Rich Swartwood

The best time to write your year-end appeal is not in October. It is right now, in the middle of the noise, while your campers are still here or your memory is loaded with the stories that will carry your whole fall. If you wait until the leaves turn, you will be reaching back through a fog, trying to remember the kid who came alive at the ropes course and the counselor who stayed up talking with a homesick camper until midnight. Gather it now, while it is still warm, and September you will...

How do you gather a full year of donor-ready transformation stories in one summer, without hiring a writer, buying software, or spending a single dollar? You ask the people who are already watching it happen. And you thank them with gift cards that local coffee shops and restaurants donated to your camp. Your summer staff are sitting on gold Your counselors and program staff are standing closer to life transformation than anyone else on your property. They see the homesick camper find...

Rich Swartwood Summer 2026 · 8 min read Every summer, something extraordinary happens at Christian camps across the country. Lives are changed. Faith is formed. Kids discover who they are and whose they are. And most of your donors will never see it — unless you show them. That's why media collection isn't just a communications task. It's a fundraising strategy. The right photo at the right moment can turn a one-time gift into a decade-long donor relationship. This guide gives your team a...