In 2013, Scouting America implemented the National Camp Accreditation Program (NCAP). NCAP was established to help councils elevate camps to new levels of excellence in delivering Scouting’s promise to youth. Since then, Councils have engaged in rigorous reviews of their camps and properties, challenged to have continuous improvement plans, while also reviewing their facilities and programs to eliminate any substandard practices. 

The Outdoor Programs & Properties Team sat down with Steve Phillips, the National NCAP Committee Authorization Chair to talk about NCAP, explain the authorization process and why this first step may be the hardest but how it helps the council.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   So, what does “authorization” really mean to a local council?

Steve:  Well, first let’s try to clear up a confusing word – and that word is camp.  In Scouting America, camp can refer to a property, or to the program that is being conducted.  So, because of this, Scouting America states that for a Scouting America Council to operate a camp, meaning the property or the program, they must be authorized to do this.  When a council completes the NCAP Authorization, they are given authority to use Scouting America’s brand, operate Scouting America programs, and use Scouting America insurance for official Scouting America programs.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   So, are you saying the NCAP authorization gives a council the ability to operate all camps and programs?

Steve:  Each council’s NCAP authorization will list the camp properties that they operate, and what types of camp programs they offer at that property.  The property will then specifically be authorized to operate unit camping, day camps, short-term camps, and long-term camps on each camp property. 

Through the national NCPA authorization, a council will also be authorized to locally “authorize” their council’s day camps and short-term camps throughout the council. 

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   What is all involved in the authorization and what are you looking for?

Steve:  The actual authorization process starts with the “Analysis” step. During this step, the council will complete numerous documents looking at their properties and camp(s) through various lenses.  They will gather the attendance and financial information on both the council, and the specific camp properties.  They will also look at the facilities and the programs, which will assist them in creating plans for improvement.  This planning stage is a key component to the overall authorization process by assisting the council in creating a year-by-year plan of improvement.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   Once the council gathers this information, what is the next step?

Steve:  The next step is to share the data with their council’s leadership.  By this I mean that the information that is gathered is only as good as what it is used for.  The gathering of this data helps “paint a picture” of the property, its camps and how they effect the council.  The board members may not always be able to get to the camp, this is an important way to bring camp to the board!  Share the pictures of the camps, let them see what they have so that when the camp needs support or improvements, they have a better picture of why.

Also show how the camp(s) are doing financially.  A lot of councils have found that they were subsidizing some of their camps, or all of them by a lot more than they realized.  Once the board knows the true picture, then they can help solve the challenges.  The final step of an authorization process is to have the board approve the authorization application. The application is then submitted to the National NCAP Committee.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   After the application is turned in, then what happens?

Steve:  The National NCAP Authorization team has a team of trained volunteers, called authorization reviewers,  that review the applications, evaluate the information provided and then write up the official “Authorization to Operate”.  This authorization will include what types of camp programs are approved, while also identifying if there are any items that are needing to be looked at or done by the council.  Then the documents are reviewed by a national staff member a final time to make certain that the reviewer did not miss anything and to make certain that it is a fair evaluation.  The council is then sent the documents for them to sign and agree too.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   How many councils go through this process yearly?

Steve:  Scouting America has about 250 councils and there are about 50 councils a year that complete this process.  The authorizations are for 5 years so we try to level out the numbers to keep the process running smoothly.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   Is there anything else you would like everyone to know?

Steve:  The NCAP Team realizes that there is a lot of time and energy that is put into the authorization, but we hope that everyone understands that the process is designed to benefit the council and their strategic planning.  There are a lot of councils that have looked at their data and realized that they were not doing as well as they thought they were doing.  There were expenses that they never took into consideration when looking at the bottom line.  Through seeing these “challenges”, some councils have changed the way that they were doing things to make camp at least balance financially if not creating a revenue.  They also started looked at the facilities with a different set of eyes.  The authorization process is a crucial tool in the NCAP toolbox!

In 2013, Scouting America implemented the National Camp Accreditation Program (NCAP) which was established to help councils elevate camps to new levels of excellence in delivering Scouting’s promise to youth. At this time, Councils became engaged in rigorous reviews of their camps and properties, challenged to have continuous improvement plans, while also reviewing their programs to eliminate any substandard practices. 

The Outdoor Programs & Properties Team sat down with Carl Nicolaysen, the National NCAP Chair to talk about NCAP and what it is all about as we reflect on nine years of NCAP!

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   What is the main purpose of the National Camp Accreditation Program?

Carl:  To help councils elevate camps to new levels of excellence in delivering Scouting’s promise to youth.  This is done through promoting top quality programs, health, safety, and the well-being of every camper, leaders, visitors, and staff.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   What do you mean by your comment  “delivering Scouting’s promise to youth?

Carl:       Every time a youth is recruited to join Scouting, we promise that they will have the best outdoor experience available – NCAP was designed to help councils to meet the promises that were made. Scouting America is known as experts in camping and NCAP helps councils meet the minimum requirements, or standards, to deliver the level of Scouting that the youth, and their parents want them to have. 

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   Each and every council seems to have a lot of different types of camps, how do they know what standards they must follow?

Carl:  There are a set of standards that the different classifications of camps must attain, and it also is determined what programs they are offering.  These standards are reviewed each year by subject matter experts to make certain that they are still relevant, and they are helping to guide the councils to success. We continually take a look at these classifications, and they have changed quite a bit over the last nine years.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:  So, all a council must do it follow the standards?

Carl:  Not quite. The standards are set up to follow the three parts of NCAP – The Authorization, the Assessment, and the Accreditation.  Councils apply to be authorized to operate the different camping properties and programs that they operate.  Part of this process is designed to make certain that the council not only operates a safe and quality program, but they do it in a quality facility while being financially sound.  When the council operates one of the properties or one of the camps, they are assessed to make certain that they follow the specific standards that they must operate under.  Once this is done and it is found that they are meeting all the required standards, the council’s program is accredited through Scouting America’s National Camp Accreditation Program. 

All of this is described in the standards.

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   This sounds like a huge undertaking – who coordinates all of this?

Carl:  Scouting America is blessed to have a phenomenal group of volunteers and staff that cover the various aspects of NCAP.  The National NCAP Committee oversees the whole process, but there are teams developed for each part.

Authorizations – A team of volunteers work with councils to complete the authorization process.  The councils’ complete various documents to help them review their program and to how it effects their council. 

The Standards and Governance team leads the review every year of the standards with the subject matter experts in each of the areas and recommends changes needed to the committee.  They also handle any waiver, variance, or equivalency determination request that are requested.

The Assessment team is the largest team because they must assess every long-term camp that is operated by the councils.  Approximately 2,000 volunteers get training and then visit one or more long-term camp to determine if all the required standards are being met, and that there is a quality program being offered.  Councils also self-assess day camps and short-term camps. 

Outdoor Programs & Properties:   Thanks Carl, we look forward to talking with your team over the next few issues to learn more about what exactly they do.

Carl:  We are glad to answer any question to help everyone understand the importance of this program and how we can help council.  Continuing to improve the NCAP process and the support/tools it provides local councils is a constant goal for our committee. NCAP is the strongest when it is a collaboration between all of us.

The National Camp Accreditation Program (NCAP) national committee has been reorganized to meet the needs of Scouting America after the recent change from Regions and Areas to National Service Territories (NST).  The National NCAP committee has taken this opportunity to restructure its entire committee and reporting structure. These changes are also reflected in the applicable standards and process required by the 2022 NCAP standards (you can check out the 2022 standards online here).

National NCAP Chair                                      Carl Nicolaysen

National NCAP Authorization Team

Let’s start with the authorization process! Each local council completes the authorization process every five years. This authorization gives each local council the ability to operate Camp Properties, Day Camps, Short-term Camps and Long-term camps.  The national NCAP committee authorization team will work with local councils who are scheduled to go through the authorization process each year. A council will be assigned a reviewer from then national authorization team and their reviewers.

Chair                                                                 Steve Phillips

Vice Chair                                                         Bob Hemmerly

Team Leads                                                     John Young, Larry Healey, Don Dare, Bob Longoria, Ken Estes

National High Adventure Bases                   Doug McDonald

Standards and Governance

You may not know that there is group of key volunteers who support the development and implementation of our national NCAP standards. This team is responsible for the management of the development of the standards, and interpretation of the standards if questions arise.  They work with all Scouting America Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the review and development of these standards. They also coordinate all waivers, equivalency determinations, and variance requests. 

Chair                                                                   Eric Hiser

Assistant Chair                                                 Rich Koch

Assistant Chair                                                 Chrystene Speed

Assessment Team

Likely the most visible part of the NCAP process and national committee, the assessment coordination process has also adjusted with the national NCAP committee’s restructuring. The NCAP assessment team leaders are assigned to a geographical zone. We utilize the term “zone” to avoid confusion with the NST volunteer structure. The NCAP zones align geographically with the NSTs. For example, zone 1 is national service territory 1, and so on. The NCAP assessments are coordinated overall by the following individuals nationally.

Chair                                                                 Jack Hess

Vice Chair                                                         Barry Simays

Assessment Lead for Zones 1-8                  Bob Miller

Assessment Lead for Zones 9-16               Jason Kasiorek

In addition, there are 16 Zone Assessment Coordinators who will coordinate the nationally led assessments for all long-term camps.

Zone 1                  Mary Ann and Randy Price            Zone 9                                 David Ehrlich     

Zone 2                  Don Paul                                           Zone 10                               Randy DeFrank

Zone 3                  Cap Casperson                                Zone 11                              John Willemain

Zone 4                  Chuck Gitzen                                    Zone 12                              David Carlson

Zone 5                  Brent Worley                                     Zone 13                              Jim Korcienski

Zone 6                  Peter Erdely                                      Zone 14                              Bobby Bloodworth

Zone 7                  Fritz Maxwell                                    Zone 15                              Jeff Irving

Zone 8                  Jay Cash                                            Zone 16                              Bill Guglielmi

We are grateful for the thousands of volunteers from across Scouting America that support the NCAP process in their local council and at the national level. Questions regarding the new NCAP national committee structure? Email ncap@scouting.org.