Storytelling is a tradition as old as the Jewish people and it is at the heart of the camp experience. Through the lens of our dual storytelling traditions, GIJP Conference 2010 will focus on the continued growth and success of the Jewish overnight camping movement. The future we envision lives in the stories we tell. The Conference aims to enliven our stories, hone the talents of the people who tell them, improve the tools we use to deliver them, and meet the needs of the many, varied audiences who are listening to them. Join us to discover the transformative power of storytelling for your camp.
All workshop titles, presenters, and descriptions are below. In addition, you can download and print a PDF of all workshops in table-style format.
Workshop A: Sunday at 2:30 – 3:45 Telling Our Stories Workshops
A1: One Page Stories: Appeal Letters with Appeal
Dan Kirsch, Mentor (More Information)
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway won a bar bet by writing a story in just six words. Imagine the great camp stories you can tell in a one-page appeal letter. In a single page – not using six point font or quarter inch margins – can you tell a story that will move your readers to act? This session will explore how to craft appeals that contain the “must have,” and “nice to have” features and still produce a tug on the heartstrings that inspires readers to open their purse strings.
A2: Sharing Our Jewish Stories: Oral Tradition Passed Down to the Next Generation
Gail Littman, Director of Endowments, Jewish Community Foundation (More Information)
The Camp Legacy Program has been encouraging families to share their personal stories of connections to Jewish Camp and thus their personal motivation for making a meaningful Legacy gift to camp. We find that sharing these stories models the way for others to do the same. This workshop will give you the tools for documenting powerful and motivating stories. We’ll share examples of touching stories, and different ways to share these stories with the community. The workshop will include role-plays and hands-on skill-building sessions to teach you the interviewing skills needed to extract these meaningful and truly personal Jewish Camp stories.
A3: The Case Statement is Your Story
Herb Tobin, Mentor (More Information)
The cornerstone of any capital fundraising campaign is the Case Statement. The best Case Statements tell your camp’s story though words and pictures to deeply inspire donors. This workshop will provide an overview of what constitutes a highly effective case statement, and teaches you how to create a powerful and compelling story for your camp. For this workshop, please bring your old case statements to share, your current case statements to make it better, or start drafting your next case statement for greater fundraising success.
A4: Telling the Story of Our Future
Royster Hedgepeth, Mentor (More Information)
Camps that want a vibrant, healthy future will invest the time and energy to create the story of their future. That’s the essence of strategic thinking/planning – making organizational decisions about where/what you want the camp to be in the future. I like the term “strategic positioning” because it focuses on leadership and stakeholder aspirations for the future – you could also call it the “vision thing.”
Telling the Story of Our Future will provide participants with an interactive opportunity to explore the power of the story of their future and how they create it. It will also focus on the practical components of the story of the future – strategic intent, action plans and budgets, as well as presentation of your story.
A5: The PJ Library®: The Stories Campers Love
Marcie Greenfield-Simons, Director, The PJ Library (More Information)
Learn about the up and coming generation of campers through the Jewish stories and music they love today. The PJ Library® supports families in their Jewish journey by sending Jewish-content books and music on a monthly basis to children from age six months up to age eight years old. The PJ Library is available in 125+ communities across the North America and Israel, thanks to hundreds of local community donors in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. In addition, The PJ Library is promoting Jewish camp with storybooks about camp, and offering the “PJ Goes to Camp” campership program to first time campers. Learn more about the outreach to and impact on your next generation of campers.
A6: Stories that are “MADE to STICK”
Jill Paul, Mentor (More Information)
Based on the book “Made to Stick”, this session will explore how to develop and deliver stories that communicate ideas that are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible and emotional. In other words, we will develop stories that are SUCCESSFUL.
A7: Stories told for generations – Keeping Camp’s History Alive
Julia Riseman, Mentor (More Information)
Find, tell, share, and archive your Camp’s best stories and your alumni will thank you generously. This workshop will share specific approaching and ideas from camps, schools and universities that are using online and on-campus methods for saving and sharing Camp history. Come away inspired with new ideas and specific, actionable next steps to increase Alumni engagement and connection.
A8: Leadership and Resources: Creating a Fundraising Breakthrough for your Camp
Laurie Herrick, Mentor (More Information)
How do your leadership and volunteers talk about fundraising? Are the stories people share exciting and motivating? What is the current feeling about asking for money? What would it look like if you led an organizational cultural change that led to a funding breakthrough? Specific goal setting and planning will take place in this workshop.
A9: What’s your story? Can you tell it? Can you sell it?
Natasha Dresner, Mentor (More Information)
It is your responsibility to help promote camp – in your role as a Board member, volunteer, or Camp staff – and you can do so more powerfully with meaningful and articulate stories. This hands-on workshop will improve your skills on how to develop and tell a compelling and competitive story to your donors, supporters, and prospects. Updated and offered again from the Grinspoon 2009 conference.
A10: eNewsletter 201: Using Story to Optimize your eNewsletters
Kevin Martone, Technology Program Manager (More Information)
Are you sending eNewsletters, but aren’t sure you are really “reaching” your constituents? Do you want to learn how to craft great eNewsletters? This session will help you combine the use of inexpensive, easy-to-use eNewsletter tools with great stories to emotionally engage your constituents.
Workshop B: Sunday at 4:15 – 5:30 Camp Team Meeting
B1: Dig right into the conference by sharing stories of struggles and successes from the past year. This interactive session brings together camp teams working under the same Grinspoon Mentor to learn from each other how to overcome challenges in Leadership Development, Strategic Planning, Fundraising, Board & Governance, Technology, and Alumni Outreach. Enrich your learning and networks through listening and learning from each other’s stories. (An optional alternative session will be offered to conference attendees who are not affiliated with a camp or Grinspoon Mentor)
Workshop C: Monday at 9:00 – 10:30 Guest Speakers
C1: 5 Rules For Rebooting a New Generation
Lou Cove, Reboot Executive Director (More Information)
How do you make the High Holidays relevant using a Times Square JumboTron? What got Katie Couric talking about shabbos on the CBS Evening News? Why did 5,000 people turn out to dance the hora/mambo at Lincoln Center? Lou Cove, the Executive Director of Reboot, explains how outside-the-box thinking has led a group of young, unaffiliated, disconnected Jews to produce some of the most important new Jewish books, records, films, and large-scale events of the 21st century — and he will share insight into how you can reimagine, reinvent and reboot your own program for a new generation.
C2: Higher Education Fundraising: Fundraising Tips Camps can Learn from the World of Higher Education
Clay Ballantine, Chief Advancement Officer, Hampshire College (More Information)
Camps can learn a lot from college and university development professionals about how to cultivate a community of dedicated, passionate donors. In this interactive session, Hampshire College Chief Advancement Officer, Clay Ballantine, who, with his team increased annual giving by 7.2% and donor participation by 22% in 2009-2010, will share expertise and examples for fundraising in a difficult economy. Updated from the Grinspoon 2009 conference, this session is being offered again.
C3: Big Ideas Conversation
Amy Sales, Ph.D., Director, Fisher-Bernstein Institute for Jewish Philanthropy and Leadership, Brandeis University (More Information)
The master narrative of Jewish summer camp is of a field that, in a few short years, emerged and grew in astonishing ways. Rarely discussed, however is the downside of advances in the field. Stronger governance has benefited the camps, but also cost hours of executive time given to board care. New technology has improved communications, but also increased demands from parents for minute-by-minute reporting of the camp day. This session tackles the challenges of the great advances in the field: improved governance, outside funding initiatives, new technology, more involved parents, changes in national structures, and the like. We will use the research to understand the dynamics of change. And we will use the wisdom and experience in the room to deconstruct the up- and down-sides of these changes and to arrive at best responses from a leadership perspective. This will be a time for honest, data-based conversation; and a time for constructive response to the rapidly-changing world of Jewish summer camp.
C4: The Four L’s: Listening, Laughing & Learning from Life Stories
Rob Peck and John Porcino (More Information)
In this experiential “playshop” motivational speaker/humorist Rob Peck and storyteller/musician John Porcino help participants learn three simple steps to sharing poignant, personal stories. From lighthearted icebreakers to candid group brainstorming, participants explore strategies for eliciting and recounting real life anecdotes and tales that engage the best of our listener’s hearts and minds.
Rob and John model and teach a lively list of fun ways to recall, shape and polish true stories that will entertain and enrich your campers, staff, and camp supporters. Along the way there will be much play, laughter, and genuine warmth as we look to bring out the creative voice in each of us. You will leave with a grab-bag of potential tales, one finished story, and a clear template for inspiring and growing the number of camp supporters and fans through the power of storytelling.
C5: Camp Legacy Program, Round Four: Opportunity for Your Camp
Gail Littman, Director of Endowments, Jewish Community Foundation; David Sharken, Mentor & Director, Camp Legacy Program (More Information)
Recognizing that legacy gifts will provide a significant source of future funding for camps, the Grinspoon Institute launched the Camp Legacy Program to ensure that camp leadership teams have the knowledge, confidence and skills to secure planned gifts. To date, 31 participating camps – of all sizes – have secured hundreds of legacy pledges from their most loyal donors. Learn how your camp can ready itself to be part of this initiative for 2011-2013.
Workshop D: Monday at 11:00 – 12:30 Workshops
D1: GIFT Camp Team Session
Jill Paul, Mentor; Laurie Herrick, Mentor; and Michael Miloff, Mentor (More Information)
Advancing the field of Jewish Camp fundraising through professional development of camp fundraisers, The Grinspoon Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT), is the newest initiative of the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy. Participants from camps that are currently enrolled in the GIFT program will participate in this workshop together. During this session, Camp fundraising professionals will present “Breakthrough Projects” and make a case for board, staff and community support and involvement. Board Chairs and Camp Directors will be invited to provide input and feedback and hear about the exciting fundraising wisdom generated from camps in the GIFT program from across the nation. Through interactive sharing of best practices you will acquire ideas and insights for your camp to go to a next level in fundraising.
D2: Who’s Next? Be Prepared for New Leadership through Succession Planning
David Sharken, Mentor (More Information)
Successful organizations plan for turnover in the Board’s leadership and the Executive Director long before a resignation occurs. Leadership succession planning provides for a smooth and thoughtful transference of knowledge and maintains strong relationships with staff, lay leaders, alumni, camper families and donors. This workshop will provide you with examples of best practices in transition planning, discuss the difficulties of imagining life without a beloved Camp Director or Board President, and offer some tools for defining future organizational leadership, organizing transitions and searches, and designing effective orientation for new leadership. Learn from the insights and examples of camps that have recently undergone (or are in the midst of) leadership changes.
D3: Outcomes and Methods: Getting the results we want from Bunk to Board
Adam Weisberg, Executive Director, Camp Tawonga (More Information)
Camp Tawonga in California trains all staff to use the “OM” method, which stands for “Outcomes/ Methods,” for all program design and delivery. “OM” starts with defining the desired outcomes for an activity, process or initiative, and then clarifies the specific methods that will accomplish these results. The impact of OM has been to align all program delivery to the mission and purpose of camp at all levels. For example, some Tawonga Board Committees are now using “OM” to focus and set goals for committee work in the coming year. Participants in this workshop will be trained in the OM method and will leave with the skills and tools to implement it in your own work or camp community from bunk to Board.
D4: Board Committees That Work
Royster Hedgepeth, Mentor (More Information)
The days of the “Letterhead Board” are a thing of the past. Perhaps the single most overlooked component for the modern, performance-based board is the development of strong, accountable committees. Board committees that work should:
- Be organically focused on the executive level tasks that contribute to organizational success
- Exercise a high degree of strategic action and performance accountability
- Provide a proving ground for future board leadership
- Promote opportunities for non-board members to participate in a way that allows the Committee on Governance to evaluate potential new board members.
Board Committees That Work will provide both a framework and a practical beginning for camp boards that want to increase their productivity and maximize Board Committees’ contribution to the camp’s success.
D5: Alumni Events that Rock: Recipes for Success
Dan Kirsch, Mentor (More Information)
Colleagues from three camps will share their perspective and recent experience managing successful alumni events. We will discuss key ingredients for events at camp and off-site including: goal setting and planning, program content and budgeting, the staff-volunteer balance, the importance of technology, and effective follow up. Bring your questions and add your camp’s experience to the collective wisdom on what’s worked well or hasn’t. Come away with practical ideas for enhancing the alumni experience to benefit your camp.
D6: Jewish Camp Year-Round and Life-Long: Camp Panel Discussion
Julia Riseman, Mentor (More Information)
Learn from camps that are implementing innovative new programming to extend the reach of Jewish camp beyond the summer and connect year-round and life-long with current campers, camp families, and Alumni. We will discuss implications for camper impact, programming, staffing, budget, and Jewish education.
D7: Creating a Digital Outreach Plan – Social Media, eNewsletters, and Your Website
Kevin Martone, Technology Program Manager (More Information)
Are you struggling to use Digital Outreach tools like Social Media tools, eNewsletters, and even your website effectively? Not sure how you can use these tools most efficiently? In this session, you will craft a digital outreach plan to help you effectively find/engage your constituents and rebuild community.
D8: Repeat of The Four L’s: The Four L’s: Listening, Laughing & Learning from Life Stories
Rob Peck and John Porcino (More Information)
In this experiential “playshop” motivational speaker/humorist Rob Peck and storyteller/musician John Porcino help participants learn three simple steps to sharing poignant, personal stories. (See Session C4 for full description.)
D9: What Can Your Form 990 Do For You?!
Natasha Dresner, Mentor (More Information)
Looking for an effective and efficient fundraising, recruitment, PR and marketing tool for your organization? Don’t overlook the power of the IRS Form 990 to promote your organization and its strengths, attract funders and campers, steward your donors, and accomplish many other goals. Learn more about the new Form 990 and how you can take advantage of it above and beyond just legal compliance. This session is for both volunteer and professional leaders.
D10: Programming and Facilities use Year-Round: Learning from the Appalachian Mountain Club
Pam Hass, Director of Education (More Information)
The Appalachian Mountain Club is the nation’s oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization. The AMC promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region. They provide outdoor education, team-building programming, lodging and meals, conference facilities, and free use of outdoor gear, and engage active volunteers for year-round program delivery.
