Industry News

We track the the christian camp and conference center industry news.

5 Ways to Retain Volunteers

Every nonprofit needs volunteers, but finding a good volunteer is like finding a hidden treasure. Unfortunately, there isn’t a map labeled with a big X designating where those volunteers are, but once you have good volunteers it’s very important to keep them. Volunteers are invaluable, cherish them like you would a precious gem! Here’s 5 ways to retain volunteers. Invite volunteers to be an active part of your community. Many volunteers are able and willing, but don’t know if or ...

5 Ways to Preserve Dignity in Content Creation & Storybranding (Nonprofit Christian Sector)

Photo by Taras Shypka on Unsplash The need to produce high quality and engaging content in a saturated market can feel overwhelming. Trying to stand out amongst a variety of brands, messaging, and products can be challenging. Selling the brand, cause, and experiences in the nonprofit sector comes with unique challenges that can be difficult to navigate. To meet the demand for new content and effective storybranding, we often find ourselves scouring surveys, photos, and emails from staff, looking for ...

A Community that Cares- Employee Commitment to Creation Care

At the beginning of 2019, the staff of Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center made a commitment to make changes that would contribute to meeting the goal of reducing campus waste by 10% from combined fuel, propane, electric, and solid waste consumption by 2020. Every month leadership sends an email to staff with the latest news in the field of sustainability with an attached action step. The action step incorporates the news shared with practical ways of integrating it into ...

Experiential Learning Outcomes for Outdoor Science Education

Photo by Ellie Storms on Unsplash “What I hear, I forget. What I see, I’ll remember. What I do, I’ll learn.”                          -Chinese proverb This proverb could be the first identification of the styles of learning. It certainly is one of the earliest confirmations of what many educators have developed over the years. Many advocated children going outside to learn about the forest by walking in the forest. Encouraging students to bring a notebook along, stopping, seeing, drawing, smelling, digging, and measuring. ...

Is a Fundraising Event Right for Your Organization?

From time to time I am approached by organizations looking for ways to improve their fundraising efforts. One idea on their list is inevitably an auction. Auctions seem pretty straight forward right? You get items donated, people pay for the items and your organization benefits from those purchases. I wish I could say it was so easy, but auctions can be much more complicated than they appear. There are few questions you should ask yourself before you dive in head ...

Top 5 Contributions Millennials make to the Non Profit Sector

Millennials are the hope of the future. Having worked alongside this cohort since they were in high school, I have found them to be intelligent, hard-working, and committed to the kinds of community values that make the world a better place. Millennials are an amazing gift to non-profits in five important ways: Quest for meaning: Millennials are motivated by meaning, by a purpose greater than themselves. Every non-profit needs motivated employees and volunteers who align their personal Photo by Annie ...

Child health and development at summer camp

Research shows kids are healthier, learn better, and form lasting friendships when they spend an extended amount of time outside away from technology. Study after study has shown when children are out in nature regularly they are more mentally and physically healthy1. The combination of physical activity and being outdoors is proven to be important to mental, physical, and environmental health. Nature is viewed by scientists and researchers as a fundamental health resource. Being out in nature helps people recover ...

5 myths about working as a camp counselor

In order to talk about the benefits of working at a summer camp, we must start by debunking some myths people believe about the job. Myth #1: It’s not a “real” job. Truth: Working at a summer camp is mentally and physically demanding. Camp counselors are no longer only responsible for the well-being of themselves, but the well-being of students ranging from 6 years old - 18 years old. Many summer staff work 16 hour days, six days a week, not to mention ...

Effects of summer camp on adolescent growth

In the life of an adolescent, views of the world and God are highly dependent on that of their parent or guardian. Growing up, the influence of who they are and who God is, comes from what they are told by mom and dad. Eventually, they are surrounded by peers whose influence slowly adds to their worldview of what they believe about God and themselves. Emotionally, adolescents are overwhelmed by hormones and confusion of different feelings. They feel strong emotion ...

Pastors & community leaders: Why use team building to build relationships?

There is nothing like standing on a platform thirty feet off the forest floor while the rest of your team is telling you to jump! I remember the first time I experienced this. I felt my harness to make sure it was snug, tugged on the rope to make myself feel better, and hollered back at my team asking, “Are you ready?” Once I was assured that the rest of my group was going to make sure I stayed air ...

5 ways to avoid camp ministry burnout

“I feel tired, sort of thin inside, like butter spread over too much toast,” Bilbo confesses to Gandalf. Kind of feels familiar for far too many of us. Burnout is one of the top, if not the top reason people leave camp ministry. Early on, burnout may feel like over-anxiousness, irritability (anger or other extreme emotions) far in excess of the immediate cause, constant weariness, spiritual dryness, or detachment. You may feel trapped, like the Bono song describes, “On an ...