Details of Summer Camp Retention Estimator
How this tool can help your Summer camp, and how it works
These calculations are not for determining how much it takes to start a camp, but to aide planners in evaluating plans to increase retention (campers returning the following summer), such as by advertising, mailings to past customers, better food, etc.
It’s important to note that none of these calculations account for the exponential gain possibilities within each camper. We are working on acquiring the data to figure out how likely it is for a camper to refer another camper, or book an off-season retreat, etc, but do not have it yet. This formula is intentionally conservative to show camps just how important knowing this information is for budgeting and focus purposes!
To explain the methods, retention rate is calculated in the following manner. If, for example, you had 300 camper-weeks one summer and a “retention rate” of 50%, you would have 150 camper-weeks the following year from those past campers. As stated above, additional first-time campers are not counted in these calculations.
You can see the exact calculations in the javascript (the language the calculations are written in) by selecting “Source” under the “View” menu on the main page in your browser. It is basically summing up the profit per camper over the years they could be at the camp.
The profit for a group of campers returning from the current year would be:
(PROFIT/camper) x (# of campers) x (retention rate)
The following year, if the retention rate is the same, the profit for keeping some members of the original group would be
(PROFIT/camper) x (# of campers) x (retention rate)^2
(“^” indicates an exponent) and so forth, where the exponent for contributions in the “n”th year of that original group would be n. To get the total profit from a given retention rate over all the years the campers would be around (or some limit, like over 5 years), these amounts would be summed. Of course, if campers had exceeded the maximum age (typically 17) they would not be counted in the profits.
The cost for each camper is considered to be the average “consumables” for each camper, such as food, art supplies, toiletries, etc., and 1/6 of the average cost of a staff person. Many camps are overstaffed for some weeks and full others. If you are trying to calculate what it would cost to add more campers without having to add more staff, simply change that “staff cost” field to Zero. We are aware that we do not account for all possible camp costs. If you have more accurate data on your camp costs, you can adjust the “consumables” field and it will directly subtract from profits per camper.
This tool can also be used as a what-if tool. Such as, “What would it cost us to increase food $5/week?” Or, “What would be the net gain or loss if we raised the fee by $50/week and it resulted in 20 less camper-weeks?”
The calculations assume that neither charges nor costs per person change over time.
Questions/comments? Contact us!
DISCLAIMER: It is the responsibility of the user of this tool to understand what it does, and does not do; neither Vanderkamp, nor anyone else, guarantees any inferences drawn from the use of this tool.
