Cherokee Retreat Center

Overhauls camp management and sees double-digit growth with online registration

Background

Located in White, Georgia, Cherokee Retreat Center is a Presbyterian retreat center and family camp. Located on 100 acres of beautiful, forested land with more than two miles of Lake Allatoona shoreline, the camp aims to host about 350 campers each summer, with a different age group each week, welcoming kids from first through twelfth grades. With a long legacy of providing campers with a strong Christian foundation, the camp had to find a new way of running the business side to address a tough economy and changing customer expectations.

Challenge

Between the years of 2001 and 2005, attendance and registrations for the Cherokee Retreat Center camps were on a downhill slide and the committee looked to make needed changes. The first—to bring in Kelly Howington to serve as the Director of Cherokee Retreat Center. The second was to change how business was done.

“We changed everything, including our registration process, and we’ve been increasing our attendance by double-digits ever since,” explains Howington.

For years, registrations were conducted strictly using paper forms sent out via postal mail. There was no option for credit cards or payment plans and, upon his arrival to Cherokee Retreat Center, Howington was solely responsible for inputting all registrations manually into the database.

“It was redundant every year. I was missing data left and right because I just couldn’t handle it all on my own. I would start the data entry in March and it would take me all day every day for several months to ensure all registrations made it into the database correctly. This resulted in slower communication to parents, as I had to write parents one-by-one confirming that their child was accepted into camp and their information and payment had been received.”

Solution

Howington narrowed down his list of software priorities to include online registration and secure credit card processing. “The only way to make an online registration system manageable for our camp was to use a hosted system with pricing per registrant.”

After reviewing several software options, Howington selected Active Network’s system. The hosted camp management solution would alleviate any upfront implementation investment and fees, while having the capability to securely process credit cards and payments online.

Best Practices

Howington notes that the online registration system has made the Cherokee Retreat Center more accessible to campers and their families. “Online registration is helpful to have to build in discounts, such as bring-a-friend incentives. The solution is also a great communication and registration tool. We never had resources for marketing before and with Active Network’s built-in email functionality, discount capabilities, and online accessibility, we’re able to market our programs for the first time.”

To promote the availability of the online registration service, Cherokee Retreat Center included a link on its Website, and included information about the online service in its brochure and via an email blast to all participants in its database.

“One Presbyterian camp we spoke to mentioned that it offered a discount to participants if they registered online, but that’s not something Cherokee Retreat Center needed to do. Our families were very receptive and appreciative of the service and nearly half of our campers registered online in the first year it was available.”

Results

“Our operations now compared to our operations before Active Network are night and day,” notes Howington. “The camp management system has changed our registration process entirely. Today, we have just a handful of paper registrations. We used to have to mail out hundreds of confirmation packets and, last year, we did not have to mail out a single one.”

In addition to a significant paper reduction, the Camp has been able to alleviate a heavy workload from Howington so he can focus on planning camps and promoting programs, rather than manually entering in data for months at a time. Cherokee Retreat Center has also brought on Active Network’s eCamp solution, a photo and email service that enables organizations to capture campers’ experiences and share them with families. As for the future, Howington has no intent of ever reverting back to paper registration forms.

“We’ve seen double-digit growth over the last couple of years since implementing the online registration system. Our parents are pleased by the convenience and we’re able to focus on what’s most important: our campers and their families.”

Cherokee retreat center’s advice for organizations considering online registration:

1. Consider it. Most parents already do their shopping online. An online registration system opens the doors to a lot of new approaches to get people signed up and in your camps, in addition to improving the effectiveness and consistency of your communication with families.
2. Capitalize on the extras. An online registration system can offer a lot of value. There are great tools available, including mail merge and email notices, to help you do more than just process online transactions.