Property Response to a Program Study

1. Property Responseto aProgram Study Task Group Analysis

2. GSWPA Properties and Adult Members1 dot per adult member

3. GSWPA Properties and Girl Members 1 dot per girl member

5. GSUSA Partners with GSWPA In January 2009, GSUSA provided consultation to GSWPA staff members, volunteers, and board members on how to conduct a property study Three task groups were formed to collect data for analysis to determine program development strategies that would drive decisions on whether to maintain, develop, or sell council camp properties

6. Market Research • Examine membership and jurisdictional demographics • Identify key constituent groups/collaborations • User characteristics and preferences • Needs and interests of constituents • Identify council and community issues • Constituent awareness, use, and opinion of programs & facilities • Family issues that promote or hinder participation in Girl Scouts • Time and money issues • Transportation patterns, time/distance perception • Amenity demands/ expectations/ perceptions

7. Program Research • Identify alternative program delivery sites • Catalog existing program offerings • Analyze program attendance and evaluation • Identify most often requested programs and ways to provide them • Assess if program goals and activities match anticipated outcomes • Identify clear program outcomes and measurement

8. Property Research • Visit all sites, take pictures, etc. • Gather all relevant property information, surveys, master plans, zoning information, building logs, etc. • Assess standards and maintenance operation • Identify cost deferred maintenance • Calculate site capacity and occupancy • Investigate legal/ environmental/ ecological issues • Examine property finances in detail: costs, subsidies, fees • Evaluate current council financial position • Identify site program potential

9. Market Recommendations • Develop recommendations that: • Meet increased competition and shrinking time availability. • Serve organizational values within the current environment • Improve customer affordability and council’s ability to increase revenue • Meet girl needs and interests in existing and emerging population groups • Build upon market opportunities

10. Program Recommendations • Develop recommendations that: • Address new program interests and issues for Girl Scouts and potential Girl Scouts. • Improve existing programs to be timely and relevant. • Support program staff development for the long term. • Build progression, planning, and leadership opportunities.

11. Property Recommendations • Develop recommendations that: • Prioritize capital improvements • Align property developments with program emphasis. • Match the financial capability of the council and the inflow of funds. • Set standards for maintenance and maintenance staffing of council owned or rented sites. • Protect the asset value and enhance program delivery.

12. Integrated Board Task Group Charge: • Analyze, correlate, and synthesize research findings and recommendations • Identify critical issues and create solutions • Create strategies • Challenge strategies • Develop synthesized recommendations and prioritize for submission to the board of directors

13. Time Line of Process

14. Benefits of the Program Study Process • Continue to assess the needs and wants of our current and future membership • Develop and deliver programs that are relevant and attractive to girl members • Programs will support the 15 outcomes of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience • Improve efficiencies by consolidating programs to fewer camp locations • Retain capacity for current and future volume of troop and resident campers • Plan development of retained properties based upon member need and program delivery

15. Market Research GSWPA surveyed: • 1616 Girls • 1342 Adults • 350 Leaders Surveys were conducted at service area meetings and events, programs, camps and online. • The confidence interval is the plus-or-minus figure usually reported in newspaper or television opinion poll results. For example, if you use a confidence interval of 3 and 47% percent of your sample picks an answer you can be "sure" that if you had asked the question of the entire relevant population between 44% (47-3) and 50% (47+3) would have picked that answer. • The confidence level tells you how sure you can be. It is expressed as a percentage and represents how often the true percentage of the population who would pick an answer lies within the confidence interval. The 95% confidence level means you can be 95% certain; the 99% confidence level means you can be 99% certain. Most researchers use the 95% confidence level. • With a 50,000 membership and 3308 response rate: • We would need a response number of 1045 to have 95% confidence that answers were within +/-3%

16. Adult Survey Responses

17. GSWPA Properties and Adult Members1 dot per adult member

18. Girl Survey Responses

19. GSWPA Properties and Girl Members 1 dot per girl member

20. Survey says: Of the girls surveyed: 17% were 4th graders 17% were 5th graders 15% were 6th graders 12% were 3rd graders 8% were 2nd graders 8% were 7th graders 6% were 8th graders • 5% were 1st graders • 3% were 10th graders • 3% were in Kindergarten • 1% were in 11th grade • 1% were in 12th grade • 1% were other • 3% did not report • Girls surveyed responded: • 97% have attended either a council program, camp, or both • 59% of the girls know that they can invite friends to camp or programs but only 41% of them do

21. What type of Camping have the girls participated and enjoyed: • Girl Scout Troop Camp - 89% loved or liked a lot • Sleeping in a Tent - 86% loved or liked a lot • Backyard Camping – 84% loved or liked a lot • Girl Scout Day Camp – 83% loved or liked a lot • In an RV/Camper – 69% loved or liked a lot • Sports Camp – 66% loved or liked a lot • Religious Affiliate Camp – 63% loved or liked a lot • Girl Scout Resident Camp - 59% loved or liked a lot • 45% of the girls surveyed would spend more than 5 nights at a camp • 28% would prefer to spend 2 days • 23% would prefer 3-4 days • Less than 5% preferred not to stay overnight • 93% of girls surveyed would like to go camping with girls their age

22. What Amenities Do Girls Want Type of Living Structure • 35% want a lodge with cots or bunks for more than 12 campers • 27% want cabins with space for 10-12 campers • 27% want tents with cots or mattresses for 4 - 6 campers • 11% want a Yurt that sleeps 10-12 campers Water, Electricity, Gadgets, and Furnishings Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree • 72% (91%) of the girls very much want to have flush toilets and sinks for washing • 63% (89%) of the girls very much want showers for bathing • 56% (85%) of the girls very much want a bed or mattress • 48% (85%) of the girls very much want electricity • 32% (51%) of the girls very much want to bring cell phones • 25% (42%) of the girls very much want to bring IPods • 14% (27%) of the girls very much want to bring hair dryers

23. What do girls want to do at camp • Swimming – most popular response – 17% higher than second most popular • Sports – second most popular response – 20% higher response than third most popular • Horseback riding - second most popular response • Cooking Out - second most popular response • Rock Climbing - second most popular response • Arts & Crafts - second most popular response • Hiking –third most popular response – 67% more popular than other responses • Fishing - third most popular response • Canoeing/Sailing - third most popular response • Ice Skating - third most popular response • Sledding - third most popular response • Archery - third most popular response • Nature Walks - third most popular response Only 50% of the girls surveyed knew that Girl Scout camps offered these activities

24. What additional activities do girls want to see offered Animal Care Cooking Animal Rescue Animal Study

25. How did Adults Respond? 59% of the adults were Troop Leaders 41% of the adults were either in another volunteer position, were a parent or both. 84% of the adults have daughters registered as Girl Scouts • Daisy 19% • Brownie 23% • Junior 22% • Cadettes 18% • Senior 5% • Ambassador 5% • No Response 3% • N/A 1% • Adults 1%

26. Troop Camping 67% had gone Troop Camping The barriers for those who had not gone were finding time for training and girls becoming home sick 96% responded that council camps are close enough to attend troop camping on weekends

27. How far are adults willing to travel? 47% responded 1 hour 33% responded more than 1 hour 18% responded 30 minutes 2% responded 15 minutes

28. What facilities at camp were most important? Bathrooms Toilets Lodges/Cabin with bath and toilet facilities Facilities offering activities Facilities with running water

29. What type of camping has your daughter participated in? Troop Camp 22% Day Camp 21% Backyard Camp 19% Resident Camp 10% RV/Camper 10% Religious Affiliated 7% Family Camp 5% Sports Camp 4% None 1% • 84% of those adults that send their daughters to camp stated that they would continue to do so. The adults most frequently responded that they would continue to send their daughters to Day Camp and Troop Camp.

30. Why might your daughter not attend a Girl Scout Camp? Cost 26% Distance to camp 18% Too busy 15% Friends do not attend 13% She might get homesick 09% She is not familiar with programs 06% Other 12% • She might get home Sick • Scheduling conflict • Too old • Too young • Need sports • Need transportation • Communication errors from troops to families • Facilities not up to girls or families standards • Availability of camp/registration issue • Camper bored or did not like programs( including bad themes, no camp songs time, not challenging, too many crafts, not enough activities, not enough communication and too strict (teens like to sleep in sometimes, bad experiences not enough food choices etc) • Day camp held at non-council camp • Troop camp preferred • Parents can't attend /homesick • Miscellaneous (hates camping, bugs, no kids, new, sold camp

31. What conveniences are needed at camp for your daughter to attend? Strongly Somewhat Agree Agree • Sinks for washing 71% (95%) • Flush toilets 55% (89%) • Showers for bathing 47% (85%) • Electricity for lights 42% (84%) • Bed with mattress 30% (76%) • Bring cell phone 22% (48%) • Bring hair dryer 04% (16%) • Bring IPod 03% (12%)

32. What is the adult’s biggest concern that would prevent them from sending girls to camp? Safety was by far the biggest concern Homesickness Inadequate supervision Facilities not up to standards Staff needs training Parents not able to come

33. What type of council programs would you want to see offered? Badge focused 15% Close to home 14% Mix with other girls 13% Fun and interaction w/o badges 12% Relevant issues of today 12% What outdoor programs were most wanted: • Horseback Riding • Service Projects • Ice Skating • Swimming • Biking • Hiking • Trail Building • Maps & Compass • Diving

34. As a troop leader, do you feel that troop camping helps girls progress to resident camping? Yes 72.5% What are the challenges troop leaders face in troop camping? • Planning activities was by far the largest response • Training and camper safety • Other parents • Scheduling camp • Cooking What resources would make you more interested in taking girls to camp? • Program activities and instruction • Lodges/cleaner and better kept facilities

35. What correlations can be made from adult and girl survey responses? Leaders, Parents, Girls, and other Adults want facilities that have: • Sinks for washing • Flush toilets • Showers for bathing • Electricity for lights • Beds with mattresses They also stated that they prefer: • Lodges/Cabin with bath and toilet facilities • Girls also liked tent camping as long as the flush toilets and showers were available

36. Types of activities preferred: Girls and adults agreed that Troop and Day Camp are preferred. The activities that both adults and girls wanted consisted of: • Horseback Riding • Swimming • Ice Skating • Biking • Hiking • Trail Building • Sports related activities

37. In addition, girls wanted other activities such as: Canoeing/sailing Animal care Animal rescue Archery Cooking out Rock climbing Fishing Sledding Arts & Crafts

38. Adults and Leaders agreed: • The condition of the camp facilities was a determining factor on whether they would attend camp. • Camp safety was also an issue determining camp attendance. • 80% of the adults surveyed would travel 1 hour or more to a camp property.

39. How does price influence program attendance? When the program task group compared the cost of the program and attendance for the past 3 years there was an inverse relationship but not significant enough to conclude that pricing alone impacts attendance. (2006-2009)

41. When analyzing the survey data in regards to what the adults and girls identified as criteria to determine whether they would attend a camp, the following were identified:

42. There were eight (8) GSWPA properties that met all four (4) criteria: Camp Conshatawba Camp Curry Creek Camp Elliot Camp Hawthorne Ridge Camp Redwing Camp Resting Waters Camp Singing Hills Camp Skymeadow Camp Resting Waters is under a sale option agreement that may not occur, so the property continues to be part of the evaluation.

43. Camp Redwing • Horseback Riding

44. Camp Singing Hills • High Elements Challenge Course

45. Camp Hawthorne Ridge • Swimming Pool

46. Camp Elliott • Tent Unit by Showers

47. Camp Elliott • Basketball Court

48. Camp Curry Creek • Pond for water programs

49. Camp Resting Waters • Swimming and water programs

50. Camp Skymeadow • Swimming Pool