Summer camp is fast approaching and soon we will all be very, very busy. It’s an exciting time and slightly overwhelming at times but we press on. It’s always around this time that I stop and think how can we get more kids into our camps? Can we offer more scholarships (camperships), or more exciting programs/activities that entice families to join us for a fabulous summer? Sure there’s a ton of resources for camps on programming on a shoe-string budget but that can only take you so far. As a camp administrator I’m always open to new ideas on how to raise funds for camps.
I quickly searched online for some fundraising ideas and came up with three that seemed promising. Let me quickly share those with you and see what you think.
1. Year Round Events – Meet up with former camp families for a special event and either ask for donations for special camp projects or charge a fee to attend. These events don’t have to be at camp and depending on the time of year that may be ideal. Be sure to provide some sort of incentive for families to attend if you expect to charge. Most families would love to see their old camp friends but we all have busy lives during the year, spring break or other holiday weekends may be appropriate. Bowling Nights, Movie Nights, Dinner, or other special events. Check with former staff to see if they are available to donate some of their time. This is also a great way to excite families about camp.
2. Alumni Donations – This is an old tried and true fundraising idea. Tap into your former campers and staff that have grown up and would love to share their camp experiences with the next generation. Set up a phone drive and call alumni for donations, ask them in letters or newsletters. Maybe even asked for item donations that you can later sell on eBay or through a “camp garage sale” in the community. Keep in mind that these are your camp ambassadors they still remember camp and love it so don’t burden them too much with requests for donations. A couple of times a year may be enough, three or four times may get a bit pushy, and any more than that would be damaging your relationship with your Alumni.
3. Local Business Sponsorships – Reach out to the community and offer camp sponsorships to local businesses. A local business will sponsor child to go to camp. Offer this business an opportunity for great PR in the community and beyond. Spread the word of this business good will on your website, newsletter, email, facebook, twitter, and everywhere you can. Local businesses may have a smaller budget to give but they will benefit from these service more than bigger and better known businesses with deeper pockets.
As private/independent camps it’s not always easy to find the time to fundraise for special projects as it might be for Non-profit camps. Non-Profits rely on their fundraising and grants (a discussion for another post) very heavily to stay in business, it’s an integral part of their day to day. However, as a private camp if the mission and goals you are trying to achieve through fundraising are clear and you make those clear the public it can be a very worthwhile effort.
So my question to all of you is, have you tried any of these ideas? Do they work? Do you have other ideas to share? Should we even bother with fundraising? Use the comments or drop me an email – cris [at] campfriendship [dot] com.
Fundraising Resources – Not specific to camps but good ideas nevertheless.
http://www.ymcarockies.org/home/what-we-offer/conferences-groups/churchgroups/FUNdraisingIdeas
http://www.familyeducation.com/whatworks/item/nogroup-index/0,3002,1-11059,00.html?detoured=1
Higginbotham and I’m the Marketing Director at 
