Many of John’s clients are single source funded organizations who have never taken on fundraising before. John brings his vast experience in the education fundraising space, to help clients build a successful and sustainable grants program. In this session he’ll share his steps for starting a successful grants program.

John Campbell is the Founder & CEO FundEd Strategies. In 2018, John launched FundEd Strategies to help schools and education nonprofits grow and sustain their fundraising programs. Prior to founding FundEd Strategies, John served as the Director of Advancement for Eagle Academy PCS in Washington, D.C. he secured over $5 million in strategic resources, annually. Today, John helps education nonprofits and public charter schools across the country raise millions to support their missions. John earned a bachelor’s in business administration and an MBA from American University. As a volunteer, John serves as board chair of Fihankra Akoma Ntoaso (FAN), trustee for Capital City Public Charter School, and is co-chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals DC. John grew up going to Massanetta Springs as a camper and a sponsor, and has fond memories of his time there.

As camp and conference professionals, your ministries reach all generations, and they are intergenerational environments. Trying to deliver the same message to campers, emerging leaders, parents, and donors can be frustrating. Come and join Dr. Darrell Hall, the author of Speaking Across Generations, as he shares powerful insights on how to communicate more effectively with people of all ages and stages. This session will confirm, comfort, and equip you to thrive in your life and work.

Darrell is campus pastor of Elizabeth Baptist Church in Conyers, GA. He is the author of the book, "Speaking Across Generations: Messages That Satisfy Boomers, Xers, Millennials, Gen Z, and Beyond." He has a D.Min. from Beeson Divinity School, where his doctoral research focused on generational intelligence and effective intergenerational communication.

This workshop is also offered on Tuesday from 1:30-2:45pm.

Camp Traditions - an activity or element of camp that spans several or many years of camp operation and is likely to be held in the collective memory of most of your staff, alumni and campers. Traditions can strengthen your camp mission … or mask it. This session presents a collection of traditions from camps around the world to compare and consider for your own camp.

John Jorgenson ‘Jorgi’ has been offering leadership nationally and internationally for over 50 years, in the areas of association work, conference keynotes and workshop presentations. His active board and committee involvement includes camp associations in Canada and USA and in the International Camping Fellowship (ICF). He has authored several books on the topics of camp education and social recreation leadership. He lives in Muskoka, Canada with his wife, Barb – an educator in her own right. He is the father of a beautiful and balanced daughter, Lila.

This Workshop in the Workshop will share with you about Ferncliff's Over the Hill Gang of volunteers who do woodworking projects for the camp. We will show you what they do, where they do it, how they do it. We will share with you designs and cut lists for wood projects such as picnic tables, benches, firewood boxes, bunk beds, trash bin holders, carnival booths, etc. And yes, to connect with the theme, we have built bridges.

David Gill was the Executive Director of Ferncliff for 20 years, was a past President of PCCCA and has recently served as Interim Executive Director at Ghost Ranch in NM. Since retirement, when he's not elsewhere, he volunteers with the Over the Hill Gang. David has no particular construction skills but is good with a broom and helps around the edges. Duke Monroe is from Sherwood, AR and served on Ferncliff's Board. The day after he retired he showed up to volunteer at Ferncliff and has been a very active volunteer for a decade. Duke has become the main spark plug of the OTHG and also has the big responsibility of bringing tis he donuts. Duke's son Lynn is President of Ferncliff's Board.

The Anchor Storytelling Model for Engagement was developed more than 15 years ago as a repeatable system for engaging constituents and telling powerful impact stories. It was built upon and remains grounded in the goals of being “donor first” while telling the impact made possible by a donor’s generosity. Developed by Mitzie Schafer, CFRE, she has used the model in multiple organizations with great success, and it is now available to other non-profits and congregations as well. Using the Anchor Storytelling Model, giving to Epworth Children's Home in Columbia, SC grew 85% in the first three years. This equaled an additional $1.2 million for mission and impact every year. Giving to NovusWay grew 68% over a 12-month period of time and provided an additional $800,000+ in annual revenue. It isn’t just that we need to tell the organization’s story. We need to tell it in a way that anchors the donor to the change that happens in the lives of those we serve. We need to create an emotional connection between giving and impact. The Anchor Model does this, clearly and systematically.

Mitzie Schafer is a Deacon in the ELCA, a Partner with GSB Fundraising, and holds her CFRE. She has more than 15 years of experience in non-profit executive leadership and fund-raising for non-profit organizations including Epworth Children’s Home in Columbia, SC, the ELCA Foundation, and NovusWay – the parent company of 4 camp and retreat centers. She specializes in growing passion, engagement, and giving to non-profits. In her first 3 years at Epworth, she implemented a system she designed and titled “Anchor Storytelling.” The annual fund grew from $1.4 million to $2.6 million. At NovusWay, using the same system, she grew giving 68% over 12 months ($1,078,000 to $1,809,000). In her last two years at the ELCA Foundation, she helped congregation members take the necessary steps to create charitable estate plans that will gift more than $24 million to churches, church-related non-profits, and other charities. She currently serves on the Board of the United Methodist Camp & Retreat Ministries Association. Mitzie is an avid quilter, writer, and artist living in Prosperity, SC with her husband, Pastor Jason, and two children, Ella and Micah.

Active shooter incidents are often unpredictable and evolve quickly. In the midst of the chaos, anyone can play an integral role in mitigating the impacts of an active shooter incident. CISA aims to enhance preparedness through a "whole community" approach by providing products, tools, and resources to help you prepare for and respond to an active shooter incident. Building and providing a safe and secure environment for faith-based communities is no different than typical security planning, but with nuances that are respective of an organization’s desire for openness and access, engagement with those they serve, visitors, and the missions that may be impacted by heightened security.

Chad is the Protective Security Advisor (PSA) of the North Texas District within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Region 6. The PSAs serve as a liaison between the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies, state and local governments. Chad joined DHS through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region 6, in 2002 following an internship at the same office.

A leader is a person with a magnet in the heart and a compass in their head. How do we equip our staff with effective program magnets – those simple low organization activities, tricks and games that can draw campers into the group experience? These magnets are mortar that binds together the larger activity blocks of camp. Without them the whole camp structure is weakened.

John Jorgenson ‘Jorgi’ has been offering leadership nationally and internationally for over 50 years, in the areas of association work, conference keynotes and workshop presentations. His active board and committee involvement includes camp associations in Canada and USA and in the International Camping Fellowship (ICF). He has authored several books on the topics of camp education and social recreation leadership. He lives in Muskoka, Canada with his wife, Barb – an educator in her own right. He is the father of a beautiful and balanced daughter, Lila.

Get a quick tour of Ferncliff's facilities and grounds to understand how each area has developed over time and how each area (youth camp, day use/service area and retreat/conference area) are designed to serve their particular audience.  This tour will be by shuttle and cart with some getting out.  We will spend about 20-30 minutes in each area exploring, asking questions and sharing the stories and history of each area's progression.

Have you ever wondered why your leadership style was more effective with some age groups than others? Trying to influence campers, emerging leaders, parents, and donors can be frustrating. Come and join Dr. Darrell Hall, the author of Speaking Across Generations, as he shares powerful insights on how to lead more effectively with people of all ages and stages. This session will challenge, encourage and equip you to lead better.

Darrell is campus pastor of Elizabeth Baptist Church in Conyers, GA. He is the author of the book, "Speaking Across Generations: Messages That Satisfy Boomers, Xers, Millennials, Gen Z, and Beyond." He has a D.Min. from Beeson Divinity School, where his doctoral research focused on generational intelligence and effective intergenerational communication.

Cyberspace is particularly difficult to secure due to a number of factors: the ability of malicious actors to operate from anywhere in the world, the linkages between cyberspace and physical systems, and the difficulty of reducing vulnerabilities and consequences in complex cyber networks. Implementing safe cybersecurity best practices is important for individuals as well as organizations of all sizes. Using strong passwords, updating your software, thinking before you click on suspicious links, and turning on multi-factor authentication are the basics of what we call “cyber hygiene” and will drastically improve your online safety.  This session will look into developing and implementing tailored cybersecurity plans and processes which are key to protecting and maintaining business operations.

Chad is a Cybersecurity Advisor for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Before joining CISA, Chad spent twelve years as an analyst embedded on a cyber squad at the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Little Rock field office working both national security and criminal cyber investigations.

Evan will guide this panel session, where we will hear directly from a national panel of fundraising experts about how they are evolving the systems they use to engage donors. Participants will include Dzenan Berberovic, AFP’s young fundraiser of the year, Andrew Steele who leads fundraising for an organization that grew by more than 40,000 donors last year, Sara Spoonheim Amit who successfully led a capital campaign for RefugeeOne in Chicago during covid that reach nearly five times it's goal, and other leaders from outside of the camping industry.

Evan Moilan, CFRE. is a partner with GSB Fundraising and brings over 26 years of nonprofit executive leadership and board service. In his years of consulting, Evan has worked with organizations large and small across the country on capital campaigns, annual funds, planned giving campaigns, strategic planning, and governance. Prior to consulting his professional background includes serving as Chief Mission Officer for Upbring, a large social service agency with 35 locations, 1,000 Staff and an annual operating budget of $75 Million. Additionally, Evan has served as the CEO of a foundation and as the Executive Director of a multi-site non-profit camp and retreat center. As a volunteer Evan serves currently as the board Chair for the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce, and on the Board of Directors for RefugeeOne in Chicago. He is the immediate past chair of the Board for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

Andrew Steele is a Chief Development and Mobilization Officer with LIRS. He leads a dynamic team responsible for all revenue generation, mobilization efforts and church and faith relations. Prior to joining LIRS, Andrew was the Assistant Vice President for Advancement & Director of Campaigns at his alma mater, Wittenberg University. Before serving in that capacity, Andrew was the Director for Global Mission Funding at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Sara Spoonheim Amit has been engaged in non-profit trenches, executive leadership, and board service for 25+ years, focused on building teams to encourage generosity and work for justice. She has led all aspects of fundraising, from grants to capital campaigns, major donors, volunteer engagement, congregations, board development, events, communications, and media. Sara served as Director of Development at RefugeeOne, a nationally regarded resettlement agency in Chicago with 100+ employees and an annual budget of $7.6 million. During her decade there, she helped build a stronger community of support for refugees, quadrupling annual private support from $750K to $3.1 million; completing a $6.1 million capital campaign during COVID; increasing grants from 7 annually to 20 with the average award growing from $32K to $48K; creating a stewardship program for mid-level and major donors resulting in higher retention and increased support; expanding the volunteer program five-fold; and overseeing media response to international and national events to keep refugees in local headlines.

Environmental programming should be an integral part of every camp’s mission. This workshop introduces you to a wide range of methods for integrating nature into the heart of your camp. It provides a spectrum of nature and eco-games with detailed descriptions (and handouts) for use in any setting.

John Jorgenson ‘Jorgi’ has been offering leadership nationally and internationally for over 50 years, in the areas of association work, conference keynotes and workshop presentations. His active board and committee involvement includes camp associations in Canada and USA and in the International Camping Fellowship (ICF). He has authored several books on the topics of camp education and social recreation leadership. He lives in Muskoka, Canada with his wife, Barb – an educator in her own right. He is the father of a beautiful and balanced daughter, Lila.

Get a tour of Ferncliff's maintenance areas as this tour will cover the utilities and systems that our guests and staff rely on for our basic needs.  On this tour you will have the chance to peek in at the water plant, sniff the waste water, pull some levers in the pool pump room, unplug the wifi network and tower, throw some shade on the solar arrays, and play with power tools in our maintenance shop.  As this tour will cover a lot of ground, we will most likely use carts or vans to reach different areas of camp.