The UMCRM Association is delighted to highlight more Ministry Impact Grants this week on the blog. Last year, we were blessed to distribute $1.7 million in grants, funding 68 United Methodist camp/retreat ministry projects across the country. This week's featured projects all engaged professional services for expert advice and strategy support. Whether creating a fresh marketing plan or engaging a strategic planning process, these ministries invested in a sustainable future. Bringing in new perspectives and expertise can prove invaluable to help envision new possibilities and make needed change in an organization. This eleventh installment of reports features six projects, completed in the Western North Carolina Conference, Great Plains Conference, Pacific Northwest Conference, Grand Mesa Camp (CO), Mountain Sky Conference, and Camp Magruder (OR).
Learn more about the 2023 Ministry Impact Grants
UMCRM will be celebrating completed projects in this ongoing series until all of the 2023 grant recipients have been featured. View previous project reports
Western North Carolina Conference Council on Camps & Retreats - Collaborative Marketing Program
Three Western NC camps were given the unique opportunity to collaborate with Cube Creative for an entire year to rebuild websites, engage in targeted online marketing techniques, and redesign and purchase promotional materials. Together the camps launched a robust campaign at Annual Conference, including giveaways, raffle, bonfire and worship, and a Friday fun night with games and bounce house.
Each of the sites implemented long-dreamed-of marketing initiatives, and the Council’s preliminary research work has engaged beneficial networking and relationship building with key stakeholders. The ongoing data and research tools are in place to help the Council continue to develop marketing strategies and physical resources for sustainable camp ministry across the conference. This investment is expected to continue bearing fruit for years to come.
Great Plains Camps - Marketing
Leaders of the five camps across Kansas and Nebraska met with two nationally-recognized camp marketing professionals every other week for over a year to explore best practices to promote camper retention and recruitment. Registration trend data informed the implementation of new strategies, from an improved marketing timeline to evaluation processes for staff, campers, and families. Staff learned the value of scripting out tours and programs to seize opportunities to help people grow. The consultants helped to compare programs and communication plans with other industry best practices. The process motivated and equipped all involved to strive for continual improvement. This initiative already bore fruit in this camping season: enrollment was up for all five of our camps with no increase to the marketing budget. Parent camp champions have been engaged to help as references for prospective new camper families, and the scholarship fund has seen increased support.
Executive Director Bob Kahle reflects, “We came to understand that effective camp marketing is not about finding the biggest hill and screaming out for people to come to our camps. We
cannot compete with large marketing budgets and unlimited resources. Instead, we learned how to make our camps better and saw the power in encouraging campers, families and guests to trust us enough that they will want to talk about our camps to their friends. The impact of this project includes a new confidence and pride our staff have in our program, which is translating into other areas of our life and ministry.”
Pacific Northwest Conference Camping & Retreat Ministries - Strategic Planning
Grant funding enabled consultation with Kaleidoscope, Inc., on a strategic planning process. The outcome of that process has provided the Camping Board of Stewards a context for how each of the four camps serves the PNW Conference and surrounding communities. Identifying each site’s strengths and weaknesses will inform future programming
and capital development. Lazy F and Ocean Park camps worked this spring on site-specific strategic plans, building on insights gleaned from the Conference process over the past two years. Indianola and Twinlow camps will be continuing strategic work starting in the fall. In addition to the usable and concise professional report, the process with Kaleidoscope resulted in a significant amount of board training to help them think strategically about the role of the camps as a ministry of the PNW Conference and how they will serve the mission of the Conference in the future.
Grand Mesa Camp - Coaching
The grant funded consultation with an organizational coach and a team-building and visioning retreat for the staff and board. Throughout the coaching and team-building process, the leadership team discovered much common ground in their hopes and vision for the camp. Together they realized the need for a comprehensive leadership structure to implement the action steps to achieve those goals and visions. Following the retreat, the coach provided a final report outlining the goals, mission, vision, and talking points to continue the work begun at the retreat. A new board structure has been created and the team now has what they need to implement forward-looking strategies for the camp’s future.
Mountain Sky Conference Council on Retreat and Camping - Software, Coaching, and Social Media
The grant allowed this ministry, which spans 7 sites across 5 states, to accomplish three different goals. Flathead Lake Camp (MT) received support to purchase and implement Camp Brain registration software. The Mountain Sky Conference Camp budget matched the grant to cover the full cost. Buckhorn Camp (CO) engaged with a coach, Karen Grosz of Canvas Creek Team Building, to assist the staff and board with organizational development, and several other sites had an opportunity to receive strategic coaching. Finally, several of the camps utilized the grant support to create new marketing materials for promotional events and church visits. Overall, the grant support for all three initiatives strengthened camp operations and provided unique points of collaboration for the Council on Retreat and Camping across the region.
Camp Magruder - Marketing Support
The leadership of Camp Magruder knew they needed new strategies to reach a more diverse camper base beyond the United Methodist Church. The marketing support Camp Magruder received over an eight month period taught them a great deal about promoting camp and telling their story. The increased presence and visibility in their community has already made a noticeable difference. The advice received from consultant Casey Fuerst at TicTacToe Marketing led to many new community connections through church and school visits, discussions with retreat groups, and promotional materials shared in new places. The camp has developed a new, twice-a-month newsletter and increased communications with registrants as they prepare for summer camp. The team has created a more consistent social media presence, and an overall marketing strategy has taken the guesswork out of the process, focusing energy where it will yield the most effective results. This year’s marketing efforts produced an earlier boost in registration numbers and enhanced community-wide awareness about the opportunities camp provides.This investment in professional guidance will continue to pay back dividends in the coming years as these new materials, skills, and strategies become regular practices in the camp’s annual cycle of promotion. Marketing and growth are long-game endeavors that involve table-setting and relationship building, for which the Camp Magruder team is now better equipped.