Peer Spotlights

Peer Spotlights at the 2022 JCamp 180 Conference

At the 2022 JCamp 180 conference, five attendees shared short stories highlighting how they and their camps had effectively strengthened their donor relationship development practices. The stories illuminated a wide range of effective practices from leading with purpose to inspire greater giving to prioritizing unrestricted endowment growth to establishing strategic partnerships that excite and motivate existing, new, and lapsed donors. The ultimate goal was for all attendees to think about how these stories might inform their own practices at camp.

You can find each of their stories below.

Jacob Fijman, Development Director, URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp

Kelley Korbin, Fundraising Chair, Habonim Dror Camp Miriam

Michael Soberman, Camp Committee Co-Chair, Camp Kadimah

Sam Caplan, Chief Development Officer, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin

Addie Goodman, President & CEO, JCC of Chicago (Apachi Day Camps)













Jacob Fijman, Development Director, URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp
 
Question: What are the key ingredients that lead to success in your major donor relationship development work and what is the plan for the upcoming year?
 
We lead with purpose and authenticity and connect it to what donors care about most.
 
We leverage personal and camper stories to share our vision with our donors who are motivated by Jacob’s unique positioning as a hub of Jewish Life that ensures a flourishing Judaism in the Deep South.
 
We are slow, steady, and intentional in relationship development
 

• Donors are valued and respected partners in our long-term vision and impact, and not ATM machines
• We are not in Big Bet campaign mode 24/7.  We optimize special milestones that call for impact asks and investments
  • Sequence in recent past
    • 50th reunion
    • Sustainability campaign
    • Leading towards $10M capital campaign

 
We approach campaign growth in a measured and strategic way.
 
In the upcoming year, while we steward loyalist major donors towards capital investment, we are making a concerted effort on retention of new and existing donors with a keen eye on sourcing for higher capacity prospects to feed our major donor pipeline.
 
What does this mean for YOUR camp?

• Start with your camp’s long-term vision
• Invite your donors and prospects to be a part of that vision and play a vital role in enabling the vision to become a reality
• Build long-term relationships with donors
  • Share impact through personal camper/staff stories
  • Stewardship
  • Optimize special milestones for solicitations; report impact and steward in between

Kelley Korbin, Fundraising Chair, Habonim Dror Camp Miriam
 









Question: In our prep conversation, I was struck by the way in which your fundraising practice has been evolving beginning with a powerful shift in your mindset. Please share your Eureka Moment which leads you and Gili Avrahami (Director of Development, Habonim Dror Camp Miriam), both relatively new to and “not entirely comfortable with fundraising,” to approach your major donor relationship work with greater confidence and gusto. Don’t forget to share the key motivators that led to the recent $1M philanthropic investment.
 
Reframe (GLI (GIFT Leadership Institute = Gamechanger)

• We pursue excellence and inspiration in relationships and Culture of Philanthropy first; donations will follow

 
Authenticity in Staff/Lay/Donor Partnership 

• We learned to show humility with donors – sharing what we don’t know and inviting donors to help us learn and plan together.
• Donors are our thought partners; connectors; people with passion, expertise, good instincts, and clout
• We now see donors as co-creators in this work – they are not just an ATM

 
Genuine Curiosity About Donor as Human Being with Shared Values, Love of Camp, and Hopes for Vitality of Jewish Community

• Genuine curiosity drives us to get to know our donors and achieve new depth of relationship and clues that guide our strategy
  • Why do you give and what is important to you? Where does that intersect with camp’s needs?
  • How can we make your experience better?

 
Key Motivators That Led to $1M Investment

• Authentic Partnership 
• Consistency
• Aligned Values
• Donor Belief in the Effectiveness of our Work and Mission
• Clincher: You and your team have energy - “I want to invest in this”
  • Energy in relationship building – curiosity and authenticity
  • Youth leaders make thank you calls
  • Board members build on relationships and have important roles

 
What does this mean for YOUR camp?

• Be open, authentic, and curious with donors – they can be part of the solution, not just a source of funds
• Focus first on building relationships and culture of philanthropy
• Learn donors’ interests; find where they intersect with camp needs

Michael Soberman, Camp Committee Co-Chair, Camp Kadimah












Question: What are the most important steps you, Sarah Atkins (Director, Camp Kadimah), and your team are taking to move from an episodic approach to fundraising which had at best yielded inconsistent results from the same families year-over-year to a strategic major gift approach that is tracking towards $3M?
 
Crystal Clear Call to Action

• Pre-pandemic we knew we needed to secure the future of our camp and that our existing fundraising strategy was not going to be sufficient
• Covid was a whirlwind
  • Though camp closed for two years, we did not desist in our reinvigorated strategy
  • We launched a campaign and set an audacious goal of $3 Million
• In conjunction with milestone 80th Anniversary

 
Leadership Join Forces and Establish High Philanthropic Bar

• To change culture and inspire growth among under-giving Board members and other stakeholders, key leaders gave pacesetter gifts
• Camp Director and Board Chair artfully pushed for significant investments
• Builds momentum

 
Family Philanthropy Leveraged

• Intergenerational camp family approached - led to impact gifts from pooled resources

 
Reengaged Founding and Early Years Constituents 

• Constituents live in two locales - now united in purpose
• Those that migrated to Toronto were reengaged

What does this mean for YOUR camp?

• Don’t be afraid to pursue major gifts – camp makes an incredible impact that donors want to support
• Start with leadership gifts, board gifts to start momentum
• Look for opportunities for intergenerational families to make leadership gifts