Headfirst Summer Camps

“Best Summer Camp Program in DC” uses online camp software to save time and improve services to campers

Background

Founded in 1996, Headfirst Camps award-winning day camps for children ages 4-18 include a wide variety of summer camps for every interest from cooking, science, movie making and magic to swimming, sports, arts and crafts and games. Plus, in 2010 Headfirst was selected to run and manage the administration for the official Red Sox Baseball camps. Headfirst offers premier facilities, experienced staff and a dedication to making a difference in the lives of young campers in Washington DC, Bethesda and McLean.

Headfirst was voted “Best Summer Camp Program in Washington, DC” by Sports Illustrated for Kids, named a “National Award-Winning Organization” by the Positive Coaching Alliance and awarded the “Youth Organization of the Year” by the Washington, DC Home Plate Club.

In 2009, Headfirst selected Active Network, Camps, to provide online registration and camp technology services.

Keys to success from Rob Elwood, Headfirst founder and executive director

What does a typical camp season look like for you?

Even though we offer winter and spring camps, summer (June-August) is obviously our busy season. We process approximately 7,000 camp registrations between June and August, with ten different programs running at any one time. We hire on about 200 part-time, seasonal counselors for the summer.

You’re growing rapidly. What is Headfirst doing for the Boston Red Sox?

Headfirst was chosen to be the exclusive youth summer camp provider for the Boston Red Sox. We’ll be running Red Sox Camps in the Boston area for kids ages 5-14. This will be a major league experience for campers. They will receive professional instruction from our counselors, take a trip to Fenway Park, meet a Red Sox player, get a Red Sox uniform and be visited at camp by Wally the Green Monster. It’s a great program that we’re proud to be part of.

Sounds like you’re pretty busy. Why did you decide to begin using a camp software solution?

We were previously using a custom-made database that was just not functioning the way we needed it to. With thousands of campers to get signed up, we didn’t want our counselors to have to worry about paperwork. We wanted something that would automatically process registrations and make it easy for us manage the administrative workload.

Why did you choose Active Network?

It was a web-based system and we thought the usability was great, both of which were top priorities for us. Plus, Active offers excellent customer service and we liked the fact that they had a progressive vision.

What are your favorite features of the system?

• We use online camp registration for all of our programs and about 99% of our parents use this to sign up their kids. Registration integrates with our website, making it convenient and easy on campers and staff. I can’t imagine using anything else—it’s easy and really cuts down on our paperwork.
• We can collect online donations, which has been great. Electronically we are able to collect more money because it’s easy for parents to add a donation to their “cart” as they check out for registration.
• We also sell merchandise online, so again, parents can just add a t-shirt or hat to their carts at checkout.
• Parents and campers can log in to the system whenever they want to update personal information or make changes. The online camper accounts really save the staff time.
• Our seasonal employees apply for the counselor positions through an online staff management module, which helps us manage our hiring process.
• The email communication center is probably the favorite feature of our staff. We use it to send occasional newsletters and updates to our campers. Plus, when campers register, they receive an automatic confirmation email. We use it constantly.

Do you use the reporting features?

We do, we use all of them. Particularly the enrollment report, event capacity report, wait list report, and custom questions report (experience level, birth date, buddy requests). It’s great to have real-time information, all in one place.

What has your experience been like with Active’s customer support?

It has been excellent. There’s never a question that they haven’t been able to answer quickly.

What is the primary benefit you’ve experienced from using Active’s software?

The main benefit has been the time we’ve saved. We used to have a full-time employee just to do data entry. Now we’ve cut down the position to part-time. By putting everything online, we’ve automated a lot of processes and really cut down on the admin side of things.