How to ... Find your Venue
First things first: You'll want to identify a court club facility that will donate the courts and space for your tournament, preferably one that can accommodate the number of players you intend to draw.

This is a fundraiser, so avoiding any court costs goes a long way in improving your bottom line on the final donation you'll be able to make. And since it's a fundraiser for a very visible "pink ribbon" charity, court owners and managers are generally open to the idea of hosting an event at no cost.

1. A major sponsor. Ideally, a major sponsor of the event will be able to offset your large expenses (souvenir shirt, hospitality, banquet). You'll offer to promote and advertise the company name or logo on the tournament entry and official shirt at a minimum. Your major title is your "title sponsor" and is associated with the event in all printed materials (i.e. the "Rolex Racquet for the Cure" or "Citibank Racquet for the Cure").

2. Court sponsors. On a smaller scale, you can offer to advertise a company name and logo on each of the competition courts for a fee. The amount can vary, depending on the size and scope of your tournament. A good basic rate is $150 per company, and you can promote more than one business per court if you have a good response. Then you can approach a company to donate the signage for the courts, or ask the court sponsors for their own promotional materials to display, or tap your most artistic committee member to make up the banners for each court.

Between these two sources, we try to get enough money raised up front to pay for the shirts (if they are not donated outright), plus the banquet and all hospitality offered during the tournament. This allows us to donate ALL of the entry fees directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

For additional fundraising, other ways to collect donations from players at the event include:

• Pro Players Bring in a couple of high-ranking pros to do an exhibition match* and take on challengers for a fee. We offer a Play-the-Pro challenge for a $50 donation; players ante up for a game to 9, and earn back $5 of their donation for every point they earn in either singles or doubles play.
• Silent Auction This is a great way to add to your donation total. You can collect time at vacation properties, hotel stays, travel and ski packages, specialty products and services, and signed racquets and apparel from your visiting pros.
• Mixed Doubles By popular demand, we added a mixed doubles event on the Friday night prior to the one-day team format, to include the men in both the fun, and fundraising. For their entry fee donation, participants receive a souvenir shirt and an invite to the banquet.

*This is good PR for the pros and a great way to have them interact with the everyday player. We've been fortunate in finding "sponsors" who are willing to donate their frequent flier miles to offset the travel cost for bringing in the pros, and local hosts have invited them into their homes (or hotel properties) to keep the costs down.

• Go to local merchants (restaurants, book stores, clothing stores) and ask them to donate products or gift certificates to help offset the cost of awards. Getting donations from national chains makes it easier for players from out of town to utilize the gift. Massages, manicures, haircuts and chiropractic treatments are all good ideas for prizes. We have a form letter that we're happy to share to help you get started on this year-round project.
• Ask racquet companies to donate equipment for the prize table.
• Ask sponsored players to donate off-season equipment that hasn't been used, or a special frame that they used to win a particular title. Bags, racquets, other types of frames and tennis shoes can be passed along, and sponsored players often find themselves with other brand named equipment and apparel that they cannot use. These are great items for the prize table.
• Ask your state association or large annual tournament to donate extra tournament shirts or souvenir items.
• Ask AmPro certified players to donate lessons.

We like to invite a guest speaker to deliver remarks on the state of breast cancer research. So far, we have had physicians, breast cancer survivors, representatives from our local affiliate at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and local hospital staffers who administer mammograms. After those remarks, the tournament director shares the organizing committee's thanks to sponsors and players for their participation, then the division winners and silent auction high-bidders are announced.

With all the collected prizes on a table, we start with the winner of the Novice division and gradually get through the entire list of winners and participants to come up and select their prize as their name is called. And that about wraps it up.

Over the years, we've learned that the banquet location should be as close to the club as possible to make it convenient for the players to attend. With a one-day tourney, it's possible to lose people between the club and banquet, so reducing travel time helps with retention. We have been fortunate and our locations have either been within a mile, or right at the club. Finding a club with an adjoining banquet facility is ideal.