Blog

Uncover hidden deferred maintenance challenges! Learn how proactive planning can save camps from escalating costs and emergent problems.

Discover the changing landscape of summer camps! From thriving to closing, Jody Oates reflects on the industry’s shifts.

Discover the 3 core practices of how leadership at camp transforms with an executive perspective, fueling organizational success.

Situational Crises vs. Organizational Crises A summer camp can face its most daunting challenge when it confronts the possibility of being in a crisis, which could stem from financial constraints, low registration numbers, staffing complications, and other related...

Sharing Knowledge Benefits the Camping Industry We’ve all met those people who are at the top of their game but don’t attend conferences. They typically do not feel they can learn enough to justify taking time off from work to go to these events. The common rationale...

Camp Industry Comes Together: Insights from the 2023 ACA Conference This year's 2023 ACA conference had the biggest attendance yet, and was an absolute success. Attendees united with a shared goal of exploring new ways to enrich the camp experience while celebrating...

SOQs over RFPs Are RFPs bringing you the best person for the job? At Kaleidoscope, Inc., we work on fostering relationships with all the camps and retreat centers we serve. We believe these relationships start developing from the very first point of contact, which is...

Practices of a Healthy Board The board of directors is the cornerstone of non-profit camps and retreat centers. When the board fulfills its responsibilities and takes responsibility for continued growth and development, the organization thrives. But, when this doesn’t...

Camp's Role in Spiritual Growth Previously, we touched on Faith Formation and the idea that camps can play a significant role in spiritual leadership. We brought up the concept that this leadership should extend beyond just summer camp, and follow youth throughout the...

Parking Tips for Camps & Retreat Centers Have you ever driven through a maze-like garage or illogically laid-out parking lot and thought, “Who the heck designed this?” It is easy to underestimate the importance of mapping out practical parking and traffic flow...

Measuring The Vitality and Viability of Your Organization As human beings, it is easy to tell when we aren’t feeling well. We may get a stuffy nose, sore throat, chills or nausea. The signs are usually clear and quite unpleasant. However, when it comes to the health...

Filtering the Chaos Camp leaders are often known for their creative and abundant ideas. It is these ideas that continue to help the organization grow and prosper for many years. However, as more and more ideas flood in, so does the chaos of trying to figure out when,...

Camp's Role in Faith Formation As leaders within the community, faith-based camps have always played a significant role in the spiritual life of our youth. Summer programming is often a place where children can feel connected to their spirituality and others who share...

The state of camps in 2022 Celebrations and Challenges Summer camp has wrapped up and, as always, there are things that we have observed and learned about the state of camps in 2022 from another summer in the water, woods and cabins! We believe that observation is...

Camp Leadership: Gratitude for our Predecessors. Having worked with many camps over the years, we’ve come to realize that in order to move forward, you must rely on information from the past.

Over the past years, Pilgrim Firs in Port Orchard, Washington, has worked hard to be seen and understood as a place of Christian ministry.

A board of directors provides leadership for an organization. So naturally, we would assume that a board of directors would be populated with people who understand, participate in, and appreciate the organization's mission, right? How are you doing in this regard?...

ACA Conference 2022 Recap   First, before I get into all of the ACA Conference 2022 recap and the amazing things I learned and experienced, I want to thank the Conference Planning Team and ACA staff for putting together an excellent conference. It was so very...

Every single summer, camps deal with crises. Whether it's a nasty case of bed bugs, camper injury, financial mismanagement, or storm damage, camp management is risky.  If you've been in this business long enough, you can name a crisis or two that you have had to...

It's widely known that the summer camp season wipes out even physically strong and emotionally resilient leaders. Camp leaders work long, hard hours doing physically demanding tasks and supporting staff and campers through growing and sometimes challenging situations....

Most camps have a board of directors. Some function as an operations board, others as a governing board. Either way, the executive director of the organization is charged with answering to the board of directors.  This relationship is critical to the success of the...

We’ve been hearing about the “Great Resignation” for a couple of months now. It’s this idea that employees, during the pandemic, stayed in jobs that they would have left but held off because of the uncertainty of the pandemic market. Combine that with the general...

I was in a meeting recently that went really, really well. At least I thought so until 10 minutes after the call. The leader of the group I was meeting with called me to say that the majority of the group had no idea what I was talking about. I screwed up. Like many...