December is a key fundraising month for most nonprofits, and YEA Camp is no different. We rely on donations to bolster our scholarship fund so that we can accept many amazing campers whose families don’t have the funds to pay the full price to attend YEA Camp.

This year, we were thrilled to receive a matching gift from our friends at A Well-Fed World, a wonderful nonprofit that funds smaller programs in line with its mission. Whatever funds we raised up to $10,000, AWFW would match!

We posted this great opportunity on Facebook and Instagram and shared it in our enewsletter. A couple weeks before the end of the year, we were getting close to our goal but weren’t there yet. In looking for creative ways to spread the word to more of our supporters, we had the idea to see if some of our campers would be up for helping. I reached out to some of our alumni campers to see if anyone would like to get some fundraising training and reach out to our supporters, and three of our campers jumped right in!

Ashlee, Mia, and Sade actually have never met. They were from three different sessions of YEA Camp and live in three different states across the country. Yet, during their holiday break from school, they each got on a webinar training with me and a fundraising consultant and longtime supporter of YEA Camp to learn how to make these calls. They each shared their “why” about what YEA Camp meant to them and why they want to help it grow.

Mia shared that from attending YEA Camp she “gained a sense of community and now I know that I have people I can talk to when I’m feeling stuck about any personal activist struggles and a better community to reach out to if I’m needing any help.”

Ashlee said that she “got a lot of confidence and got to find myself better, and I’m really thankful for YEA Camp and all the people that I met.”

And Sade shared that YEA Camp helped her see “that I can make a change, and that it can all start with me.”

Awww! This was so inspirational to hear — that not only did these campers get a lot out of attending YEA Camp, but they wanted to volunteer their time to help us grow by paying it forward! And they were happy to be getting valuable free fundraising training from a fundraising pro, which is one of the most marketable skills for anyone who wants to work in the nonprofit field.

I was so impressed that they each followed through and spent some of their vacation time making calls to some of our longtime supporters. At least someone that they each called donated to our fundraising drive! I was thrilled that they all also reported having a great experience doing so!

After Mia got started and made all the calls on her list, I asked her how it went, and she said “Great! I would love to do more!” When I thanked her, she said “Of course! I’m so excited!”

Ashlee said, “This was so much fun and I’m so happy YEA Camp will be given this opportunity to help other people…. YEA Camp is like a second home.”

Sade said, “If there’s more fundraising opportunities, feel free to let me know!”

To top it off, the funds that these campers raised (assuming the folks who donated would not have donated otherwise), put us over the top to reach our fundraising goal and were all doubled, thanks to A Well-Fed World’s matching challenge!

The same day we hit that total, I accepted our first financial aid applicant of the year, an outstanding young woman from The Bronx who is passionate about feminism and human rights, but whose family would not be able to pay the full tuition. It is thanks to our fundraising that I knew that we could afford to accept her and other aspiring advocates to attend YEA Camp next summer. When I told the girls this news, they broke out the all-caps to show their excitement! One said “OMG THAT’S AMAZING. I’M GONNA CRY” and another shared “AWW I’M SO HAPPY FOR HERRR.”

This was such an inspirational win-win all around, and we were thrilled that our campers had such a positive experience while several donors expressed appreciation and that they were impressed by the campers who called them!

Thank you so much to Ashlee, Mia, and Sade, to A Well-Fed World, and to every single person who contributed to this fundraiser. We so appreciate you and what your contributions make possible!

Summer will be here before you know it, so please share with any aspiring advocates you know who might be interested in our youth camps or in YEA Camp for Adults. We could all use a little help changing the world! And, thanks to all of our supporters, we do offer financial aid to those who need it.

The post How Our Campers Helped Pay Forward Their YEA Camp Experience appeared first on YEA Camp.

It’s tough to describe 3 epic life-changing, world-changing weeks in 1 blog post that won’t take you all day to read, so we’ll include our top 10 highlights below. (They are in no order, because that would just be too hard.)

1. Our campers developed super close friendships very fast. And not superficial ones either. From the first night, when campers introduce themselves by sharing a meaningful object and why they wanted to come to camp (like “I feel so passionate about so many causes but I don’t know what to do to help”), campers (and staff!) got to know what really matters to everyone there. By the end of the week, we were sharing our deepest fears and frustrations about the state of the world, as well as our biggest plans to make a difference.

2. Campers recognized the value and beauty of releasing and sharing their emotions — even the sad ones. In YEA Camp’s workshop on bullying, campers recognize that all of us have been bullied and, surprisingly, been bullies too, in one way or another.

From our Bullying workshop: Hurt people hurt people.

In developing compassion for one another and realizing none of us are alone in our struggles, campers got present to their own unique awesomeness! We all need to nurture our own positive self image and not get our self worth from anyone else.

3. Campers learned about institutionalized issues in our society that make bringing about change so hard — you gotta know what you’re dealing with — and then looked at what to do about them.

Chair Power – what do you think it symbolizes?

We examined institutionalized racism (Ferguson, MO, came soon after); how media-crafted gender norms limit our self expression; where “stuff” comes from, why we buy so much of it, and where it goes when we throw it “away” (where is that, by the way?); how different social justice issues are interconnected; how 94% of politicians who outspend their opponents win and why that’s cause for concern; and how chairs can symbolize the power dynamics affecting most social issues.

Leafleting practice!

4. Campers learned really valuable activist skills, like how to leaflet and table effectively, how to start and run a successful school club, how to manage your time well and evaluate if something is a good use of your activist time, and how to communicate effectively about your issue – including when it’s not worth trying to convince someone who completely disagrees with you, and how to handle those conversations when you have them. We studied one of the masters of this, Ellen DeGeneres. What do you see she did well in this interview?

Just some of our amazing returning staff!

5. This year, we had more returning staff than ever  before – meaning we benefited from great continuity and experience from our already extremely accomplished staff – while at the same time having great new fresh faces and ideas. You won’t find a better group of role models for teenagers who want to make our world a better place.

6. Our Changemaker Olympics was more epic than ever before!

Tammy is normally really nice! She’s a great actress.

Representing countries such as MakeaDifferencia, Activista, Changemakerburg, and Ecotopia, campers put their week’s learnings to the test against such challenges as trying to convince their mean science teacher to switch to computer-simulated dissection, their principal to adopt a new approach to addressing bullying, and their cafeteria director to offer vegan options. Our staff are all so nice! But they also got into character being a little bit mean to provide good practice for campers in what can sometimes be real life obstacles trying to advance a cause with decision makers who aren’t supportive.

Each person had their own unique interpretation of our poems!

7. People got out of their comfort zone! From going on a solo hike in the woods to reciting a ridiculous poem in front of everyone, sharing about meaningful experiences, and dancing at the dance party (even if that can feel really awkward!), campers stepped up to challenge themselves. Before reciting the poem, we loved that one camper said, “I’m only doing this for the animals! If I can get myself to do this, who knows what else I can do?!”

8. We had so much fun! We made music and art, we played ridiculous games, we ate amazing food (OMG, the desserts!), we went exploring on beautiful hikes, and on Camper Choice Night we had such epic dance parties!! (Check out “all the single ladies” to the right!)

Apparently a group selfie is called an “usie!”

And we set a record for number of selfies (or “usies”! ever taken at YEA Camp!

9. Our campers have already done so much activism in the short amount of time since camp ended! Campers have gone leafleting, rallied at the State Capitol, met with school administrators to discuss curriculum changes, launched social media campaigns, had their first school club meeting, and so much more!
   

   Three of our campers rallying at the Michigan State Capitol to speak up for wolves.

   Check out these great news articles featuring some of our amazing campers – protesting SeaWorld, advocating for wolves, and speaking up for farmed animals!

10. Our campers described camp as “the best experience of my life” and said “whereas before I didn’t know how to make a difference, now I know there is so much I can do, and not to give up.”

Each month we ask our campers to share with us the ways YEA Camp has helped them in their activism. If it has, we ask them to finish the sentence “If not for YEA Camp…”

Woohoo!!!

Campers’ responses included Samantha who said, “If not for YEA camp, I wouldn’t have had any confidence to do what I am doing,” Liam who said, “If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t be able to achieve my goals as an activist,” and Sage who said “If not for YEA camp I would have given up the first time someone said ‘no’ to my activism plan.”

We love making a difference for our campers so they can make a bigger difference in the world!

Thank you so much to all of you who helped make YEA Camp not only possible but so amazing! (We’ll be having a blog post devoted to you soon, so check back!)

We have big plans for 2015, but for now we’re celebrating a fabulous 2014 and send all of our campers, families, staff, and supporters lots of love and gratitude!

<3,
Team YEA Camp

The post Life-changing, inspiring, restoring our faith in humanity … How to describe an epic YEA Camp summer?! appeared first on YEA Camp.