Our Impact

High quality programs are Tims Camps programs. Since we began assessing quality in our summer program, we have seen steady increases. Over time we have shifted the number of assessments completed each summer to focus on delivering high quality experiences while maintaining a rich understanding of how we’re doing. In summer 2024, external assessors visited two locations and conducted program observations for a truly objective assessment. In 2025 our goal is to host visitors at two additional locations to continue to validate the quality of our programs.

In previous years, we measured the 5Cs through camper surveys before and after the camp experience. Here’s what we found:

Campers told us that how we were asking these questions made it difficult for them to reflect on how camp impacted their growth – so we made some changes. Now, after campers attended camp, we ask them to reflect on their time at camp and indicate how much they grew in each of the 5Cs, on a scale of 1-5 (1 = not at all, 5 = a ton!). If they responded 2 or above, they are reporting growth in that area while at camp.

The growth campers reported is incredible! Based on the scores for competence, confidence, and character (responsibility), we’re focused on how we can increase scores in this area through different programs, activities, and staff training. These and other tactics will help us achieve our goal for 98% of campers to report growth in all 5Cs.

To get a full understanding of how campers are doing, we also asked them about their general wellbeing (scale 1-7) at all three time points. Here’s what the data said:

To understand the impact of our summer program, campers responded to questions related to the Big 3 before and after their camp experience. Here’s what we found:

With multiple years of data, we are consistently seeing stability or increases in camper impact data for self, community, and future. Depending on what the data say, we choose an area to focus on each year. During summer 2023, we focused on “self” and saw great increases; in 2024 the focus was on “future”. Again, we saw an increase. In 2025, the focus will be on supporting youth in understanding how to be a positive “community” member.

Three main takeaways can be drawn from the results:

1. Our youth don’t have the opportunity to learn these skills elsewhere.

• Outcomes such as willingness to try new things, affinity for nature, appreciation for diversity, and perseverance are particularly salient for Tims Camps alumni.
• Participants reported that Tims Camps were the setting where they most developed these skills for all but one outcome—responsibility—which was most developed at home.

2. Greater years of camp = greater impact.

• The results suggest that the more years that alumni attended Tims Camps as a youth, the more they reported camp being important to their learning of skills that are important to them today.

3. Tims Camps opens doors/creates opportunities for education and employment.

• For each year of camp attendance, alumni were 1.25 times more likely to attend college or university.

A peer reviewed academic publication about this alumni study was accepted in the Journal of Youth Development. The study is available for free download in English here.

*Note: Responses were received from a total of 628 former campers. For the purposes of statistical analysis of long-term impact, responses from alumni 18 years or older were included (449). These participants would have completed the program at least a year previously.

Our new Classrooms Program is getting some rave reviews! The vast majority of people love it – 96% of students said they enjoyed it and 92% of teachers felt their students enjoyed it. After the program, students were asked to rate their experiences of the four program quality environments on a 1-4 scale (1 = never, 4 = always). The quality has improved since we first delivered the program. Our goal for 2025 is to focus on creating an even more supportive environment for participants.

Participants are learning and growing too. In after program survey responses from April-June 2024, students had positive things to share. Here are some comments from youth about staff and what they learned: “The leaders were very inclusive and respectful to everyone who participated”, “being able to form better connections with my friends and myself”, “learning to step outside of your comfort zone”, “trying new things and spending time with friends”.

We also explored what outcomes youth learned. Similar to our other programs, after their participation, we asked youth to respond to a survey and report on their learnings for a variety of outcomes on a 1-5 scale (1 = not at all, 5 = a ton!). Here is a comparison of multiple rounds of our program:

Overall, it’s clear we’re impacting youth positively through the Tims Classrooms Program.

In the coming months, our goal is to learn more about program quality and impact from teachers, parents, and caregivers’ perspectives. Our hope is to complete interviews and focus groups with these groups to more holistically understand and improve this new program.

During the non-summer months, we complete assessments to understand and improve quality. We’ve learned that many practices from the summer can be replicated throughout the year and we will use this information to continue to prioritize quality for all participants.

Outcome measurement for our year-round program that occurs during the non-summer months is important, but somewhat challenging. Although we still want to measure the 5Cs of youth development, we only have one opportunity to ask youth about their experience with us through after camp surveys. Approximately one week after their time at camp, we connect with schools to ask youth to complete their surveys. We asked them to reflect on their time at camp and indicate how much they grew in each of the 5Cs, on a scale of 1-5 (1 = not at all, 5 = a ton!). If they responded 2 or above, they are reporting growth in that area while at camp. Here’s what we found from campers who attended our year-round program:

Participants during the 2023-2024 school year, on average, experienced less growth in outcomes than during the previous school year. Throughout the next year, we will continue to monitor students’ growth to see if this is a trend. As we continue to focus on delivering intentional programs, we’re aiming for at least 95% of participants to indicate experiencing growth in each area.

Impact measurement for our year-round programming that occurs during the non-summer months is focused on the Big 3 elements and how young people felt they grew in these areas during their participation.

On a post-visit survey for youth who attended camp as part of a school visit, we asked youth to indicate how much they grew in each of the Big 3 elements, on a scale of 1-5 (1 = not at all, 5 = a ton!). If they responded 2 or above, they are reporting growth in that area while at camp. Here’s what we found from campers who attended our year-round program:

Participants are reporting slightly less impact from our year-round program during the 2023-2024 school year than the previous year. We will continue to monitor students’ growth to see if this is a trend. Our goal is for at least 90% of students to report growth in these areas after program participation.