Jewish Camping in the Philadelphia Area
Jewish camps have been demonstrated to exert lasting, long-term influences upon adult Jewish identities. In fact, a mounting research literature testifies to the educational effectiveness of Jewish summer camps. The purpose of this report is to understand how participation in Jewish camping can be further expanded in the greater Philadelphia area. The study draws on a survey of and interviews with Philadelphia area Jewish parents in order to provide actionable information to better understand the parents and campers who constitute their market. The report addresses the following questions, among others: Which sorts of Jewish families patronize Jewish camps? What are the incentives and the obstacles to Jewish camping? How important is cost as a barrier? How can camps persuade those who have never experienced Jewish camping to consider sending their children?
2012 One Happy Camper Retention and Scholarship Study
This study presents findings from the One Happy Camper (OHC) Retention Study, fielded among 2009 and 2010 OHC recipient families to understand their behavior in terms of returning to camp and scholarship needs.
Download: 2012 June 5 – OHC Retention Scholarship Report – FINAL
CAMP WORKS: The Long-Term Impact of Jewish Overnight Camp
FJC’s CAMP WORKS provides systematic and quantitative evidence that summers at Jewish camp create adults who are committed to the Jewish community and engaged in Jewish practice. Utilizing the most recent National Jewish Population Survey and 25 local community studies completed between 2000 – 2008, this report offers the fullest picture to date of the impact of Jewish summer camp. The influence of summer camp on the ways in which adult Jews choose to engage with the community and the degree to which they associate with other Jews can be felt long after the last sunset of the summer. The impact is striking, especially when compared to their peers who did not spend their summer months at Jewish camp.
Download: Camp Works Poster
Download: Camp Works Full Findings
A Study of Russian Jews and Their Attitudes Towards Overnight Jewish Summer Camp
One in every six Jews in North America is from a Russian-speaking family. But Jewish communal institutions–including schools, synagogues, and camps–have met with little success in engaging this population in cultural and social activities. We wonder: Why aren’t Russian Jews participating in Jewish institutional life in numbers proportionate to the size of their population? With the goal of attracting a substantially higher number of children from Russian-speaking families to overnight camp, the Foundation for Jewish Camp, with the support of the Genesis Philanthropy Group, commissioned a study of Russian-speaking parents to begin to learn about their attitudes toward camp. This research also has the added benefit of being the first national survey of Russian-speaking Jewish parents that explores the decisions they are making with respect to Jewish education and recreation for their children, as well as the potential there may be to tip the scales in favor of Jewish choices in the future.
Download: NEW Foundation_for_Jewish_Camp_Russian_Engagement_Study
Generation of Change: How Leaders in their Twenties and Thirties are Reshaping American Jewish Life
This study examines the identities and attitudes of today’s young cohort of leaders, and explains the effect of their childhood involvement in Jewish activities on their adult leadership behavior. A whopping 71 percent of young leaders surveyed attended Jewish summer camp, as the study explains: ‘The rates of participation by these leaders in Jewish summer camps, youth movements, Hillel, and other forms of Jewish education are extraordinarily high, suggesting that many of the young leaders were groomed rather than having bloomed on their own.’ Clearly, the potential of raising leaders at Jewish camp is enormous, and we look forward to helping camps harness this potential.
Download: NEW Generation_of_Change