By Mark Gold
Director
At the 2011 Grinspoon Institute Annual Conference, over 450 Leaders in the Field of Jewish Camp came together to learn from one another's leadership experiences and multiply the impact of their efforts. It was the largest group of Jewish Camp professionals, lay leaders, and other supporters to participate in our annual conference. In addition to a full schedule of workshops and networking opportunities, we announced the 2nd Annual Grinspoon Award winners and distributed bonus checks to 15 camps who met their Camp Legacy Initiative goals early. Congratulations to all of the deserving nominees!
The annual conference is designed to be an opportunity for all of our participating organizations to come together to share their knowledge. With this objective in mind, it is our hope that the information shared at the conference will be a launching point for future conversations and continued improvements in the areas of fundraising, governance, strategic planning, and technology. To achieve this goal, we have gathered many of the resources shared during the conference and placed them in our Knowledge Center, organized by session.
Among the highlights of this year's conference were the Peer-Led Mini Sessions that covered a range of topics. Our conference attendees requested more opportunities to learn from their peers and these sessions delivered as promised! Many samples and examples from the peer led mini sessions are also available within the Knowledge Center. Camp Judaea continues the sharing with a discussion in this newsletter of how they worked with the Grinspoon Institute to launch a successful capital campaign.
Finally, thanks to everyone for filling out our survey after this year's conference. We received a record-setting number of responses and have already begun incorporating the feedback as we begin planning next year's conference! Congratulations to Noah Allen of Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake and Lori Markell of Cohen Camps for winning the $25 Amazon.com Gift Card and Kindle Touch (respectfully) after filling out the conference survey.
Mark |
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Four "Leaders in the Field" of Jewish Camp were honored with 2nd Annual Grinspoon Awards at the 2011 Grinspoon Institute Annual Conference. Among many deserving nominees, these four honorees stood out for their impact on the ongoing sustainability and vitality of Jewish summer camp. This year's awards were accompanied by $2,500 donations in the honoree's name to their camp, thanks to a generous donation from the Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation.
Congratulations to all of our winners:
Outstanding Philanthropist Award - Alan Franco
Board Leadership Award - Irving Potter
Development Professional Award - Holly Guncheon
Impact in Technology (IT) Award - Camp Morasha |
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15 camps met their Camp Legacy Initiative goals early and were awarded their Legacy Initiative Bonus checks at the conference. Nine of these 15 camps are in their first year of the program. Additional camps still have time to reach their goals through the end of the year.
Since 2008, the Camp Legacy Initiative has resulted in 42 participating camps receiving 2,067 Legacy pledges, totaling an estimated $53.9M. Congratulations to all the camps participating in the Camp Legacy Initiative. |
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Miss the conference? Or just want to find a sample or document mentioned in a workshop you attended? We've uploaded many of the resources used during the conference to our Knowledge Center and organized it by session. A few highlights of resources you'll find in the Knowledge Center include:
Know Your Rights (PDF) - List of resources, tools, and additional information on Prospect Research.
Social Media - Learning from Leaders in the Field (PDF) - Synopsis of Social Media session, including links to resources and innovative examples of Social Media use.
Role of the Executive Committee (PDF) - Short document discussing how an Executive Committee can be implemented effectively.
And for the first time, a portion of the conference was dedicated to "Leaders in the Field" of Jewish Camp sharing their own successes with their peers. You can find dozens of shared resources from these sessions in our Knowledge Center. Click on Sessions C and D to find Peer-Led Mini Session materials.
A few highlights of resources you'll find from these sessions include:
Legacy Testimonial Conversation (PDF) - Document to help guide a conversation to collect personal testimonials from Legacy donors.
Board Manual Outline (PDF) - Scanned TOC of Camp Kinder Ring's Board Manual
Phone-a-thon Streamed Online (IMG) - Screenshot of URJ Eisner Camp Phone-a-thon page including streaming video, twitter feed, and DonateNow button |
By David Weiss
Associate Director, Camp Judaea
In 2006, Camp Judaea began its relationship with the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy. The Grinspoon Institute assisted us in evaluating our needs and developing and creating a strategic plan. Since then, we have endeavored to create and foster a culture of philanthropy within our camp community that would support these goals, which include:
- Upgrading and/or replacing our cabins;
- Enhancing our meeting/programming spaces;
- Improving our support facilities (kitchen, office, health center) so that we can handle a higher capacity;
- Building endowments for scholarships and facility needs.
With a plan and vision in place, Camp Judaea set out to raise funds to reach these goals. We also decided on a goal that would serve to kick-off our Capital Campaign: build an Amphitheater. This outdoor performance space would add new programming space and serve as a great 'opening act' for our Capital Campaign. A very successful brick campaign brought in donations from alumni, families, and Hadassah chapters across the Southeast and around the world. The Amphitheater was dug out and built in the spring of 2010. The ribbon-cutting ceremonies, held on both Opening Days, were presided over by the Mayor of Hendersonville, NC, who used the opportunity to proclaim Camp Judaea Day. The ceremonies were attended by alumni, campers, donors and families, all of whom were awed by Camp Judaea's stunning new addition.
The excitement generated by the Amphitheater as well as the opportunities presented by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation's matching grants have been leveraged to provide Camp Judaea with a strong start to our Capital Campaign. To date, Camp Judaea has renovated the kitchen, transformed the old Chadar Ochel (dining hall) into an Israel Culture Center, bought new bunk beds, and begun work on all-new cabins.
Thanks to the guidance of our mentor, Dan Kirsch, and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Camp Judaea is not resting on these successes; we know that our development efforts will allow us to continue to offer quality Jewish summer experiences to our campers and staff for decades to come. We are revamping our governance structure, enhancing alumni outreach, building a strong Legacy program, and strengthening our programs.
Words cannot describe our gratitude to Harold Grinspoon, his Foundation and Institute, and his staff for all that they have done for Camp Judaea. Thank you. |