“SCOPE-ing” Out New Partners

By Michele Friedman

As a summer-camp professional, you know the difference that camp can make in a child’s life.

You see it every year as you watch campers take on new challenges, make new friends and learn a lifetime of lessons in just a few short weeks. Now imagine summer for a child who isn’t at camp--one whose parents cannot afford to provide them with the opportunity to attend even the most basic summer program.

These children spend their summers inside, some afraid to venture out to the dangerous streets of their communities. They spend their summers alone and unsupervised, their parents working for the money they need just to put food on the table.

Camp for children in need is a refuge--a place where they can feel safe, a place to make their voices heard and a place that gives them hope for a better life.

If you have been looking for a way to help these children, Summer Camps Opportunities Provide an Edge (SCOPE) can offer that opportunity.

History
SCOPE is a nonprofit organization that funds camperships at nonprofit resident camps so children can benefit from a positive, safe and healthy environment led by excellent adult role models.

In 1991, camp directors in the New York region founded SCOPE and sent 26 children to camp.

Since that first year, the organization has experienced tremendous growth in both geographic reach and number of children served.

In 2007, camp directors from the Chicago area launched SCOPE Midwest, the first affiliate. Since that time, over 500 children from the Midwest have had the chance to experience the joys of summer camp.

The agency’s reach expanded further in 2011 as a second affiliate--SCOPE Southeast based in South Florida--committed to providing inner-city children with the benefits of a structured summer spent outdoors.

In the last 20 years, the organization has sent more than 15,000 underprivileged children to summer camp.

The Program
We are looking for ways to serve an even wider population. SCOPE would like to extend an invitation to summer camp professionals all over the country to learn more about the organization.

As an affiliate, you will have the opportunity to raise funds to send children from your region to summer camp--beginning with $25,000 in start-up campership funding from the Timber Lake Foundation in the first year. This is enough to send 50 children from your area to camp.

From then, every single dollar you raise will directly fund camperships at ACA-accredited, nonprofit resident camps in your area--not one penny of the money will go to administrative costs.

SCOPE’s full-time staff will:

• Create and maintain a website
• Provide annual reports, financial accounting and record keeping
• Provide DVDs, fundraising support and other marketing materials
• Process donations and event registrations
• Process camp documentation and allocations.

Michele Friedman is the executive director for SCOPE. For more information, visit www.scope-ny.org.