Bonus! Longtime Classic volunteer scores new job

Anika Martin and the John Deere Classic are a match made in heaven.

So it only makes sense that the former Two Rivers YMCA community relations director this week became the PGA Tour event’s first manager of donors and community impact.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anika to our John Deere Classic team,” JDC tournament director Andrew Lehman said Friday. “Anika brings a wealth of fundraising experience to the tournament and to our Birdies for Charity program.

“The fun thing about Anika joining our team is she has been involved as a volunteer with the tournament for over 30 years, now she gets to combine her professional journey with something she is extremely passionate about,” Lehman said. “To have her join an already impressive group is exciting, and we look forward to continuing to make a large community impact on the Quad Cities and see all of our non-profits benefit from her talent and passion.”

Birdies for Charity is the charitable arm of the John Deere Classic, to give participating 501(c)3 organizations the opportunity to generate contributions through one-time flat pledges or donations.

Since 1971, the JDC has delivered over $173 million, most of it through the innovative Birdies program, which set a record for giving in 2023, $14.1 million for 478 charitable groups. The Classic for several years has been the top tournament on the PGA Tour in charitable contributions per capita.

The Birdies program is a “crucial fundraising mechanism for so many meaningful nonprofits in our community,” program director Micaela Booth said Friday.

“Anika has more than 10 years experience in our community cultivating relationships and writing grants, among so many other talents,” she said of Martin, who was the main fundraiser for the Two Rivers Y since May 2013. “Anika has volunteered, interned, served as a committee chair, a board member…there was only one box left to check, join the staff!

“Her work experience and passion for the JDC made her the person for the job,” Booth said. “Anika truly believes in the mission of the John Deere Classic and its charitable initiatives through Birdies for Charity, proven by her three decades of volunteer work for the tournament. We’re so excited to have her join the team and make her mark.”

“I loved the Y; it was a hard position to leave,” Martin said Friday from her second-floor office at the JDC Stone House, tournament headquarters (built in 1852, the second-oldest house in Rock Island County, behind the 1844 stone house at Rock Island’s Saukie Golf Course). “I believed in what I was doing wholeheartedly. The John Deere Classic’s actually been part of my life since I was a little kid.”

Her mom and stepdad have been volunteers for 40 years, and they started bringing her to the tournament when she was in grade school.

“I love the tournament – it’s part of my life, part of who I am,” Martin said. “I obviously very much believe in everything the golf tournament does, and everything Birdies for Charity does. When this opportunity became available, it was such a no-brainer because it was such a perfect fit.”

From Moline to Disney and back

The Moline native (who still lives in Moline) graduated from Illinois State in 2004 (with a degree in public relations and communications), and her first post-grad internship was that summer with JDC.

Martin is just the ninth full-time employee for the Classic. “It’s taken me 20 years, but I’ve come full circle. I am thrilled to be here.”

Her first dream job was working for Walt Disney World in Orlando, starting as a lifeguard in fall 2004 in Typhoon Lagoon, then at the Grand Floridian Resort, including as recreation coordinator and yacht coordinator for two years.

“It was a really unique experience and I’m glad I did it,” Martin said. “Disney is famous for the guest experience and I’m really glad I got to be part of that.”

Her ex-husband worked in the military, and Martin spent a few years traveling the country before getting divorced and moving back to the QC in 2012.

Two Rivers Y has been a frequent participant in Birdies, and Martin was the point person for the Y, in charge of all fundraising.

“The Y definitely had some donors who loved giving to it – it’s a great bonus knowing your dollar’s gonna go further,” she said of the Birdies Bonus Fund, which guarantees a minimum 5% match for each charity on top of what they raise. “We definitely got substantial support through Birdies for Charity.”

Martin was involved in two capital campaigns while at the Y – raising $3.6 million for renovations at its Moline facility, and helping to raise $8.6 million for the new combination Rock Island YMCA and branch library. The latter transformed the former Tri-City Jewish Center at 2715 30th St., and that opened last February.

“That was such a great experience, I learned a lot – fundraising through a pandemic,” she said. “It was also a joint fundraising effort, doing it with another entity.”

“It was a very unique partnership. But a great learning experience for me,” Martin said. “The facility is beautiful; it’s such an asset to the community and I’m proud of being a part of that.”

“It’s in such a great location, in the heart of Rock Island, where it’s needed,” she said. “It’s a family-focused organization, between the Y and the library. There’s not a better collaboration and there’s still a lot of potential in what it can do for the community.”

Building on a bonus

The next tournament will be July 1-7, 2024 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, but it’s a year-round job to make it all happen.

“There’s so much that goes on throughout the year to make that week so great,” Martin said. “Everyone here has different tasks they have to do to make it possible.”

She will focus on raising money for the Birdies Bonus Fund, which provides an annual bonus to each charity of between 5-10% of what they raise. That fund is seeded each year by a $325,000 donation by title sponsor John Deere. Last year, that bonus was 7.5 percent.

Deere also underwrites all Birdies administrative costs, to ensure that participating charities receive 100% of all donations and pledges designated to their organization.

“Every year, our Birdies for Charity number gets higher and higher, so that Bonus Fund has to get larger to support that bonus check,” Martin said, noting it’s guaranteed a 5% match.

She has to fundraise for the Bonus Fund year-round, including from grants, private donations and special events. If the charity raises $100,000, they will get that percentage from the fund as a bonus ($7,500 extra if 7.5%).

“Last year, we had Concerts on the Course and all these new things keep happening and staff hasn’t grown, so everybody has more tasks to do and they found it necessary to have another body to support it,” Martin said.

“PGA has a commitment to charitable support in communities where they have tournaments,” she said. Every year, PGA gives the most engaged community award and JDC has won it eight times, including last month.

Factors taken into consideration for “Most Engaged Community” include spectator attendance, volunteer support and how well the community is weaved into the overall flavor of the tournament.

The tournament had 2,400 volunteers while 478 charities participated in the Birdies program. Each nonprofit does their own fundraising for the program, and they must be located within 125 miles of the QC.

“We’re dedicated to keeping that bonus promise intact as those charity dollars continue to grow and that means forward thinking and planning on our part,” Birdies director Booth said. “That’s where this position will be the storyteller for the Bonus Fund, encouraging community support of it and fostering its growth for years to come.”

“A lot of it will be donor focused and if we have any sort of event or fundraiser for the Bonus Fund, that will be in my wheelhouse as well,” Martin said.

Lehman said the Concerts on the Course will return this summer, but artist negotiations are ongoing, but they’re not ready to announce anything.

Big-time community pride

Martin is proud to live somewhere that feels so generously that it gives so consistently.

“The community just gives so much of itself – you like at how many charities are involved in Birdies for Charity,” she said. “We have so many nonprofits that support so many different needs in this community. It’s amazing to see the community support.”

Martin was impressed by how much was given for the Y-library project starting in late 2020, during the pandemic.

“The library isn’t just books and the Y isn’t just a gym,” she said. “There’s so much more both organizations do and that’s what the community saw, even during the pandemic. They saw the need more – we’re going to come out of this and we need somewhere to go, and this building’s gonna be there.”

Martin is a 31-year JDC volunteer, working mainly in recent years as committee co-chair for internal sales and gratuities, providing internal concessions (not for the public), for players and volunteers.

“Things like snacks on starting tees for the pros,” Martin said. “And beverages for all the volunteers. We have so many different committees.”

“The reason I keep doing it is the people, the community just comes together,” she said. “It’s absolutely been a family affair for me. My parents still come out and volunteer. I bring my children as well, so we have three generations out there.”

Martin and her husband Gregory have a six-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son.

The success of the Birdies program in the QC has caught the eye of several stops on the PGA Tour, and there are close to 15 other tournaments nationwide that license the Birdies for Charity through the local office, Booth said.

“Their license agreements give them use of the name and logo, but other than that they can customize the program in ways that works best for them, several using our model,” she said.

Past JDC champions also have helped get the word out and shown their support of Birdies for Charity, Booth added.

“While we don’t make it a standard practice to solicit donations from the winners, we have been very fortunate to have been a beneficiary of player fundraising in the past,” she said. “The tournament, the players, it’s what drives our ability to have the charitable impact that we do. The excitement and momentum surrounding the tournament paired with the overwhelming community support, and amazing support from our title sponsor is what makes it so successful.”

For more details on how Birdies works, click HERE.

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