Friends Camp Committee

Purpose

The Friends Camp Committee has stewardship of Friends Camp, supporting and facilitating the Camp mission of providing a unique outdoor camp for spiritual, emotional and creative growth. The Committee helps assure the Camp is a caring and accepting community that embraces the faith and practices of Friends as one of many ways of helping youth discern a true and healthy path into adulthood with group worship, recreational activities, artistic pursuits and work projects. The Yearly Meeting delegates duties and responsibilities for oversight of the camp operation to the Committee.

Procedures

Meetings of the Friends Camp committee shall be held three or four times each year, at a reasonable time and place designated by the clerk. As needed, the clerk may designate additional meetings.

The Friends Camp Committee meeting held between the end of Sessions and November 15th shall be designated the Annual Meeting. During the Annual Meeting the Executive Council, committee chairs, and committee memberships are defined and will be in place until the next Annual Meeting.

A quorum for the Friends Camp Committee shall be 50 percent of the current active members. A quorum for any of the committee sub-committee meetings will be at least two participants. Members participating remotely will count as part of a quorum.

The Friends Camp Committee has a clerk, a recording clerk, a supervisor of the Camp Director, clerk of Buildings and Grounds, and a treasurer, with the Camp Director serving ex-officio. These positions make up the Executive Council. Any committee member may hold two or more of the committee positions, except the clerk, who may not also be the Treasurer. The Executive Council can conduct business on the phone, on the internet, or face-to-face, if a majority of the members are able to participate in the meeting. As needed and between Friends Camp Committee meetings, the Executive Council may set important and time-sensitive policies in the areas of personnel, safety, and finance. The responsibilities and tasks of these positions are set forth in Appendix 2 of the Friends Camp Governance Document.

The Friends Camp Committee has five standing sub-committees. They are: Finance and Development, Personnel, Building and Grounds, Health and Safety, and Program and Evaluation. The responsibilities and tasks of the sub-committees are set forth in Appendix 3 of the Governance Document.

All Camp Committee members are expected to join at least one of the standing sub-committees and to attend virtually all the Friends Camp Committee meetings. In addition, non-committee member volunteers may be asked to join one of the five standing sub-committees. Members of these sub-committees who are not on the Friends Camp Committee will have the option to serve without terms or limits on the length of service.

The Friends Camp Committee and clerk may set up additional sub-committees and appoint additional non-committee members to sub-committees, as it is deemed necessary, to help fulfill the mission and objectives of Friends Camp.

The Committee ensures the duties and responsibilities outlined in the committee position descriptions and the committee descriptions are carried out effectively to promote the mission and objectives of Friends Camp.

The Committee conducts its business in the manner and practice of Friends. As guidelines for their process and their discernment of policy, they use the Faith and Practice of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends and the governance publications of the Friends Council on Education.

The Committee provides supervision and evaluation of the Camp Director. They define the scope of authority of the Director and the limitations of what the Director can and cannot do.

The Camp Committee has the responsibility and authority to define the vision, values and the short- and long-term objectives of Friends Camp. The Director defines and implements the tasks and actions needed to accomplish the objectives that have been outlined by the Committee.

The Committee receives reports on the financial health of the Camp from the Camp Treasurer at each of its meetings, approximately quarterly.

The Friends Camp Committee adopts, and from time-to-time reviews and amends, fiscal policies and procedures that govern internal controls and other significant aspects of a sound fiscal operation to assure that Friends Camp will have sound financial controls that substantially conform to generally accepted accounting principles.

The Committee assures that regular professional financial reviews are conducted every third year or as needed, in concert with the Yearly Meeting Operating Division.

The committee receives a proposed budget prepared by the Director and Treasurer in late August or early September, including both operating and capital components. The Director then meets about this budget with the Yearly Meeting secretary and Yearly Meeting treasurer. Following this consultation, and with the Yearly Meeting secretary’s and Yearly Meeting treasurer’s endorsement, the Camp Director submits the proposed operating and capital budgets for approval by the Friends Camp Committee at its September meeting. Finally, the Committee forwards this budget to the Yearly Meeting Permanent Board for approval at its September meeting.

Given the compressed time frame for budget development, if agreement is not reached, the Camp Committee and Permanent Board will endeavor to approve a provisional budget. This would allow concerns to be addressed and the Camp to operate for the first two months of the fiscal year. Final approval would then occur at the Permanent Board and Friends Camp Committee meetings in November.

The Camp Committee submits an annual written report to the Yearly Meeting.

Composition

• Committee members are nominated by the Friends Camp Nominating Committee and approved by Yearly Meeting for terms of up to 3 years.
• The Friends Camp committee has at least 7 and not more than 15 members appointed for 3-year terms, with eligibility to be reappointed for two additional terms, or up to 9 years total.
• The Camp Director and Yearly Meeting secretary serve as ex-officio members.
• At least two-thirds of the members of the Committee will be members or active attenders of a monthly meeting in New England Yearly Meeting.
• The terms are organized into classes of up to five members so that one-third of the committee is appointed or reappointed each year.
• Friends Camp Committee Members who are given a midyear appointment will be assigned by the recording clerk to one of the three classes and will serve their first Friends Camp Committee term for one, two, or three years, based on openings in one of the three classes.
• The clerk, recording clerk and supervisor of the Director are selected from membership of the Camp Committee and are approved by the Yearly Meeting.
• Volunteers who are not committee members may be selected to serve on Camp sub-committees as needed to fulfill the mission and objectives of Friends Camp.
• The Friends Camp Committee maintains active relationship with the NEYM Youth Ministries Committee through the Camp Director serving as an ex-officio member.
• The Friends Camp Committee coordinates with the NEYM Finance Committee and Treasurer, as outlined in the procedures.