Case Study: Pali Adventures

One App, Many Meaningful Experiences

Pali Adventures Logo

Pali Adventures is an overnight camp in California that is committed to providing memorable experiences in an inclusive community. With 2,864 campers and a staff of 120, they share thousands of photos and field frequent calls from parents.

They also face the challenge of slow mail service due to their remote location. They use Campanion to serve their customers better, support their staff by simplifying complex tasks, and implement anxiety-reducing strategies for campers and parents alike.


When parents see photos of their kids they equate them with happy camp experiences, and FaceFinder with push notifications is a game changer. In a typical summer, Pali’s office staff would field frequent calls from parents who didn’t spot their children while scrolling through thousands of photos.

This would trigger a process that involved sending photographers to track down specific campers and take more photos of them. “Even ten of those calls a week adds a ton of work. Having tagged photos with notifications delivered directly to parents’ phones eliminates these calls almost entirely. It is night and day.”

Pali Adventures had never encouraged parents to tip their staff, but they saw an opportunity to test this strategy in 2022. Campanion provides increased visibility into how hard counselors work, and this proved to be a motivator for parents. Counselors shared their Paypal account information and every in-cabin counselor received tips.

In Pali’s post-summer survey, 90 of 110 respondents answered that they would be interested in returning the following summer. It’s clear that their ability to earn a higher salary is part of this response rate. “I think it does help with retention because any extra money is a huge motivator and we can only go so far.”

The eLetters feature helps homesick campers who know their families receive messages the day they’re sent, and that they’ll get a reply the following day. “They feel that they are being heard.” Pali’s counselors also use this feature to write weekly bunk letters to campers’ parents, which helps alleviate concerns about campers who don’t write home frequently.

The fact that eLetters can be tracked and reported on is helpful for office staff. “We have system records of the letters and we can see which ones are sent and received. It makes customer relations so much easier.”

Better Days at Day Camps

Axing Anxiety
Tagged photos and eLetters are anxiety-reducing features for parents. They don’t find Campanion overwhelming.
Lights, Camera, Action
Leading up to summer, Pali’s counselors record intro videos which are shared via Campanion. On arrival day, kids already know their counselors.
High Marks
In 2022, 46,000 camp photos were downloaded, and 95% of Pali’s users gave the app a rating of 4 or 5 stars.
Forms Formula
Mobile forms make a huge different for health staff and mobile re-enrollment is an added bonus.
Camp goers sitting around a camp fire.
The parents who send their kids to Pali Adventures love Campanion. And the staff feel the same way. The entire Professional Suite helps them run camp smoothly.

Priced for camps of all sizes.
Because every camper counts.

Campminder is priced at scale. Whether you’re caring for 100 campers or 5,000, we’ve got you covered.