NPO 022: Anne Taube (CYO Camp Rancho Framasa)

Today's Guest: Anne Taube
Anne is the Assistant Camp Director for CYO Camp Rancho Framasa in Brown County, IN. Anne first attended the camp when she was 7 and was hooked. After being a camper, she was a counselor and, in 2013, when a full-time position opened up, Anne joined the staff.

Nonprofit Spotlight: CYO Camp Rancho Framasa
CYO Camp Rancho Framasa welcomes youth, individuals, families and groups to an inclusive environment to hear God’s voice and seek the Holy Spirit in the beauty of nature. Nestled in the beautiful hills of Brown County, Indiana, Camp Rancho Framasa is owned by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and operated by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). Established in 1946, CYO Camp Rancho Framasa hosts residential summer camp, outdoor education classes, retreats and family camping.

Lessons Learned:
In our conversation, Anne shared three main takeaways for nonprofits:

1. Staffing: CYO Camp only has 7 full-time year-round staff, but relies heavily on seasonal staff. Using this model for their staff, they are able to maximize their impact and engage high energy seasonal staff members during the summer!

2. Financial Model: CYO Camp utilizes a tiered pricing model with the top tier accounting for the full cost of all expenses associated with camp and the lowest tier serving as a subsidized price for families who can't afford the full cost. Camperships are available to families who are really interested in sending their children to camp, but need some financial assistance. This model creates significant income generation and makes it possible for generous donors to fill in the gap.

3. Inclusion and Employment: The community built by CYO is strong and many people return year after year. When campers age out of the camp experience, they can become junior counselors and then counselors once they are 19. This model is effective, but after a while, CYO realized that there was one group of campers who couldn't follow that trajectory. There is a strong emphasis placed on inclusion for camp and campers who need one-on-one support are able to receive that. Once those campers age out of camp though, there were no options for them to continue. CYO then created the ranch hands role (similar to the junior counselor role) and the camp assistant role (similar to the counselor role) for campers who need additional support, but desire to stay involved. The Camp Assistant role is a paid position, so not only does it provide opportunities for continued involvement in the community, it also is an opportunity for employment and job skill training. This program is a really neat way to live out your values within the internal structure of the nonprofit in addition to the external programming models.

Story of Good: 3 people dedicating their lives to camp
Anne shared how three people have really made significant sacrifices to make camp what it is today. Two of those people are the co-directors of camp, who have been living at camp full-time for over 30 years. They have raised their families at camp and their dedication and passion for camp has made such an impact on the long-standing community that has been created. The other individual is the summer program director who has a full-time job in a school district, but each summer, he lives on camp for the whole summer and really focuses on supporting the leadership development of the camp counselors. Anne spoke about what an amazing role model this man is and how the whole camp has been touched by his energy.

 

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