Sunrise Association
CAMP Counselor Appreciation Day 2025
My supervisor and I noticed a gap in how summer camps recognize the people who make camp so special—camp counselors. We created Camp Counselor Appreciation Day (CCAD) in 2022 to recognize the important role they play in the camp community.
We shared the idea with other camps and the American Camp Association, and it quickly gained traction. In 2025, our 3rd annual CCAD campaign, over 250 camps signed up to join the celebration!
To support participating camps, we sent out weekly eblasts filled with resources and ideas, created a dedicated web page to serve as a central hub for all things Camp Counselor Appreciation Day, and distributed a comprehensive social media guide.
EBLASTS
Our eblasts are filled with ready-to-use resources, including customizable social media posts with graphics and copy, letters for camper families encouraging them to show appreciation, and fun activity ideas for both staff and campers.
After each weekly eblast, we saw a steady increase in interest, with an average of 12 new camps signing up to receive more information about Camp Counselor Appreciation Day (CCAD). Over the course of 6 eblasts, our reach continued to grow as more camps signed up to join the celebration.
WEB PAGE
The web page invites camps to participate in CCAD, provides access to our digital marketing toolkit, and includes background information on the Sunrise Association. Camps can easily access and download all materials and stay up to date on the holiday.
Social Media Guide
Our comprehensive guide included branded graphics, suggested copy, and special hashtags—#CampCounselorDay and #CampCounselorAppreciationDay. We also encouraged camps to tag our Association account.
Social Media Content
To show our appreciation and boost engagement, we re-shared every post that tagged our Association account leading up to and on Camp Counselor Appreciation Day. We also monitored campaign hashtags to feature outside camp posts on our Instagram stories, always adding a thank-you to recognize their participation and build community. In total, we identified nearly 100 camps that posted about CCAD, with several more reaching out to share offline celebrations—showing participation extended far beyond the social media campaign.
The overall top-performing social media post was a collaboration between our Pearl River camp and the Association, published on July 14th. It received over 800% more impressions than a typical post, likely due to the combined reach of both Instagram accounts.
The top-performing post published directly to the Association’s account was our July 15th thank-you to participants, which earned 183% more impressions than typical content—likely fueled by the campaign’s momentum and our large audience of current and former counselors.