Trends Affecting Nonprofit Camps.

Issues and recommendations for the millennium

Over the past century, nonprofit camps have served thousands of children, adults, and families in addressing social issues and have often provided the only opportunities that some young people have had to attend camp. These nonprofit agencies, however, are under increased pressures to scrutinize the scope of their services concerning appropriateness, commitment, and economic viability. The traditions of camping remain strong, but issues must be addressed if camping programs in the nonprofit sector are to flourish in the coming years. As organized camping becomes more market conscious, questions arise as to who will be able to go to camp, at what cost, under what external controls, and within what expectations for services and outcomes.

The American Camping Association Not-for-Profit Forum and Council recently funded a project to identify trends, issues, and possible strategies for addressing the issues that may confront camping programs in the short- to medium-term future (ten to fifteen years). Trends were defined as tendencies, drifts, or changes. Issues were problems due to the changing trends. Data collection involved three stages:

* A literature review and interviews with selected experts in nonprofit camping agencies.

* A questionnaire to acquire information directly from camping professionals and their agency executives about potential trends and issues.

* Focus group sessions conducted at the 1999 ACA National Conference in Chicago.

The data were analyzed and the results organized into three categories: mission, strategic managment, and critical issues. Recommendations developed from the conclusions provide a starting point for identifying some continuing education activities that camp directors and staff might pursue, as well as some management issues that might be considered by local agencies and camps. Specific strategies will need to be addressed by individual agencies and camps.

Mission

Trend: All successful nonprofit organizations acknowledge 11w importance of mission statements.

Issues for camps include:

* Using the camp mission as a roadmap for addressing today's societal needs.

* Fitting the camp mission with the agency's mission and the national agency's (if applicable).

* Making camp programs mission driven.

* Determining how the type of nonprofit organization (e.g., nationally affiliated or local) influences the way issues related to mission, strategic management, and prioritization of critical issues are addressed.

Trend: Camps have contributions to make in addressing societal problems.

Issues for camps include:

* Showing how integral camps are to nonprofit organizations, even though some camp leaders feel less supported by the agency, the national office, parents, and campers than in the past.

* Helping the public understand the value of camping programs.

* Determining how and why camping programs make a difference in people's lives and how to articulate the results and outcomes of camping programs.

Recommendations

* Camp staff should articulate early and often the role they play. This role may be traditionally central (e.g., Girl Scouts) but must be continually articulated to agency executives, staff, parents, campers, funders, and the community at large.

* The camp mission and need for an adequate budget cannot be separated. Also, the mission must be applied to the facility operations and the camp priorities. The evaluation plan should also relate to the mission.

* Camp organizations need to determine the percentage of costs that will be covered by fees and what costs will be covered from other sources.

* Many potential funding sources exist for nonprofit camps (grants, government assistance, endowment funds). It takes time energy, and a concerted plan to procure these funds.

* Fund-raising for camping programs must be done for an intended, articulated purpose.

* Staff training will be critical. A well-conceived training plan that addresses social and technical skills will be necessary. Money invested in training will likely have long-term benefits.

* Volunteers working in nonprofit camps require applied personnel management strategies. They should be treated similarly to paid staff except without the salary compensation.

* A potential shortage of full-time staff can be addressed by assuring that quality staff do not burn out or are unable to have a desired quality of life when they are working at camps.

* Year-around school is not an issue for most nonprofit camps but the use and upkeep of facilities year-round is an issue.

* A long-range maintenance plan should be developed at each camp facility.

* A marketing plan should be based on responsiveness to community needs and be realistic in terms of what camps can provide.

* Camps must market to both campers and funders.

* Camps must monitor state and national legislation that affects regulatory issues as well as nonprofit status issues.

* Camps must seek partnerships within their local communities for program development as well as funding possibilities.

Critical Issues

Trend: The demographics of American society are changing.

The changing face of America presents the following issues:

* Recruiting campers and staff that reflect local and national diversity.

* Resolving the income gap problem in our society

* Using camp to address youth development issues.

* Getting leaders that can serve as positive adult role models.

Trend: Accountability is critical in all social organizations.

This presents the issue of:

* Determining what goals and objectives camping accomplishes

Recommendations

* Camp staff need to examine fee structures to make sure that some campers are not being eliminated from camp. In nonprofit camps, the balancing of young people from all income levels should be considered.

* Staff in camps need to examine cultural values that may preclude people from participating in camp programs

* The focus on increasing camp numbers must examine how to make camps inclusive as well as how many campers can be reasonably served without sacrificing a quality experience.

* Staff who can serve as positive role models must be hired and trained in what it means to be a positive role model.

* Camp programs must address a variety of opportunities and skill levels.

* Youth have many choices with what to do with their lives. In choosing to come to camp, they should know what to expect.

* Camp programs attempt to address ethics and values; staff must be able to clearly articulate these values.

* A camp cannot be everything to everybody. Each camp must determine what camper needs they can address and what groups to target in their recruitment efforts.

* For effective recruitment, camp directors will need to be sensitive to diversity issues such as disability and income status.

* A focus on recruiting campers who represent diverse groups must be done in collaboration with the agency at large and its recruitment efforts.

Looking to the Future

Nonprofit camping will survive into the new millennium. With a focus on mission, strategic planning, and making a difference in addressing critical societal issues, nonprofit camps will flourish. Big challenges exist, however, that camp leaders must address. Camp leaders may have to focus their energies in new ways, be more cognizant of changing social patterns, and adapt to a work environment more similar to the corporate world. Camp professionals will be asked to do more with less, wear more "hats," and still provide the stable camp programs that are often the most visible articulation of the agency's mission and goals. When nonprofit camp directors are asked "What difference do you make?" they will have to show outcomes and results based on providing effective leadership, clarity of vision, and fiscal responsibility to demonstrate accountability and commitment of to the agency, the campers, and the local community.

Deborah Bialeschki, Ph.D, is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Karla Henderson, Ph.D, is professor and chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kate Dahowski of the University of North Carolina provided valuable assistance as a graduate student with this project.

Camping History and Nonprofit Camp Issues

The study took into consideration various aspects of camp history and changing societal issues.

* Camping has its roots in the Progressive Era of American society that occurred at the turn of the century. Camps were an element of the social reform movement that resulted in nonprofit organizations and eventually government involvement to address these issues. Regardless of the focus, groups such as the Scouts, YMCA/YWCA, Easter Seals, and private nonprofit foundations grew from the desire to help meet the needs of underserved and neglected segments of the society. Some of these organizations have changed over the past 100 years, but they continue to be committed to addressing the needs and interests of society that are not being met in other ways. These organizations, however, are faced on every front with challenging issues such as funding patterns, management practices, marketing techniques, technological impacts, organizational issues, and staffing.

* Since the 1980s, giving and volunteering in America have changed. Nonprofit organizations are in competition for dollars. Thus, they have had to become more astute in their fund-raising issues. In addition, many donors are interested in the impact of their giving. As Frances Hesselbein president of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management said, "It's a fact that donors no longer reward good intentions. They reward good results." Information about results comes from sound evaluations, good leadership, and the responsible use of funds.

* Management of the successful nonprofit organization in the future will include a continual reforming of processes and practices to realize more effectively the vision shared by managers and the members of the organization. Organizational changes such as those brought on by outcome performance evaluations raise challenges for top leadership. Rather than just create and manage programs and services, more executive staff draw their attention to external forces that affect their organizations. All organizations must be managed for success. For nonprofit organizations, the bottom line comes back to "What difference will I make?" This outcome is based on mission clarity, leadership effectiveness, accountability in accomplishments and community needs met, and responsible financial performance.

* Marketing issues have grown from trends related to funding and management. These strategies can be key for telling your agency story. In the past, marketing has been narrowly viewed with a focus on the participant. In the future, marketing will become a way of competing for funding dollars while remaining accountable to participants and communities. The problem with people not understanding what an agency does and that agency feeling invisible to the community is a critical need that can be addressed through a comprehensive and thoughtful marketing plan.

* Technology is with us to stay. Although people must abandon the idea that technology can solve all problems, nonprofit organizations must use technology to the maximum for communication, information sharing, and networking. Keeping up with technological changes will have to be viewed as a necessary component to viable operations. Technology to improve electronic data storage and retrieval will also allow greater monitoring of organizational records. The world of the future with new disclosure rules and technological advances will make nonprofit information immediately accessible.

* The organizational issues that will likely gain the attention of nonprofit organizations in the future center on the tax-exempt status, exposure to liability risks for nonprofit board members and officers, and employee compensation and benefit packages that have been more typically found in the corporate profit world. These issues could have dramatic influence on nonprofits in the future if attention is not devoted to each of them. For example, broad interpretations or violations of criteria used for tax-exempt status could result in a backlash against nonprofits that could ultimately result in their loss of millions of dollars through direct payment of taxes on property and exclusion from consideration for federal grants, loans, or awards.

* Staff issues for the future are pressing. The workforce is rapidly changing as more workers age and women and minorities make their way into the labor market. The workers most valued in the future may be those individuals who can thrive in a diversified work team and who are managed by an administrator sensitive to perspectives that vary by gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, disability, religion, and age. Managers may find themselves managing fewer permanent employees and more just-in-time workers, short-term project workers, or teams of specialists.