Moving Forward
Ask anyone who knows me well if I have an interest in catching a glimpse of President Biden and the First Lady when they visit Rehoboth Beach, they will all respond the same way: he’s obsessed.
As a resident of the Nation’s Summer Capital, I feel an amazing sense of pride knowing the leader of the free world has a home not far from where we live. In fact, the motorcade goes by our house every time the president travels to and from his house by car to attend church or drive to Dover Air Force Base when the weather prevents arrival by helicopter. I am sure the Secret Service have me on a watch list because I am always standing in front of the house holding my rainbow Biden for President sign like a teenager at a Taylor Swift concert.
When the president recently visited Rehoboth in early June to celebrate his wife’s 71st birthday, he made one of those trips by motorcade to the convention center to hold a press conference on the June jobs report. It got me thinking about how busy each day must be, how he needs to stay on top of so many different issues, and find time to be with his family and friends.
I get it, President Biden knew what he was getting into when he ran for office. But still, it is a daunting responsibility to have so many people relying on you to make their lives better, especially when there are so many factors outside of his control. Why are some successful and others not? In my experience, it comes down to a few basic things.
Whether you are the president of the United States or the president of a board, success is measured by the ability to: Set a clear vision for the future, develop an operational plan aligned with the mission, hire staff with the expertise to achieve goals, communicate often about progress, and track progress to create accountability.
Lately my energy has been dedicated to ensuring CAMP Rehoboth is still able to raise the funds necessary to sustain operations due in part to our Development Manager role being vacant since late January. In fact, some of you have asked how this vacancy and the transition in leadership is impacting fundraising.
The good news is despite these bumps in the road, CAMP Rehoboth is meeting and, in some cases, exceeding our fundraising goals for 2022. Here is a quick summary of the sources of revenue at CAMP Rehoboth: 25 percent comes from events (Women’s FEST, SUNFESTIVAL, Block Party), 25 percent from grants for programs, 20 percent from annual memberships, 13 percent from Letters’ ad revenue, and the remainder from CAMP Chorus, rental income, and art shows.
One example is the CAMP Rehoboth Theatre Company, which is presenting two one-act comedies set out in the CAMP Rehoboth Courtyard, with show dates of June 23, 24, and 25 at 8:00 p.m. You can buy tickets at CAMP or via our website.
This would not be possible without the continued financial support from our donors and funds raised from events like the highly successful Women’s FEST. I thought I would save the best for last: we have filled the Development Manager role!▼
TRANSITION
The board remains laser-focused on strengthening day-to-day operations at CAMP Rehoboth, which includes filling the vacant Development Manager position. This was the top priority for our Acting Manager, Lisa Evans, when she assumed the role on April 18. While the job description had been posted for about a month, we had not received enough responses from candidates with the skills necessary to manage CAMP Rehoboth’s wide ranging development needs.
Thanks to Lisa’s excellent leadership and extensive human resources experience running nonprofits, a search team was immediately formed that included her, Operations Administrator Matty Brown, and Board Development Committee chair Pat Catanzariti. Working together, they reviewed the job description to ensure it included the skills necessary for CAMP Rehoboth to achieve its annual fundraising goals.
Soon after the job was posted, the team interviewed the qualified candidates, and I am thrilled to report that the top candidate was offered and has accepted the job of Development Manager starting July 5. Laurie Thompson is a seasoned nonprofit fundraising professional with more than 22 years of experience in development, donor relations, special events, marketing, and donor communications. Most recently Laurie served as Assistant Director for Stewardship and Donor Relations at Elizabethtown College. She recently retired and is in the process of moving to Millville, Delaware.
Finally, the Executive Committee completed interviewing four highly-qualified interim executive director candidates on June 4 and hopes to announce the selection within the next two weeks. Then, our attention will turn to the strategic planning process.
Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks and months. Feel free to reach out to me at wes@camprehoboth.com if you have questions. ▼
Wesley Combs is CAMP Rehoboth Board President.