Chanco on the James Camp and Retreat Center is a 501c (3) ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. With overnight summer camp for ages 8-18, family camp, and year-round retreat programming, our ministry strives to be a place where both youth and adults encounter God in nature, in themselves, and in Christian community with one another. With 125 acres on the banks of the James River, away from the busy routines of daily life, we aim to be a place where our campers have young-adult counselors serving as Christian role models, challenge themselves in new ways, and grow in independence and self-confidence. Through our retreats, youth and adults discover, or deepen, their personal relationship with God while also forming friendships that often last a lifetime. By creating a trusting and supportive community our guests can overcome challenges, discover their personal gifts, and find ways to use their gifts in service. Chanco seeks to be an inclusive place of transformational experiences and sanctuary for all.

Our organization uses print and direct mail to market our events. We create flyers, birthday cards for our campers, marketing postcards, our yearly Annual Report, our tri-fold Annual Fund solicitation brochure, and more with Conquest Graphics. We loved the idea of another of Conquest Graphic’s non-profits to use postcards with QR codes that either lead our customer to our website for more information or make it easy for online registration and intend to do this in the future.

While much of the world is digital, we find that our Annual Fund and scholarship solicitation print mailings have a greater return rate than our eNewsletter, emails, or social media. We count on these financial gifts to offset our costs and allow us to keep our rates low to all of our guests. We strive to be the camp and retreat center available to all, regardless of socioeconomic status and Conquest Graphic’s grants and non-profit discount is an enormous support to this endeavor.

Additionally, we use print and direct mail to communicate with our parishes in the diocese. We solicit their financial support as well as mailing packets of brochures and flyers that we request they share with their congregation. We plan to continue to use print and direct mail in the ways mentioned above and any additional ways our marketing and development team finds helpful to our mission.

As a non-profit organization, especially one with a smaller budget, it is important to find creative ways to connect with our donors, campers, retreat guests, and parishes to keep them connected to our ministry and to inform them of our offerings throughout the year. It is also important for us to find new, creative ways to use print media to reach new campers and retreat guests. Without print and direct mail, especially for our older community and our parishes, many would no longer be engaged with what we do. Annual Report booklets, Annual Fund brochures, event flyers, marketing postcards, birthday cards, Christmas cards and more help us to stay connected with our Chanco family, invite our guests to events, remind our community of volunteer opportunities, encourage financial support, and more. The print grant we have received this past year and hopefully in the future allow us to continue reaching more and more people for our mission and ministry. Thank you, Conquest Graphics, for being part of making our ministry possible!