money. Christmas Commandos needs cash before December deliveries, and an October 12 tournament gets it there with time left to spend it. An organization whose big costs hit in summer would want a spring date instead. In northern Indiana, a fall outing also means asking the course about its rain policy before you announce anything.
How should you price a golf tournament?
Price the foursome first. Most golfers come as a group, frequently on one company's card, so the foursome is the ticket that actually sells, and single spots fill gaps in the pairings. Ask the course for its per-player cost (green fees, cart, meal) and set both prices well above it.
Honestly, though, sponsors usually decide whether a golf outing is worth the effort. Hole signs cost little to produce, and a local business owner knows exactly what they're buying. Put sponsorship levels on the same page golfers register from. If a sponsor has to track you down to pay, some of them won't.
How do you raise more money during the round?
The extra money at a golf outing comes from decisions golfers make on the spot. Hole contests like closest to the pin and longest drive are easy add-ons. So are mulligans and ball throws, which Christmas Commandos sold as Fund-a-Need items so nobody had to dig for cash on the first tee. A silent auction with mobile bidding fits a golf course better than almost any other venue, since golfers can check bids from the cart between holes and the auction can close during the meal.
The meal is a good time for a mission ask tied to something concrete, and it can sit on the same Fund-a-Need page as the mulligans. For Christmas Commandos, that might be what it costs to fill one family's boxes. A number people can picture outperforms a general appeal, and it gives sponsors something specific to match.
What should you do after the tournament?
Send golfers and sponsors the total within a week, along with what it pays for. Christmas Commandos has a natural second follow-up in January, when it can tell sponsors how many families got a delivery that their tee sign helped pay for. That's the email that gets a sponsor to sign up again next fall.
Frequently asked questions
What is Christmas Commandos?
Christmas Commandos is a nonprofit founded in Granger, Indiana in 1998 that anonymously delivers Christmas gifts to families who have lost a child, parent or partner too soon. Volunteers shop for each family member based on a confidential nomination and deliver the gifts the week of Christmas. The organization reports serving more than 5,000 families across six states.
Where and when was Mission on the Green?
Mission on the Green was played Monday, October 12, 2026, at Morris Park Country Club in South Bend, Indiana. It was Christmas Commandos' first golf tournament: an 18-hole scramble with a 10 a.m. shotgun start, followed by a lunch program and a silent auction.
Can you run a charity golf outing on GiveGrove?
Yes. Christmas Commandos used GiveGrove's Fund-a-Need for Mission on the Green, selling mulligans, team throws and raffle tickets online. GiveGrove, a fundraising event platform, also offers ticketing, silent auctions with mobile bidding and real-time reporting for golf outings that want to run more of the day in one place.
How much did Mission on the Green raise?
As of this writing, Mission on the Green had reached 67% of its fundraising goal, according to its GiveGrove event page. It was Christmas Commandos’ first golf tournament, and 16 businesses sponsored it.
How can I support Christmas Commandos?
You can volunteer with shopping, wrapping or deliveries, nominate a grieving family, or donate through the Christmas Commandos website. Nominations are reviewed individually and kept confidential.
Thanks for trusting GiveGrove with your fundraisers!
The GiveGrove Team 🍋
A Code Works company
GiveGrove makes events and auctions for fundraising easy. Email info@givegrove.com for more info. Click here to sign up for our mailing list.
