When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you a global pandemic, you get creative with your summer camp fundraising. Summer camps like yours will provide a much-needed service as soon as it's safe. Parents all over the country are eager for some calm and quiet, and kids are anxious to get back to socializing, having fun, and exploring the world.
Between alumni, families, staff, and volunteers, you have a vast network of people who can clearly picture the value of giving a scholarship to a family or improving the camp amenities. All you have to do is tap into that network with some creative fundraising. We're here to give you some practical fundraising ideas for summer camps so you can provide much-needed scholarships, maintain your facilities, hire new staff, or cover other costs.
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Crowdfunding for summer camp fundraising
In the last 10 years, crowdfunding has become one of the most popular means to raise money from a broad base of supporters. Crowdfunding success mostly comes from the rise of crowdfunding platforms (like GoFundMe or Kickstarter) that make setting up a fundraising campaign easy and accessible to the entire internet.
If you're thinking of setting up a crowdfunded campaign, we've noticed a few things about successful campaigns we'd like to pass along.
One and done: Crowdfunding campaigns are better suited for those one-time goals like building a new barn or fixing the swimming pool. Crowdfunding platforms aren't really set up for repeat giving. We haven't seen supporters interact with crowdfunding campaigns regularly in that way.
The more pictures you share, the better: Supporters are more likely to give when you engage their emotions. They want to see how their donation will positively impact individuals and the greater community. Share as many pictures of your mission as possible and tie the visuals into the description of how your goal will improve kids' lives and help you become a more effective camp.
Don't let your campaign get lost: It's the nature of crowdfunding platforms that every campaign looks the same. What you get with ease of set up, you lose with customization. The best way to work around this is to think ahead of time about how you'll share and promote your campaign so it doesn't get lost amidst other great causes.
Social media fundraising campaigns for summer camps
Speaking of planning to promote, social media should be your first thought when it comes to engaging your supporters and camp families. After all, 83% of internet users have some form of social media account. If you want to get the word out, this is a great (and cheap) place to do it.
Craft a well-rounded approach to your social media fundraising. No one's going to visit a page that only asks for donations. Instead, focus on engaging your audience with the life and experiences at camp, so they're motivated to donate when you remind them about your campaigns.
Start with making sure your page is set up correctly and all the essential info is up to date. Then, plan to diverse posts: photos from camp, updates about coming activities, classes, programs, newsletter previews and links, videos, etc. It's all about making a visitor of your social media page feel like they're at camp too. (Just be sure to ask for parents' permission before posting photos of children!)
Don't forget to share any camp traditions you might have on social media. Alumni love to re-live those fond memories, and potential campers enjoy learning about experiences they could have! Plus, current donors appreciate seeing evidence of their donations at work.
To keep your followers engaged, you could start photo or story contests on your social media accounts. With tagging or hashtags, you can get your supporters to promote your camp to their friends and family for you by posting their favorite photos from their camp experiences.
A great way to sweeten the deal is to offer the winner of the best photo or story a scholarship to the camp, some stellar merch, or another prize that best fits your camp culture.
Where available, you can focus on integrating in-app donation features. Facebook and Instagram both have free donation features available for nonprofits.
Finally, when planning a social media fundraising campaign, you can set yourself up for success by unifying your message on all your accounts. The majority of internet users have more than one social media account, and different algorithms share content differently.
In your fundraising emails and letters, include quick-link buttons to all the social media accounts you use. Also, help supporters find your crowdfunding link or donation page by using shortened URLs on any bios or in description boxes and statuses. And, of course, remind them to follow your social media pages so they can stay up-to-date with the latest camp news!
Fundraising letters for camp support
Despite the explosive growth of social media, many donors still prefer to receive letters and emails asking for donations and thanking them for their support. It's so important to strengthen that emotional connection with your donors. Letters and emails are still the standard for doing that.
The best place to start with that connection is to personalize your letters according to your recipient groups. With a robust database like Salesforce, you can segment out mailing lists. For each, you can focus on a different aspect of camp life that resonates with them.
Alumni: Establish that nostalgic connection by bringing to mind the romantic memories of s'mores, rock wall scaling victories, canoe team-building, or the magical bond they formed with a particular horse. You might even ask them to identify how those camp experiences shaped their development and continue to help them as adults.
Repeat donors: Start by thanking them for their past contributions and focus on how they built your camp and can continue to develop an excellent legacy for the next generation. Consider using alumni stories of how camp impacted them and continues to serve them into adulthood as "proof" that their financial investment is valuable and worthwhile.
Parents of current campers: This will likely be your most practical letter as you focus on how their donation will improve current camp programs or provide sponsorships for children to have the same camp opportunities as their own children.
Partnerships and sponsorships: For local businesses, you can discuss how their support will strengthen the community and their own reputation. Corporate social responsibility is actually growing these days. Take advantage of that sense of generosity and desire to do good by looking for businesses with similar values as your camp. Ask them to offer sponsorships or financial partnerships in ways that directly reflect their core business values (like leadership, service, or caring for the environment).
By segmenting your fundraising letters into these categories, you're able to customize your communication about your camp mission and make a better "ask." From these launching points, you can transition into asking for quantifiable donations. For example, "with your $50 donation to the scholarship fund, kids like Eric can find confidence through music."
Don't forget to give "skimmers" (people who don't actually read your entire fundraising letter) a place for their eyes to land. Studies show that when someone opens a letter, they're likely to skim straight to the bottom to get the purpose. They just want to know why you're writing to them. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. You can use it to your advantage!
Within your letter--either at the bottom or top of the page--include a "Call to Action," which is a one or two line sentence that summarizes why donors should give to your campaign. This is a great place to drive home that emotional connection or share updates like how your donations are now tax-deductible or that a local business offers to match donations. Make this part stand out with bold font, or write it in a different color.
Your supporters are busy people with busy lives, so try to keep your letters short. Most experts agree that the majority of fundraising letters should be one page long. Plan on increasing the number of letters instead of each letter's length--two or three short letters are usually more effective than a long letter that nobody reads. Come up with at least two or three emails or letters to send out as part of each fundraising campaign.
When it comes to the donations themselves, diversify the ways people can make a financial contribution to your summer camp. Two-thirds of donors prefer online giving. In addition to including a check or cash option, you should include ways supporters can give online.
Finally, always make sure to send a follow-up email thanking donors for their gift. (Our Donations app lets you automate this step!)
Letters, social media, crowdfunding... regardless of your "fundraising weapon of choice," when it comes to fundraising campaigns, half the battle is consistency, and the other half is guts. We know that asking for money can feel awkward and hard (just like when you asked your camp crush to go on a date). But practice makes comfortable. The more you stretch that asking muscle, the easier it'll get.
Finally, you can ask for money and still be empathetic. You can ask for money and build relationships. You can ask for money and not be rejected.
If you're looking for a few more resources to boost your summer camp fundraising, here are three to get you started.
- 3 Elements of an Effective Fundraising Appeal Letter: Printed appeal letters are still among the most impactful touchpoints with supporters, regardless of all the technological advances. This blog offers some excellent tips and insights into the key elements you should include in your appeal letters to make them as effective as possible.
- Raise Funds with Social Wall for Your Fundraiser Campaigns: Social media platforms are significantly impacting fundraising campaigns--in a good way. Displaying Social Walls can help nonprofits leverage fundraising campaigns, connect with their audiences more effectively, and even increase donations. Learn all about Social Walls and how your nonprofit can use them!
- Create a Powerful Branding Strategy for Your Nonprofit: Whether you're a summer camp or a billion-dollar business, you need a brand. But don't worry, you don't need to have all the resources of Nike or Mcdonalds to have a powerful brand for your nonprofit. This blog has some tips to help you develop your own brand strategy, regardless of your budget size.
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