Camp is wrapped up for the season, equipment is put away, inventory has been taken, surveys and evaluations have been sent out and collected. Now is the time to plan for next summer. Where do we start? That’s a great question….

Start at the beginning. Revisit your mission, guiding principles and purpose. Why does your camp exist? What were the goals and vision of the program? Return to that place. Review and examine your foundation before you start to build for next year.

There is a lot to consider for next year. Price - when was your last financial assessment? Budget work - where are we spending the money and how much do we think we will have? What sessions did well this summer and what did the evaluations say? Do we have enough staff? Should we add a social work position to help support our campers and staff? All great questions, and all things that should be looked at.

But first, we need to evaluate, assess, and review our purpose. Do we have guiding principles? Are we following them? Are we meeting our mission and using our values to make decisions? Are we meeting the purpose and goals of our program? This is where we need to start, and where we need to be honest with ourselves. If our camp is full and the campers are having fun, does that alone mean we are successful - or is there more to why our program is here?

Our budget reflects our values. Our real values. Is it reflecting the right things? So does our program schedules, staff structure and staff recruiting practices. Are we building our values into our program in a meaningful way? Are our values reflected in our staff pay, time off and ratios? They should be. Now is the time to review, assess and make sure that they are.

Many camps do a wonderful job of staying true to their mission and values. Others need to take a moment and reflect. But all of us need to annually evaluate where we are. We assess our menus, registration process, activities and more. If we are not already doing it, we need to add mission and values to the top of that list. Do we have guiding principles? A simple set of principles to test our decisions against? Do we know and use them? Are they still relevant?

Where do we start? Each and every year we need to start at the beginning. 

Enjoy this season of planning your next summer. Now is the time for planting the seeds for a fruitful and impactful next summer. We need to be sure we are planting the appropriate seeds.

~ Dave Sherry

   President

   The Sherry Group