The Year-End Letter Your Camp Can't Afford to Skip
Updated: Oct 8
How to raise more at year end in a few focused weeks, without burning out your staff or your donors.
If your camp sends only one appeal a year, make it this one. Roughly a third of charitable dollars arrive in the last few weeks of the year, when donors are already in a giving frame of mind.
The letters that work come down to three things: what you say, who you say it to, and when it arrives.
Open with one camper, not your annual report
The most common mistake I see is a letter that reads like an annual report. Attendance numbers, new roofs, a list of every program. It is all true and it is all good, but nobody gets misty-eyed over a program list.
People remember stories far longer than they remember facts. So open with a person. One camper, one counselor, one family. Put the reader right there in a specific moment: the dock at dusk, the first night in the cabin, the walk back from vespers.
A few things that make a camp story work:
Pick one person. A single camper beats "hundreds of children" every time.
Use real details. The name of the cabin, the song they sang, what the weather was doing.
Let there be a struggle. Homesickness, a hard year at home, a fear of the water. A story with no tension is just a nice memory.
Get permission. Change names when you need to, but tell the truth.
The best stories often come from your summer staff. Ask them in August, while it is fresh, for the one camper they will never forget. You will have a folder of letter openings before Labor Day.
Show what changed, then ask for one thing
Once your reader cares about that camper, help them see what changed. Who was she when she was dropped off, and who was she when she left? Then invite the donor to picture next summer, with another child in that same cabin, because of a gift they make today.
Then ask. Plainly, and only once. Not "give, volunteer, pray, follow us, and tell a friend." One action. If you want a donor to do five things, they will usually do none of them.
A few practical notes on the letter itself:
Write to one person. Use "you" far more than "we." The donor is the hero here, not the camp.
Personalize every letter. Use the donor's name, never "Dear Friend." Mention their last gift, their camper, or their years of support. A letter that could have gone to anyone usually gets treated that way.
Keep paragraphs short. Two or three sentences. Most people skim first and decide later whether to read.
Name a real amount. "$150 provides activities for a cabin group each week" is easier to act on than "any gift helps."
Use a P.S. It is often the first thing people read. Restate the ask and the deadline there.
Let it run long if it needs to. A warm two-page letter often outperforms a cramped one-pager.
Remind them they are loved. Your camp exists to tell every child they are a beloved Child of God. Say that to your donors too.
Then make giving easy: a reply card with suggested amounts, a return envelope, a short web address or QR code, and an easy way to become a monthly donor.
Send a slightly different letter to each group
One letter mailed to everyone is better than no letter. But a few small tweaks for different groups will raise considerably more. You do not need a fancy database to do this. A spreadsheet and an afternoon will get you most of the way.
Current donors (gave this year): Thank them first. Ask them to renew, and give a little more if they can.
Lapsed donors (gave last year, not yet this year): Tell them you miss them. Keep the ask simple and specific.
Longtime lapsed (gave in the past, then stopped): A warm "we still think of you" letter. A smaller ask is fine.
Camp families (sent a camper this summer): Mention their child's summer and invite them to help the next family.
Alumni and former staff (came to camp, never gave): Remind them of their own summer. This is often your biggest untapped group.
Non-donors (volunteers, retreat guests, event attendees, and newsletter readers who have never given): Thank them for what they already do for camp and invite them to make a first gift. Keep the ask small and easy.
Major donors (your top givers): A personal letter, a handwritten note, and ideally a phone call or visit.
Churches (partner congregations): A version the pastor or mission committee can share.
A handwritten line at the top of the letter, even just "Thank you, Martha!", can make a big difference for your top two groups. Get the board to help sign and write notes. It is one of the best jobs you can give them.
Sign every letter by hand whenever you can. A real signature in blue ink tells the reader a person is asking, not a machine. For current and major donors, it is always worth the time. For larger mailings to people who have not given before, an autopen or printed blue signature is better than nothing. Save your handwritten signatures for the people most likely to respond.
One more step before anything goes in the mail: pull every address into a single spreadsheet and use conditional formatting to highlight duplicates. Couples listed separately, alumni who are also camp parents, and donors who show up on more than one list are easy to miss. A few minutes of cleanup means no one gets two letters, and you save a little postage too.
Mail in late October, then follow up through December 31
The letter is the centerpiece, but it works best as part of a short season of asking. Here is the rhythm I recommend to the camps I work with:
Early October. Finish your list and your story. Get the letter to the printer.
Late October. Drop the letter in the mail so it lands in early November, ahead of the flood of holiday appeals.
Mid-November. Send an email that echoes the letter. Same camper, same ask.
Mid-December. A short email or video from a counselor or camper. No hard sell, just a reminder of why camp matters.
December 29, 30 and 31. Three short emails. These last days are when many people finally give, and a friendly nudge works.
Within 48 hours of every gift. A thank-you. A phone call from a board member for first-time and larger gifts is even better.
Write your emails for the skimmer. Put the point and the button near the top, keep lines short, and make sure someone who reads only the subject line and the bold words still knows what you are asking.
Tell everyday donors about the new tax deduction
Starting with 2026 gifts, people who take the standard deduction can deduct cash gifts to charities like your camp, up to $1,000 for a single filer or $2,000 for a married couple filing jointly. For years, most everyday donors got no tax benefit at all for giving. Now they do.
That is good news for your faithful $50 and $100 donors, and it is worth a short line in your letter or on your reply card. Keep it simple and always suggest they check with their tax advisor.
For your larger donors, this is also a good year to make sure you can easily accept gifts from donor-advised funds, stock, and IRA charitable distributions for those 70 and a half or older. Put a line about each on your website's giving page before December.
Get help making this year's letter your best
I have spent more than 33 years in outdoor ministry, and every camp I have served has had hundreds of stories worth telling. Your year-end letter is simply your chance to tell one of them well, to the right people, at the right time.
If you would like a second set of eyes on your letter, or help building your list and calendar this fall, I would love to talk. At Out of the Box Fund Development, I work alongside camp and retreat center leaders to write appeals that sound like you and bring in more than you thought possible.
There are still a few weeks to get this year's letter right. Let's make it your best one yet. Call me at 615-289-8048 to get started.
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