Finchem Pledges $13 Million as PGA Tour Overhauls Charitable Foundation Strategy

Tim Finchem, who stepped down as PGA Tour commissioner a decade ago, and his wife are contributing $13 million to establish a revamped charitable framework at a moment when commercial interests dominate golf’s landscape. The PGA Tour unveiled the new PGA Tour Charities initiative Monday in conjunction with the Tour Championship, which offers a $40 million purse with a $10 million winner’s check.

The tour’s restructured approach emphasizes national fundraising campaigns with community-level implementation while pledging to offset any charitable shortfalls at tournaments relocating to the Challenger Series beginning in 2028. Laura Neal, executive vice president of PGA Tour Strategic Philanthropy, called the Finchems’ gift transformative and positioned the new framework as golf’s next major charitable evolution.

Since its inception in 1938 with a $10,000 donation at the Palm Beach Invitational, the PGA Tour has generated more than $4.4 billion in charitable contributions. The new PGA Tour Charities platform will concentrate funding around health, youth, access and service initiatives, connecting individual tournaments whose missions align with these priorities to amplify resources and visibility.

Player Advisory Council chairman Lucas Glover, who joins the PGA Tour board next year, is spearheading a player committee to develop the program’s direction. Glover emphasized that recent emphasis on prize money and equity investments had overshadowed the tour’s charitable foundation, though he stressed the mission never disappeared entirely.

PGA Tour Enterprises, launched in January 2024 as a for-profit venture backed by up to $3 billion from Strategic Sports Group, operates separately from the nonprofit PGA Tour structure overseeing tournaments and regulations. Individual tournament organizations like the Thunderbirds and Salesmanship Club of Dallas continue donating net proceeds to local charities.

Holly Finchem described the donation as honoring her husband’s legacy while celebrating the game’s future impact. Finchem, who served as the tour’s third commissioner from 1994 to 2016, oversaw expansion driven partly by Tiger Woods’ arrival and helped establish The First Tee in 1997.

The tour also disclosed that Brooks Koepka’s remaining $2.5 million charitable contribution—part of a $5 million requirement for his return from LIV Golf—will be distributed equally among charities designated by approximately 100 players.