How to start a summer camp: from idea to the first day

1. Choose the kind of camp

The kind of camp you run decides most of what follows: the rules that apply, the space you need, the staff you hire and what you can charge. For a first summer, keep it small: one site, one age range and a few weeks. You can add more once you know what families want.

• Day camp: children go home every evening. It's the most common way to start, because you don't need lodging or overnight staff.
• Specialty camp: built around one activity, such as a sport, art, theater, STEM or a language. It can be a day or overnight camp, and it needs staff who are good at that activity.
• Overnight camp: children stay one or more nights, often a week or longer. You need a site with lodging, staff on duty around the clock, a plan for health care at all hours and more planning for meals, travel and emergencies.
• Then decide the details: ages or grades, half or full days, how many weeks and whether you'll offer extended care before and after camp.

2. Decide whether you'll be a nonprofit

A camp can run as a nonprofit or as a business. The choice changes how you raise money, pay taxes and make decisions, so talk with an accountant or lawyer before you file anything.

• Run it under an existing nonprofit. A church, community center or youth organization that already has nonprofit status can run the camp as one of its programs. This is often the fastest way to start.
• Use a fiscal sponsor. Some nonprofits sponsor new projects, so you can accept grants and tax-deductible donations before you have your own status. Ask what fee they charge.
• Form your own nonprofit. You incorporate in your state, then apply to the IRS for tax-exempt status. It takes time and paperwork, so start well before you need grants or donations.
• Run it as a business. An LLC or corporation is simpler to control and can make a profit, but donors generally can't deduct gifts to it, and many grants are open only to nonprofits.

3. Check licensing and get insured

Each state sets its own camp rules, and your county or city may add more. Depending on the state, a day camp might need a camp license, a childcare license or no license at all, and health department rules for food, pools and buildings can apply either way. Rules can also cover staff ratios, background checks and health care. Start with our state-by-state library, then confirm with your state's licensing office before you sign a lease or set prices.

Talk early to an insurance broker who works with camps or youth programs. Your site will likely ask for a certificate of insurance before you can use the space. Coverage to ask about:

• General liability
• Accident or medical insurance for campers
• Abuse and molestation coverage (ask whether your policy includes it)
• Property coverage for your equipment
• Auto coverage if staff drive campers or use their own cars for camp errands
• Workers' compensation for staff (check your state's rules)
• Directors and officers coverage if you have a nonprofit board

4. Find a location

Schools, churches, community centers, parks and colleges often have space in summer. Visit during the hours camp would run, and picture a whole day there: drop-off, activities, lunch, a rainy afternoon and pickup. Check for:

• Enough bathrooms, close to where children will be
• Shade and indoor space for heat and bad weather
• A safe drop-off and pickup lane, and parking for staff
• A kitchen, or the site's rules on food, if you'll serve meals or snacks
• Access for children and adults with disabilities
• Who else uses the site during camp hours, and how you'll keep groups apart
• Water, busy roads or other hazards nearby
• A written agreement that covers dates, hours, rooms, cleaning, keys, insurance and what happens if the owner needs the space back

5. Build a budget and set your prices

Add up every cost before you pick a price. Staff pay is usually the biggest one. Then use the camp price calculator to find the price per child that covers your costs after grants, scholarship spots and card fees, and compare it with what similar camps near you charge.

Example: a week of camp costs $9,000 to run for 40 children. A $1,000 grant covers part of it, and 4 children attend on full scholarships. The other 36 children need to pay about $222 each to break even, before card fees. Break-even is the floor, so add a cushion for empty spots and surprises.

• Fixed costs: rent, insurance, licensing and permit fees, equipment, staff training, software and marketing
• Staff costs: wages, payroll taxes, workers' compensation and background checks
• Per-child costs: supplies, snacks, T-shirts, field trips and admission fees
• Pricing choices: an early-bird rate, sibling and multi-week discounts, scholarships and extended care as an add-on (try the sibling discount calculator)

6. Plan your staff and ratios

Your state may set a minimum number of staff for each group of children, often stricter for younger children and for swimming. Treat that minimum as a floor. You also need people for breaks, sick days, emergencies and children who need extra help. Work out your numbers with the staff ratio calculator, and see how to hire camp counselors for recruiting and screening.

Example: with a ratio of 1 staff member for every 10 children, 45 campers need 5 staff with them at all times, plus someone free to cover breaks.

• A camp director who is on site every day
• Counselors, each responsible for a group
• Specialists for activities such as swimming, art or sports
• Lifeguards with current certification for any swim time
• Staff with current first aid and CPR training, on site whenever children are
• Junior counselors or volunteers, if you use them (check whether your state counts them toward ratios)

7. Get your forms ready

Decide what you need from every family before registration opens, and collect it before the first day, not at drop-off. Our registration form checklist lists what to ask, and our free templates give you forms to print or edit.

• Registration form with parent details and emergency contacts
• Medical and allergy form, including any medications staff will give
• Authorized pickup form
• Participation agreement or waiver, reviewed by a lawyer
• Photo and media release
• Permission for field trips, swimming and transportation
• Your refund and cancellation policy, and a parent handbook with the daily details

8. Set up registration and payments

Families expect to sign up and pay online, from their phone. Before you open registration, decide each of these, then register a test family yourself, on a phone, before you announce the date.

• When registration opens and closes, and whether returning families get early access
• How many spots each week or session has, and how you'll run a waitlist
• Whether to take a deposit and let families pay the rest in installments that end before camp starts (try the payment plan calculator)
• Who pays card processing fees: your camp or families (see credit card fees: absorb or pass on?)
• Your refund policy: when refunds are possible, whether the deposit is refundable and how long a refund takes
• How families who need help can apply for a scholarship, privately (see raising scholarship money)

9. Tell families about your camp

Families often hear about camps from other parents, so give people something easy to share. Many families plan summer months ahead, so start telling them in winter or early spring.

• A program page with dates, ages, hours, price, location, what a day looks like and how to register
• Flyers at schools, libraries, churches, community centers and pediatricians' offices (ask about each one's rules first)
• Posts in local parent groups and community calendars
• An open house or a free sample day in the spring
• An early-bird deadline that gives families a reason to sign up now
• A referral discount for families who bring a friend
• Information in Spanish, or another language your families speak

10. Write your safety plans

Write down what staff will do before something goes wrong, train everyone on it and practice it before campers arrive. Check your state's rules and your insurer's requirements for what the plans must cover. Our emergency action plan template is a place to start.

• Emergencies: fire, severe weather, a lockdown, a missing child and a medical emergency, plus how you'll reunite children with their families
• Health: who keeps and gives medications, how each dose is logged and where allergy lists and first aid kits are kept
• Heat: water breaks, shade and when to move activities inside
• Swimming and field trips: lifeguards, a buddy system and headcounts every time the group moves
• Pickup: release children only to adults on the authorized pickup list, and check ID for anyone staff don't know
• Child protection: staff are never alone with one child out of sight of others, and everyone knows how to report suspected abuse or neglect as your state requires
• Incidents: a written report for every injury or behavior incident, and a call to the family the same day

11. Plan the first week

The first day sets the tone for families and staff. Plan it like an event.

• Hold staff training in the days before camp opens, using a staff training checklist.
• A few days before camp, email families: drop-off and pickup times and places, what to bring, what to leave at home and how to reach you on the day.
• Check that every camper's forms are complete, and follow up on anything missing before day one.
• Do a dry run of drop-off and pickup with staff, including what happens when an adult isn't on the pickup list.
• Give every counselor name tags, a group list, allergy information and emergency contacts for their group.
• Meet with staff at the end of each day to fix what didn't work, such as a slow pickup line.
• Contact the family of any child who had a hard first day, before they contact you.
• At the end of the summer, ask families what to keep and what to change.

How BackPR helps

BackPR runs camp registration, payments, forms and check-in in one place. Families pick weeks from a grid, register every child in one checkout and complete waivers and health forms as part of sign-up. Families can register in English or Spanish, pay a deposit and pay the rest on a payment plan. Counselors check campers in and out from their phones against each family's authorized pickup list. BackPR is free for registered nonprofits: no subscription and no BackPR fees. Card payments run on Stripe at Stripe's standard rates. Other camps get pricing by quote.