$2.5 Million Investment from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation to Build Camp Fire’s Capacity

 

S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2017

$2.5 Million Investment from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation to Build Camp Fire’s Capacity, Increase Impact, Serve More Youth

Kansas City, Mo. — The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation invested again in Camp Fire, a national youth development organization, with a generous grant of $2.5 million to help build organizational capacity and reach more kids and teens with its leading, research-based programs.

The $2.5 million will be distributed over a two-and-a-half-year period and will focus on leadership development for the staff and board; the continued expansion of Camp Fire’s online learning system to mobilize highly trained staff and volunteers; increase the local affiliate capacity across the country to deliver more high-quality programs; strengthen Camp Fire’s fundraising arm; and helping raise brand awareness nationally.

Previous investments in Camp Fire from The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, totaling nearly $800,000 over the past two years, supported specific capacity building initiatives for both Camp Fire National Headquarters and the affiliate system. This new investment brings the Foundation’s total commitment to Camp Fire to $3.3 million.

“Camp Fire is honored to announce this investment and partnership with prominent foundations like the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. The Foundation’s leadership continues to heavily invest in a big vision for how we can better teach, equip, and support America’s youth for maximum impact,” said Cathy Tisdale, President and CEO of Camp Fire National Headquarters. “This new investment will strengthen Camp Fire’s organizational capacity; support our innovation and growth; and take us to the next level in our ability to deliver Our Promise as we work with our 54 councils nationwide to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth, their families, and their communities across the country.”

About Camp Fire

Camp Fire has been an innovative leader in youth development since 1910. Its proven programs give kids the life skills they need now so they can reach their full potential. Last year, Camp Fire’s 53 councils served more than 184,000 youth and families across 1,341 program sites, in 25 states and in D.C. All Camp Fire programs are based on cutting-edge research and founded on the pillars of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), delivered through Out-of-School-Time (OST) programs, environmental education and camp, and teen service and leadership development. Because youth shape the world, Camp Fire’s focus is on giving youth and teens the opportunity to find their spark, lift their voice, and discover who they are.

About the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

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For more information, please contact:

Erin Risner, Director of Marketing & Communications, Camp Fire National Headquarters

816.285.2001, erin.risner@campfire.org

The Power of Naming the Spark

“I see a spark as something that inspires you to grow, and something that inspires you to help other people around you grow.”

These are wise words from Spencer, a Camp Fire counselor. We love this story: Spencer saw a spark in his camper Trey. Naming it changed Trey and their whole cabin community.

Some other things we can learn from Spencer and Trey’s story:

  • Sparks can be social and emotional skills like Trey’s: making other people feel like they belong.
  • Sparks are for using and encouraging now. Sure, Trey is thinking about how he’s going to use his spark in a future career, but his present life is bigger, fuller and happier because he’s using it today.
  • Naming someone’s spark is powerful stuff. Trey says a key moment in his life was when Spencer both called out his spark and suggested an immediate way to develop it.

Still not convinced? See what science has to say. Here is a cool infographic with 16 benefits of Sparks!

This is what Camp Fire is all about. If your spark is similar to Trey’s—if you love to include and inspire others—we want to meet you! Volunteer at a Camp Fire near you. And if you know a kid who is still looking for their passion, sign them up to find their spark at a local Camp Fire.

15 Questions to Spark a Sparks Conversation

Thirty-eight percent of kids don’t know what their spark is. They haven’t yet discovered what gets them excited, pushes them to learn and gives them purpose.

We know that sparks are the first step to thriving—to creating a healthy, purposeful life. What can help kids find their spark?

We can. But research shows that adults don’t always know it’s important to be spark-proactive. Only 55 percent of kids say they get support for their sparks from adults.

Adults are critical in kids’ sparks journeys. Not because we can assign passions to sparkless kids. But because we can get kids thinking and talking about sparks. We can earn their trust, start conversations and name the sparks we see come alive.

Adam Kisler, Camp Fire Heartland’s program manager, says it’s important to have sparks conversations in the context of a solid relationship.

 Adam Kisler leading kids in an activity at Camp Maple Woods summer day camp on July 13, 2017.
Adam Kisler leading kids in an activity at Camp Maple Woods summer day camp on July 13, 2017.

“We want kids to know we’re not just one more person in their life who is going to tell them what to do.” Kisler says. “We want them to know people care about them and we’re not going anywhere.”

Building trust takes time, and good conversations take attention. Kisler says adults need to be careful not to talk too much. We can easily drown out a kid’s own passion by talking too much about our own! Remember to get down on their level—literally sit, bend or crouch down—and make good eye contact.

Once you’ve built up a solid foundation of trust, you’ve earned the right to start talking about sparks.

“Sparks questions are only as good as the atmosphere and trust we build around these kids,” Kisler says.

But sometimes we just don’t know what to say to spark the spark, you know?

Kisler likes to get kids started with questions that are really easy for kids to answer. Over time, Kisler and his Camp Fire staff build on those initial conversations by exposing kids to all kinds of possible sparks…and see what clicks.

  • What are your hobbies?
  • What do you like to watch on TV?
  • What’s been the most exciting part of your summer so far?
  • What did you do this weekend?
  • What do you enjoy about that [hobby, show, thing you did]?
  • Why do you think you enjoyed it?


If you have a close relationship with a kid who digs deep conversations, try Thrive Foundation for Youth’s suggestions. These questions start simple and get more complex:

Once sparks have become a common conversation topic, you can ask kids how you can help with their spark development. Try these questions from Dr. Peter L. Benson’s influential TED talk on sparks.

  • What gives you joy when you do it?
  • What interests or subjects are you really passionate about?
  • What difference does what you do make to the world around you?
  • Why is who you are and what you do important to you and the world beyond you?

Don’t forget: We’re in these sparks conversations together! Kids need more than just family members invested in their sparks. In Dr. Benson’s TEDx talk, he reminds us that kids with at least three grown-up Spark Champions just do better than those without adult support.

  • What is your spark?
  • Who knows it?
  • How can I help?
  • Where do you express it?
  • What gets in the way?

That’s where Camp Fire comes in. We train our staff and volunteers to support kids’ passions. And our programs are designed connect kids and teens to their next Spark Champion. Find your Camp Fire, find your spark!

Sparks help kids thrive!

If you’ve been around Camp Fire for half a minute, you’ve heard about sparks. And you know we’re not just talking about fire-building skills. We’re talking about life-building passions that put kids on the path to truly thriving.
Sparks are talents, interests, commitments and qualities that give kids—and adults—energy and purpose.

Simply put, sparks are things you both love do to and want to do.

Sparks play a big role in the positive youth development movement. In the past decade, researchers with the Thrive Foundation for Youth, Search Institute and others have studied how kids discover, nurture and grow their sparks.

Kids at Camp Fire Heart of Oklahoma
Camp Fire Heart of Oklahoma

Let’s get a little technical. Sparks guru Dr. Peter L. Benson and Peter C. Scales write in the Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2011) that sparks can:
So what do American kids say their sparks are? The Search Institute has catalogued 200+ sparks reported by thousands of American teens. The most common categories of sparks are the arts (54 percent of kids name a creative spark), learning, reading, athletics and volunteering.

  • Be an inner passion, interest or talent that is central to a person’s identity.
  • Originate from inside a person, rather than being imposed from the outside.
  • Be a source of intrinsic motivation, meaning and self-directed action that can help drive young people forth in other areas.

But the full list is long, varied and always expanding. From telling jokes to creating business plans to peacemaking to studying sacred books…anything can be a spark. If it gives a kid big-time joy and drives them forward in life, it’s a spark.

Although 100 percent of teenagers want to have a life-changing spark (or two!), only 62 percent have identified that purposeful passion.

Camp Fire exists to help kids find their sparks—and help adults become Spark Champions for the kids we serve. It’s the very first step in our Thrive{ology} framework, developed with our fellow spark-advocates, the Thrive Foundation for Youth.

Do you know a kid who needs to find a spark? A kid whose spark needs a little fuel to grow? A kid who needs a few more Spark Champions in her life? Camp Fire has programs to help kids discover and develop their sparks all year long. Find one by you! #FindYourSpark