Camps for Kids

What it reported doing in 2024

Summer camp is more than just a place for fun and games - it's a life-changing experience where kids forge deep friendships, explore new talents, and gain confidence in themselves and their community. For children facing poverty or dealing with physical, developmental, or medical challenges, camp can be especially meaningful, offering a rare space where they feel understood and supported. Unfortunately, these are often the children who struggle the most to access such opportunities. That's where Camps for Kids steps in, breaking down barriers so every child can experience the magic of summer camp. Camps For Kids partners with area camps which focus on children with medical challenges (cancer, spina bifida, congenital heart defects, end-stage renal disease, and others), on the autism spectrum, with physical and developmental disabilities, foster care children, and those who come from low-income families. Many of these camps are offered at little to no cost to campers, and those which aren't use Camps For Kids' funding to provide scholarships for underprivileged children. The goal of the Camps For Kids' program is to help camps have the funds to assure that children will not be denied the summer camp experience because of low income or medical, physical or developmental disabilities. A central part of the Camps For Kids program is the offer of matching funds. This provides a unique opportunity for camps to effectively double their fundraising efforts, leveraging both their donor's gifts and staff/volunteer time. The objective is to raise matching funds to add to camp-dedicated donations Camps For Kids assists its camp partners to raise between April 1 and July 31 each year. The offer of matching funds has the added benefit of providing an incentive for donors, which our network camps report is vital to their individual fundraising efforts. The appeal of having their donations effectively doubled encourages many donors to donate. In 2024, Camps For Kids matched qualifying donations to the camps 100%. But Camps For Kids is more than a fundraising organization. It actively promotes its partner camps through social media and community outreach, processes donations on their behalf, and fosters collaboration among camps. By creating a network where camps can share resources, tackle challenges, and exchange solutions, Camps for Kids strengthens the entire camp community. Since its founding in 1981, multiple generations of children from low-income families and/or those who have medical, physical, or developmental disabilities have reaped the benefits of summer camp at little to no cost to their families with the support of Camps For Kids. In 2024 alone, nearly 2000 underprivileged children and/or those with disabilities and medical challenges alone, attended a summer camp in the Camps For Kids network. No child was denied admission to a camp in our network because of inability to pay. We hear again and again from the campers and their families about the impact these camps have. Perhaps a former camper turned adult volunteer at Camp Quality, a specialty camp for children with cancer and rare-blood disorders, explains it best: "For one week every year at Camp Quality, I feel completely normal. Everyone around me is my family and I can be anyone I want and feel accepted. . . I wouldn't be who I am today {without camp}. These people have changed my life." Camp changes lives. Camps For Kids helps make that life-changing experience available to more Kansas City-area children.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 88.9%; rating input score 89
• Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
• Fundraising efficiency: $58.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 98.9%; rating input score 99; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -3.3%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 14.8%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings