Our Fundraising results over the years.......

There can be little dispute that Nomads Members come from among the more fortunate sections of the population. Consequently it is very fitting that we practice one of the fundamental aspects of our "Aims and Objectives' and that is to support those "less fortunate than ourselves".
This we have done annually ever since instituting our Club fund raising events in 1968 and the 2011 events have seen the funds raised top R 27.5M. 

HISTORY
It was in 1967 that the idea of an annual Nomads tournament in aid of a national charity was first conceived. A prominent international publishing house agreed to sponsor the first year to the tune of 
R 1500 but they unfortunately had a change of heart and withdrew at the eleventh hour. This was very disappointing as the plans were then well advanced but a local businessman, a Founder Member of Nomads, Andrew Mentis, strode into the breach.
There is surely no Nomad playing golf anywhere in the Republic to whom the name Andrew Mentis can be unknown since Andrew has been the donor in every Nomads club of the Trophy for one of each Club's major annual competitions - the Annual Andrew Mentis Competition - and was  the Chairman of the Nomads National Andrew Mentis Endowment Fund (NNAMEF) until his retirement from the position in 1995.  
Andrew filled the void by underwriting the basic cost of organising and running the proposed Tournament to the tune of R 1500 per year for a guaranteed period of 4 years. This ensured continuity and enabled Nomads to prove the viability of the scheme.
There were several objectives in mind, the main ones being to help others less fortunate than ourselves and to create a sense of purpose in the Nomads Club.
It was decided to charge the Vice-Captains with the responsibility of organising the Tournaments and this has proved to be a very good grounding for their incoming year as Captains. 
Guidelines for the selection of beneficiaries were laid down, the main ones being:- 
preference should be given to charities that would not normally receive support from other quarters and particularly those that put in a lot of effort to assist themselves. 
Funds should be applied to specific, tangible, lasting projects such as buildings, vehicles, equipment etc, and no money would be handed over which could be dissipated by way of administration costs etc.
Projects with political or religious connotations are also avoided.

The first Tournament was held in 1968 at the Huddle Park golf club using two of their three courses. It was an enormous field and even though many teething problems were encountered it was a financial success, with R 12000 being handed over to the SA Nursing Association Bursary Fund. Although this initial venture did not correspond to the now established norms of tangibility the money was used to send selected nurses overseas for advanced training.
After some years it became increasingly difficult to find National charities that had public appeal in all the Provinces so, in 1976, it was decided to choose an "umbrella" theme each year and to allow each club to choose their own beneficiary under that heading. This was accepted with enthusiasm until in later years the formula was once again changed to the current format in which the Clubs are given a completely free hand to select any project which broadly conforms to the original guidelines. The funds collected have advanced steadily since inception and in 2010 over R1.3M was generated, bringing the grand total to over R 23 000 000.
This total excludes the funds raised by the Zimbabwean club since their enforced separation from our Club in 1981and the resultant temporary severance of official contact with them. 
In addition to the money generated the charities have benefited substantially through donations of material and labour, discounts and special prices for goods and services by businessmen and Nomads sympathetic to our aims.

In thanking Andrew Mentis for his beneficence we must also thank every single member of Nomads whose past individual and collective efforts have produced the fantastic success of this venture and, of course, to our very worthy sponsors who have stood by us constantly.

However, during this period, Nomads failed to equally support one of it's other major aims and objectives namely, the furtherance of golf.  For some considerable period now Nomads have been steadily trying to correct this imbalance via various routes.
Nomads throughout the individual Clubs around the country support their hosts, the local golf clubs who generously allow us the use of their courses throughout the year, by donating funds for use in smaller Club projects such as building bridges over water courses, planting trees in prominent places,
providing benches, water fountains etc., through funding the teaching of junior golfers and sponsoring their participation in Tournaments both locally and, in some cases overseas, to financial support at times of major disaster such as flooding etc. For these larger expenditures the money generally arises from the voluntary service Nomads provide through their GOLFORAMA activities at all major golf tournaments throughout the country.
These GOLFORAMA funds also help promote countrywide the Junior Golf development programme.

For many years Nomads have also been purchasing tickets in another major Fund-Raising event which enables the holder of the winning ticket to travel to one of Golf's major events - The Open being the most regularly supported event. Currently, this event is sponsored through one of our National Sponsors Bell's "Extra Special" Old Scotch Whisky.

Through excess funds accumulated from the entry fees for monthly meetings some lesser donations are given at the end of each Captain's year to various diverse worthy charities.  

The funds raised via the various means mentioned above have enabled us to partially restore the balance of Nomads towards equal support of their major "aims and objectives", namely,

the furtherance of golf        and,

the benefit of those less fortunate than ourselves.