How the Sergio & Angela Garcia Foundation’s Golf & Gala Reached New Heights with the OneCause Fundraising Platform

Background

The Sergio & Angela Garcia Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of children in Central Texas by supporting nonprofit organizations focused on mental health, healthcare, and family support services.

Each year, champion professional golfer, Sergio Garcia, and his wife, Angela, partner with JHL, an Austin-based nonprofit consultant firm, to engage the community in a multi-day fundraiser, FORE Kids ATX. This unique combination of their golf and gala continues to grow each year, attracting passionate supporters who are dedicated to the cause.

Challenge

JHL has trusted OneCause as its fundraising partner for years, driving growth and success. As FORE Kids ATX expanded, the need for a more advanced fundraising solution became clear—one that could seamlessly scale, optimize event management, deepen donor engagement, and elevate the giving experience. With OneCause, they found the innovation and reliability needed to power their mission forward.

“Our goal is to always to raise more money than the year before while expanding awareness and outreach,” shared Sydney Loyed, senior account manager at JHL.

As the event entered its fourth year, the team had clear objectives:

• Increase funds raised to better support beneficiaries like The Center for Child Protection, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Foster Village, and The UGLI Foundation.
• Expand engagement, ensuring more people understand the impact of the foundation’s mission and impact.
• Enhance the donor experience, creating seamless interactions from check-in to auction participation.

With these goals in mind, JHL and the foundation sought a more innovative, all-in-one fundraising solution that could help them manage corporate sponsorships, ticketing, silent and live auctions, raffles, and donations with ease.

Solution

That is when JHL turned to their trusted partner and transitioned from their current mobile bidding software with OneCause to the new OneCause Fundraising Platform. The platform provided the tools needed to elevate the FORE Kids golf and gala to the next level.

Sydney and her colleagues at JHL leveraged several new features to ensure a successful event:

1. Flawless Check-in Experience

“A seamless check-in is first and foremost,” stated Sydney. “That is their first line of contact with us when they get onsite.”

It was the platform’s integrated ticketing and event admin tools that provided the foundation for the flawless check-in experience that JHL expected.

“People expect streamlined technology services to be readily available to make things easier,” added Madison Lange, account manager at JHL. “And that’s what OneCause does.”

With OneCause:

• Volunteers and staff were equipped with intuitive tools to facilitate registration.
• Guests could enter their own names and information, reducing work for JHL (less than 10 of 400+ tickets were unassigned by the time check-in opened).
• JHL delivered a fast, hassle-free check-in process, making a great first impression at both the golf outing and gala.

“We are no strangers to guest name changes,” said Madison, “and typically have a dedicated member of our team working on guest name changes day of. OneCause helped eliminate that headache; and the less work it is on our team, the better it is.”

A subsequent benefit to guests entering their own information was driving early engagement on the event website.

“Not only does that lighten the load on us, but also it invites them to spend time on the site pre-event,” shared Lily Kuenast, assistant account manager at JHL. “It’s something nonprofits struggle with.”

On the event site, supporters could see everything from an active silent auction, a live auction preview, and the opportunities to purchase raffle tickets and fixed price items.

2. Streamlined Fundraising Activities

With high expectations for the golf and gala event, JHL used the OneCause Fundraising Platform to create a streamlined experience for all fundraising activities.

Between the events, JHL was tasked with maximizing fundraising success through sponsorship and tables sales, live and silent auctions, raffle and fixed price item sales, and an appeal using a paddle raise and a interactive scoreboard.

OneCause enabled JHL to:

• Open bidding on the silent auction before the event to boost pre-event engagement and maximize participation.
• Build excitement for a high-energy live auction with a dedicated preview.
• Drive early revenue by offering raffle entries and fixed-price items for purchase before the event.
• Streamline check-in by capturing payment information in advance and distributing paddles for a seamless main appeal.
• Leverage the expertise of dedicated onsite Event Managers from OneCause for smooth event execution.

“We love OneCause! It has made our lives tremendously easier,” shared Sydney. “And when the OneCause team comes in for our events, they are part of our team. JHL and OneCause work synonymously together.”

3. Innovative AI-Powered Fundraising  

The software also provided JHL with AI-powered fundraising in auction features, such as Recommended Lots and Suggested Sort. These features automatically serve up the items guests are most likely to view, bid, and buy. OneCause AI™ was also used to effortlessly and professionally craft auction item descriptions for the 40+ items in their silent and live auctions.

With OneCause, JHL leveraged:

• AI-powered fundraising tools that facilitated auction bidding and revenue generation.
• OneCause AI™ to quickly and easily generate dozens of auction item descriptions.
• Printed pre-designed display sheets, which incorporated descriptions and QR codes for each of their auction items.

“Usually we’re hand-making all these signs in Canva,” stated Lily. “But we were able to use AI features to write item descriptions. And it made things easier at the event, having guests just scan the QR code and go straight to the item. That really smoothed things out.”

4. Engaging Text & Email Outreach 

JHL found creative use of the text messaging capabilities on the OneCause Fundraising Platform. This included promoting the silent auction and communicating details (e.g., event times, parking information) at both the gala and golf outing. The SMS messages were also used to drive donations, allowing guests to give anonymously instead of raising their paddles at the appeal.

With OneCause:

• JHL effectively used built-in messaging tools to keep donors informed and engaged.
• Guests received timely text messages before, during, and after the events.
• Communication was key in successfully driving fundraising at the events.

“We’re really particular about the way that we connect with our donors throughout the year,” noted Madison. “We make a big point about staying in touch with them and not just in a couple months leading up to the event.”

Sydney echoed,

“Without engagement, they don’t care. If they don’t care, they’re not going to give, and they’re not going to tell their friends about it, and we’re not going to continue to grow. Engagement is lucrative – caring, seeing others who care, giving, and giving back. It leads to participation, funds, and huge changes in these children’s lives.”

5. Comprehensive Data Management

Due to the scale and number of events managed by JHL, their fundraising platform must organize and present data insights in a clear, actionable manner through real-time analytics and reports.

The reporting provided by the OneCause Fundraising Platform:

• Organized all donor, sponsor, and auction data in one place.
• Eliminated the need for multiple spreadsheets to manage the golf and gala events.
• Delivered insights on how to grow the events and their proceeds in the future.

“For us, everything lives in OneCause,” stated Lily. “Our table sales, our sponsorships, onsite sales, post-event wrap ups – it’s all there. And that is where we go when we need information. If we have the information, it probably lives in OneCause.”

Results

With OneCause, the FORE Kids Golf & Gala Event delivered record-breaking success:

• Year-over-year fundraising growth:
  • The golf + gala event surpassed the previous year’s fundraising totals, raising over $1.7M, marking a total of $5M since the event’s inception.
  • The silent and live auctions generated more than $588K.
  • Supported by interactive scoreboards, the paddle raise earned more than $420K.
• Stronger sponsor visibility: The platform’s ability to engage and recognize sponsors increased their commitment to future events.
• Increased donor engagement: By messaging donors and simplifying access to fundraising activities, attendee participation grew across events.
• Seamless donor experience: From a seamless check-in to smooth giving experiences, guests enjoyed a memorable, record-breaking golf and gala event.

A Winning Partnership 

JHL stresses the importance of nonprofits building relationships with OneCause. This partnership has not only simplified the planning of a multi-day event, but it has empowered them to maximize their impact.

“We sit down with a lot of nonprofits who don’t have a fundraising platform. And when they’re looking at hiring JHL, we essentially say, ‘If you’re going to work with us, you’re going to bring OneCause on board,’” explained Madison.

Advice for Other Nonprofits

When asked what they’d tell other nonprofits considering OneCause, the JHL team had this advice:

• Build relationships with your OneCause team. “We are very fortunate to have great contacts there and they make our lives a lot easier. Beyond the use of the platform, we are very grateful for them.”
• Use the tools. “Learn how this platform is designed to work. In our case, we tried building every spreadsheet we ever made in OneCause, when we should have aligned our process to what OneCause already does so well.”
• Get in OneCause every single day. “Without a doubt, I’m in OneCause once a day. You can keep track of donors and keep in touch with people. We’d encourage nonprofits to lean into that, because it is such a resource.”

Final Thoughts: The OneCause Experience in Three Words

Sydney, Madison, and Lily were asked what three words came to mind when thinking about their experience with OneCause. Their answers?

Efficient. Comprehensive. Impactful.

“We’re super fortunate to work with OneCause,” concluded Sydney. “We’re very appreciative for all they do for us, for our clients, and for our community.”

JHL continues to push the limits of event engagement and fundraising success. Plan on seeing great things to come in their work with the Sergio & Angela Garcia Foundation.

Connect with a Cause

Learn more about JHL and the Sergio & Angela Garcia Foundation’s FORE Kids ATX by visiting their websites.