John Deere Classic says its 2026 tournament generated a record $20.1 million for 492 Quad Cities area charities
The PGA Tour event in Iowa and Illinois announced the total on Oct. 8, up from $16.9 million for 460 charities last year. Its Birdies for Charity program added a bonus of 8.85% to what each charity raised.
Moline. The John Deere Classic, the PGA Tour event of the Quad Cities in Iowa and Illinois, said on Oct. 8 that its 2026 tournament generated a record $20.1 million for 492 local and regional charities, $20,119,898 by the figure on its home page. The total was revealed at the John Deere Pavilion in Moline on the day the checks went out, the Quad Cities Business Journal reported.
Money the John Deere Classic generated for charity, 2025 and 2026
Last year the tournament generated $16.9 million for 460 charities, also a record at the time. Since 1971 it has generated more than $226 million for charity, 99% of it since John Deere became title sponsor in 1998, the tournament said. It is run by the Quad Cities Golf Classic Charitable Foundation, an East Moline nonprofit.
A bonus on every dollar
Most of the money came through Birdies for Charity, in which charities ask their own supporters for gifts that the tournament collects and passes on. John Deere covers the program's administrative costs, so charities receive every dollar given to them, the tournament said. A Bonus Fund, started with a grant from John Deere and built up by local donors and partners, adds unrestricted money on top.
This year the fund paid out a record $1.56 million, a bonus of 8.85%. Last year's was 9%, Andrew Lehman, the tournament director, told the Business Journal. He said a new contest between Iowa and Illinois donors, The Giving Cup, brought in another $81,000, without which the bonus would have been 8%.
“Because the funding is unrestricted, nonprofits can use it where it will make the greatest difference, whether that's responding to unexpected challenges, investing in new initiatives, or building capacity for the future.”
Who can take part
The program is open to publicly supported 501(c)(3) organizations within 125 miles of the Quad Cities in Iowa and Illinois, which must confirm their status every year. Its rules say the money is for services, operations and programs, not endowments or buildings. Gifts must come from a named donor and not be part of a capital campaign; an organization may not give on its own behalf, and grants from donor advised funds and private foundations are not eligible for the program's benefits.
The tournament says the money will go to charities in fields from education, health care and food security to the arts and the environment. It has not published how the $20.1 million divides among them. The tournament returns to TPC Deere Run in 2027.
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Oct. 9, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
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