501(c)(3) · Founded 2005 as Feed the Relief

A round of golf,
turned into a scholarship.

The Kelly Gibson Foundation is a community driven 501(c)3 non-profit organization that focuses on supporting first responders, military initiatives and children's athletic programming in the Greater New Orleans and Gulf Coast region.

Give now See the 2026 calendar

$1,263,500awarded in scholarships

30dates on the 2026 calendar

20years serving the region

Next on the calendar

Filter by cause, month or name

$1,263,500

Total awarded in scholarships

415

Scholarships awarded since 2010, valued at $952,500

117

Military families supported since 2019, totaling $311,000

4★

Four-star rated charity

Figures as published by the Kelly Gibson Foundation. In a live build these would read from a single source so every page stays in step.

What we do

Three commitments, one community

Everything on the calendar rolls up to one of these. Pick a cause and the calendar filters to it.

All programs

Junior Golf

The next generation, on the course

The Kelly Gibson Junior Golf Tour has run since 2009 — 16 summer stops across the Gulf Coast, five divisions for girls and five for boys, ages 7 to 22.

KGJGT summer tour & Tour Championship
Oscar J. Tolmas Mentorship Program
Allstate Sugar Bowl Fall Series
Annual Awards Banquet

Military & First Responders

Where the foundation started

Feed the Relief fed the first responders working New Orleans after Katrina. Twenty years on, that work is scholarships for the children of military families.

Swing Hard for Soldiers — November 6
KGF Community Heroes
Birdies for the Brave
Oscar J. Tolmas Memorial Scholarship Fund

Signature Fundraisers

The nights that pay for the years

Night of Jazz has run since 2009. The Mackel and the celebrity scramble fill the summer. These are the events that fund the scholarships.

Night of Jazz — patron party & tournament
The LCMC Health Mackel Celebrity Scramble
The Mackel NOLA Metro Championship
GiveNOLA Day & Crescent City Classic 10k

2026 at a glance

The whole year on one line

Today the schedule lives in a single image that can't be searched, linked to, or added to a phone. Here it is as data.

Open the full calendar

Junior golf Military & first responders Signature fundraisers Championships

Spotlight

Swing Hard for Soldiers — 9th annual

Photo — Honor Garden, Tchefuncta Country Club

Friday, November 6, 2026 at Tchefuncta Country Club in Mandeville. The tournament honors Jacques J. Fontan, a Special Operations Chief from New Orleans killed in Afghanistan in June 2005, and benefits the children of military families through the Oscar J. Tolmas Memorial Scholarship Fund.

$311,000 to 117 military families since 2019.

Since the inaugural event in November 2018, Swing Hard has grown every year. Partners can host a foursome, underwrite a scholarship, or place a name in the Honor Garden.

The founder

Kelly Gibson

A fifth-generation New Orleanian who played the PGA TOUR from 1992 to 2007, made 169 cuts, and was nominated for rookie of the year in 1992. He and Elizabeth Gibson started Feed the Relief in 2005 to feed the first responders and military personnel working the rescue after Hurricane Katrina.

Twenty years later the foundation carries his name, runs a junior tour across the Gulf Coast, and has put more than a million dollars into scholarships.

Portrait — Kelly Gibson

Proud partners

The companies behind the year

Annual partners appear on every page of the site. Event partners appear on the event they support.

Partnership levels

Never miss a tee time

One email a month with what's coming up, plus a note the week of each event. Pick what you want to hear about.

Junior golf Military events Fundraisers & galas Scholarship deadlines

Also: add the full 2026 season to your own calendar in one click from the events page.

Events

The 2026 season

Every tournament, banquet, clinic and gala the foundation runs this year — filterable by cause, searchable by name or course, and linkable so you can send someone straight to the one they asked about.

Find

Looking ahead. The annual anchors repeat every year — Night of Jazz in March, the Zurich Classic junior clinic in April, the junior tour across June and July, Swing Hard for Soldiers in November, the Tommy Moore Memorial in December. A live site would roll the next twelve months forward automatically instead of emptying out each December.

/ Military

Swing Hard for Soldiers

The ninth annual tournament benefiting the children of military families, played at Tchefuncta Country Club in Mandeville.

—days until the first tee
Friday, November 6, 2026

Date: Friday, November 6, 2026
Venue: Tchefuncta Country Club, Mandeville, LA
Benefiting: Oscar J. Tolmas Memorial Scholarship Fund & the KGF Scholarship Program
Contact: Taylor Capouch, Executive Director
504-400-8013

Why we play

Jacques J. Fontan — November 11, 1968 to June 28, 2005 — was a Special Operations Chief from New Orleans, killed in Afghanistan. Swing Hard for Soldiers is played in his memory every November.

The inaugural event was held November 16, 2018 at Tchefuncta Country Club. It has grown every year since, in partnership with the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust — Tolmas was a Lieutenant Commander and a World War II veteran. Proceeds benefit children of military families through the Oscar J. Tolmas Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Kelly Gibson Foundation Scholarship Program.

Day of play

MorningRegistration, range, and Honor Garden dedication
MiddayShotgun start
AfternoonAwards, auction, and scholarship presentation

Sample running order for the concept. The live page would carry the published schedule, pairings, and the honoree list.

Ways to take part

Scholarship Underwriter$ — Fund a named scholarship for the child of a military family, presented at the awards.

Foursome + Hospitality$ — Four players, course hospitality, and signage.

Honor Garden Placement$ — Honor a loved one who served. Names are read at the dedication and displayed on the course.

Hole Sponsor$ — Signage at a tee box and recognition in the program.

Structure shown for layout only — the foundation sets the actual levels and amounts. Today these are arranged by phone or email; the concept assumes an online packet with a form.

From last year

2025 — first tee

2025 — Honor Garden

2025 — scholarship recipients

2025 — awards

Share this event

Give

Every dollar stays on the Gulf Coast

The foundation currently takes gifts by Venmo, by check, and through event sponsorships. This page adds the piece that's missing: a way to give online in ten seconds, monthly if you want, in someone's name if you'd like.

Choose an amount

Direct my gift to

Give in honor or memory of someone who served

The Kelly Gibson Foundation is a 501(c)(3). Federal Tax ID 20-3413020. Gifts are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Impact lines shown below each amount are illustrative. The foundation would set the real ones — and they matter: naming what a gift buys is the single biggest lever on average gift size.

Other ways to give

Venmo

@kellygibsonfoundation — the fastest way for event-day giving.

✉

By check

Kelly Gibson Foundation, PO Box 2141, Mandeville, LA 70470.

⚑

Sponsor an event

Night of Jazz, The Mackel, Swing Hard for Soldiers, or a junior tour stop. Custom packages built with your company.

☆

GiveNOLA Day

The region's day of giving, on the calendar each May.

Donor-advised funds, stock & employer matching

Not offered today. Worth adding — these are typically the largest individual gifts a foundation this size receives.

For companies

Annual partners are recognized across the site and at every event on the calendar. Event partners are recognized on the event they support.

Annual PartnerYear-roundRecognition on every page, presence at all events, scholarship naming rights.

Signature Event PartnerPer eventNight of Jazz, The Mackel, or Swing Hard for Soldiers.

Junior Tour StopPer stopSponsor a single tour stop at a course in your market.

Concept

Section

Not built in this mock. Four pages are built out — Home, Events, a full event page, and Give. This section is here to show where it sits in the new navigation and what would move into it.