WHAT IS BIRDIES FOR CHARITY?
The Thunderbirds Charities, and title sponsor Waste Management provide this exciting way for Arizona’s charities to cash-in on the birdies made during the 2026 WM Phoenix Open (Feb 2-8, 2026) through the Arizona Charity Pledge Drive. The Academy participates in this wonderful event each year.
We’ve set our goals high for every aspect of our programs and the Board of Directors is stepping up to meet the Birdies for Charity challenge in a big way.
The fabulous benefit about your donation is that the Thunderbirds will generously add another 10% to all paid pledges! Therefore.. $100 becomes $110, and so on, to benefit The Academy!
IT HAS BEGUN
Donating for The Academy begins now!
We have until February 8th to make the push and meet this critical goal for the 2026 season. Thank you, in advance for helping to spread the word and ensure that our programs will continue into the future!
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS:
Anyone can fill out a pledge form and pledge one cent (OR MORE) per birdie, or a flat donation, to be a part of the program. No funds are collected by the AAPA. The Thunderbirds will invoice the pledges following the WM Phoenix Open and they collect all monies.
100 percent (plus a 10% bonus from The Thunderbirds) of the collected Birdies for Charity pledges will go directly to The Academy and all our programs.
⇒Under ‘Selected Charity’ choose ACADEMY DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS as your charity to support.
Between now and February 8th you can pledge an amount per birdie made at this year’s WM Phoenix Open. You can pledge now and pay later (all pledges due by April 15th).
There are typically 1,500 birdies made during the week of the tournament. That means a pledge of 1 penny would be about $15; A pledge of 5 cents would be about $75; and a pledge of $1 would be an extraordinary gift of $1,500 and so on… OR, to make it very simple, you can make a flat donation of any amount. All gifts are matched with an additional 10% by the Thunderbirds.
More information on the Thunderbirds can be found here.
Birdies for Charity information can be found here.