What was on directors' minds this summer?

I have the privilege of visiting camps during the summer and speaking to directors - sometimes at all hours - about how camp is going. Some of my visits and calls are calm catch-up sessions, some include helping camps through a crisis, but most are somewhere in between.

Here is what I typically hear: "Like every summer, we've had our ups and downs."

The weather-related tragedy in Texas this past summer affected us all deeply. It made us think about the immense responsibility we undertake each summer. Many camps and related associations rushed in to help, but after such a catastrophic loss of life, we also felt helpless. It is important that we do not forget about supporting one another as we move into planning for next summer.

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. It's a time of reflection and the ramp up to next summer. Below are just a few themes that emerged in my discussion with directors this summer. I will be digging into these further in this off-season:

• Does your camp have the right leadership team in place during the camp season? What about during the off-season? Do you have all of your bases covered (e.g., families, staff, food, health, finances, facilities, program)? If not, how do you go about adding, subtracting, or changing job descriptions and personnel? Should these staff be full-time year-round? Part-time? Seasonal? Off-season hourly?

  
  

• Reconciling finances (during the summer, especially). Most directors got into the camp business because they love and are "good at" camp, it's not because they're accountants or business professionals who then realized that they want to be responsible for hundreds of kids and young adults for months at a time! How do you work with budgets and keep up with spending? How do you ensure your staff understand and abide by budgeting?

• Over-hiring staff: how much padding do you give yourselves? You want to plan to have a few staff either leave on their own or get dismissed, but you don't want to spend extra money for no reason. How do you calculate that?

• Expectations of both camper and parent behavior: maybe you have a set of principles for a camper code of conduct, but what about for parents? What standards can you hold the parents to? When does a parent complaint lead to a loss of trust between the camp and the family? When should a response be in writing vs. on the phone, or maybe in person?

  
  

• When a crisis occurs at camp, such as a severe injury, a death, or another traumatic event, do you have resources of whom to call and where to get help for your campers and staff who are impacted by the event? How do you go about that?

What else did you deal with this summer? If it happened at your camp, chances are, it happened elsewhere.

Set up a time to talk camp here or drop me a note at nick@fairwindsconsult.com or 207.200.5228.