project
OMC
Director Survey
About the Project
The founders of Outdoor Ministries Connection (OMC) committed themselves to research as one of several ministry priorities. The first director survey was conducted in 2014 as part of a grant-funded research initiative called The Confirmation Project and included four OMC organizations. Hoping to establish a benchmark survey of mainline Christian camp and retreat ministries, OMC funded an expanded survey in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and now again in 2024 including all of its member organizations.
The 6th bi-annual OMC Director survey findings are live now! All participants will have access to the aggregate OMC summary report and each outdoor ministry association will receive a data report specific to their members. We encourage you to dig in to these findings and findings insights to use at your ministry site to help you tell impactful stories and make informed choices about the experiences you create and the people who make them happen. If you’d like an individual or group consult or ready-to-go resources on how to apply these findings, contact our team. Thanks for being part of the Outdoor Ministries Connection!
Findings
The 2024-2025 OMC Director's Survey
The 2024 survey represents the sixth biennial survey of mainline camp and retreat ministries. With data from 6 surveys over a span of 11 years, we can observe trends in the data. The six participating outdoor ministry associations, representing approximately 650 individual ministry centers, distributed the online survey to their members and affiliates, encouraging their responses through their communication channels. The survey opened in October 2024 and remained open through spring 2025 to facilitate a high response.
The findings from the 2024 Director’s Survey are summarized in this report, and also shared in a number of other ways like the Sacred Playgrounds podcast (listen below), through social media, email communications, association networks, annual conference workshops, and more. Use the button to download the full report, and see below for other information.
The numbers
The survey opened in the fall of 2024 and remained open until spring 2025 to facilitate a high response. The survey typically took a director 28 minutes to complete and had a completion rate of 78%. The 249 respondents represented 307 individual sites, for a response rate of approximately 47%.
- Completion Rate – 78%
- OMC Camp participation rate – 47%
individual respondents
outdoor ministry sites
years of survey data
camp associations
Listen to the podcast
Listen to Jake and Jared break down some of the key findings in this OMC Director Survey episode of the Sacred Playgrounds Podcast.
OMC Compensation Survey
The OMC Compensation Survey project is designed for Christian camps and conference centers in North America affiliated with Outdoor Ministries Connection (OMC). The purpose is to aid executive leadership and boards of directors in determining salary and compensation packages for year-round, full-time staff. It is also designed as a tool for staff members to support decision-making regarding compensation packages, staff expansion, and fundraising strategies.
Fundraising & Capital Appeals
Staff Salaries
Compensation Packages
Director Demographics
Insight, meet impact.
Once you’ve read the report, it’s time to take action and apply what you’re learning to your camp context. Here are a few key actions steps based on what we learned through the whole set of findings.
