Questions to Assess Your Camp's Use of Technology


Is your camp using technology as effectively as possible? Is technology used strategically to meet camp goals?

The following questions will help structure an initial discussion with the camps regarding the camp's Fundraising and
Alumni Outreach efforts (and potentially other areas of camp). This initial discussion should include the following
participants to ensure all perspectives are considered:

  • Executive Director
  • Camp Director
  • Development Director (or other Development Professional)
  • Any staff members that help with fundraising and alumni outreach
  • Key board members, especially those involved with fundraising and alumni outreach
  • Other interested volunteers
  • JCamp 180 Mentor
  • JCamp 180 Technology Program Manager
It may be helpful to allow all participants to review the questions in preparation for the meeting. These questions will help
all understand the current environment at the camp, goals and expectations, and the process to reach those goals.
Additional drill-down questions will likely be required to further understand the camp's obstacles and opportunities in
Fundraising and Alumni Outreach.

 

Current environment at the camp in Development and Alumni Outreach

  • What are you currently doing in the areas of fundraising and alumni outreach?
  • Do you have a standard acknowledgements process? Please describe.
  • What type of fundraising have you been doing? Capital campaigns, annual campaigns, scholarship funds, bricks, memorials, etc.
  • Do you have a standard process for solicitations? Please describe.
  • How is the alumni community being developed? What interactions are currently done with Alumni? In person? Phone? Email? Mail? Internet? Other?
  • What opportunities are available for Alumni to continue to become a part of the camp community? Events (what kind? how many?)? Opportunities for volunteering? Visiting camps?
  • Who is responsible for these processes in development and alumni outreach? How much time is devoted to these tasks? Is it enough?
  • How is development integrated with rest of the camp? What kind of collaboration exists between the camp and development? How is the current camper experience informing the development process (i.e., collecting camp information to share with alumni)?
  • What systems are used currently to support these processes in development and alumni outreach? How are donors/alumni/donations tracked and reported on?
  • How is your camper/alumni/donor/donations/contact management data maintained currently? Is it up to date? What format? Are there any ongoing processes for keeping this data up to date?
  • What tools are you currently using for camper registration and tracking current camper information?
  • Are you using new technologies and channels to build community with alumni and donors (i.e., social networking sites)? If so, which ones? How effective have the efforts been? Why were they selected?

Using Technology to facilitate Development and Alumni Outreach Activities

How are you currently using Technology to facilitate the following tasks:

  • Targeting donors/alumni?
  • Reporting?
  • Event Invitations/tracking?
  • Finding/tracking new alumni?
  • Community interaction?
  • Camp updates (i.e., newsletters, blogs)?
  • Fundraising (i.e., online giving)?
  • Processing acknowledgements, pledge reminders, etc.?
  • Camper Registration?
  • How integrated are your various databases: Camper Registration, Alumni, Donors/Prospects/Gifts

Technology Infrastructure/Resources

  • Do you have a central file server at both the summer and winter camp offices? Is it backed up regularly? How?
  • Is your summer camp office networked (i.e., multiple computers linked together for file sharing, printing, etc.)? Winter office?
  • Do you have personnel at camp who have the expertise and time to manage a file server and/or computer network?
  • Do you have broadband internet access (T1, Cable, DSL) at the summer and winter camp offices?
  • Are there personnel who do not regularly spend time in the camp office(s) who will need view and edit access to fundraising, alumni, or other databases? Please explain who and why.
  • Who updates your website? How easy is it to update your website?

Current Success in Development and Alumni Outreach (Baseline)

  • How many alumni do you have in your database with up to date information?
  • How much $ did you raise in your latest capital campaign? Annual campaign? Other fundraising efforts?
  • Please describe your latest alumni events, including number of alumni attending. How were they invited?
  • How many alumni are currently involved in the camp? How? Visits? Volunteering? Other?

Future of Development and Alumni Outreach (Goals and Expectations)

  • What are your goals in development and alumni outreach? Please provide specific numbers and timelines (i.e., x more updated alumni records in our database in x months; annual campaign to raise $x to hire a new staff member; capital campaign to raise $x to build a new bunk; etc.).
  • What are your biggest obstacles?
  • Where do you feel the focus should be over the short, mid, and long term in development and alumni outreach in terms of overcoming obstacles and reaching goals? (Each person at the camp should give their perspective on this.)
  • When should key personnel meet again to measure progress towards these goals? What can JCamp 180 do to help you reach these goals?