This past fall, the YMCA of the USA and American Camp Association entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will drive our collaborative work. We are excited about this agreement and what it means for the future of both organizations.

While the full details are being developed over the next several months, we want to make sure that our full membership is aware of the agreement.

The overall objective is to strengthen and grow YMCA camping programs and, thus, the camping movement. While the framework of the agreement centers around five main points of collaboration, the agreement supports the overall goals of increasing quality, serving new and emerging audiences, and expanding the impact of camping across the Y movement. To achieve these outcomes, the five main points of collaboration are:

1. Accreditation of YMCA Camps — The Y has embraced ACA accreditation as a standard for all Y overnight camps as one measure of quality. We will work together to ensure that all Y overnight camps become accredited. While accreditation of day camps is not specifically mentioned in this MOU, we believe that will be an eventual goal for both organizations.
    
2. Professional Development — The Y and ACA both offer robust frameworks for leadership development. Together, we will evaluate opportunities to align and enhance both organization’s professional development offerings, including existing and customized courses, to strengthen professional development opportunities in Y camping.
    
3. Impact Measurement and Data Sharing — The Y and ACA will seek out opportunities for collecting and sharing business data, program quality assessment data, and youth outcomes assessment data in order to strengthen each organization’s ability to achieve their goals.
    
4. Marketing and Messaging — The Y and ACA will jointly promote accreditation, professional development, and the partnership represented by this MOU.
    
5. Financial Alignment — The Y and ACA will evaluate opportunities to secure grant funding and to develop additional financial strategies to support the implementation of this agreement.

At the Y Global Camping Conference in November, the Y and ACA made a joint announcement of this agreement to all attendees. Over the next few months, the Y and ACA will work in collaborative teams to determine the specific actions required to support each of the main points of the agreement and to begin to outline the path forward to achieving them.

Both organizations are very excited about the ways in which this partnership will strengthen our collective work serving youth and adults in camps across the country. We fully believe this agreement will be a model for the development of stronger partnerships with other youth serving organizations.

Meals Provided to Employees

We understand that historically one of the benefits provided to camp counselors and other employees of camps — both out of necessity for providing proper oversight of the campers as well as providing an additional non-compensatory benefit to employees — was providing meals to the employees while working at the camp.

So long as the “convenience of the employer” test was satisfied, the meals provided to employees were also beneficial from a tax perspective, particularly for camps subject to federal income tax. Specifically, the employer received a tax deduction for the expenses associated with providing the meals to the employees while the value of such meals was also excluded from the employees’ taxable compensation.

Pursuant to federal regulations, a meal is provided for the convenience of the employer when it is provided on the employer’s premises and, if the employee is not charged for the meal, there is a substantial non-compensatory business reason why the employer provides the meal. This business reason is often because the employee couldn’t reasonably find meals within the permitted meal break, or in the case of camps, because the employees were eating with campers to provide appropriate and necessary supervision. Therefore, it is likely that camps often satisfy the “convenience of the employer” requirements when providing meals to employees.

However, the tax treatment of these meals fundamentally changed in December 2017, when Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Tax Reform, commonly referred to as tax reform. As a part of the tax reform package, after December 31, 2017, only fifty percent (50%) of the expenses incurred by an employer are allowed as a tax deduction for providing meals to employees under the convenience of the employer exception. The remaining fifty percent (50%) of such expenses are no longer deductible – thereby increasing a taxpayer’s federal taxable income by such amounts. Assuming no additional changes in the law, the result worsens after December 31, 2025, when the deduction is eliminated entirely for employers with respect to the expenses associated with meals provided for the employer’s convenience.

This change likely has the largest impact on camps subject to federal income tax, as these limitations on deductions will increase the amount of federal income tax owed on an annual basis. This will first impact camps on their 2018 tax return; however, the impact is not limited just to the actual payment of the additional tax, but also the administrative processes that likely will need to be implemented to ensure the cost of these employee meals are properly captured so that such amounts can be reported on the camp’s income tax return.

Notwithstanding the negative tax impact on the camps, tax reform did not change the impact on employees who receive meals that satisfy the convenience of the employer exception. These amounts are still excluded from the employee’s compensation for federal income and employment tax purposes. This exclusion from wages for employees still applies irrespective of whether the employer is a for-profit or tax-exempt camp.

Travel for Employees

We further understand that some camps often reimburse, in full or in part, the transportation costs that employees incur in travelling to and from camp.

While the recent tax reform bill implemented many changes, an employee's commuting expenses were not affected. The Internal Revenue Service has consistently taken the position that commuting expenses are personal expenses of the employee and, therefore, if such expenses were paid or reimbursed by an employer, such amounts should be included in an employee's wages. The tax treatment of such expenses were not changed or altered by tax reform.

In contrast, prior to tax reform, reimbursements for moving expenses (as compared to commuting expenses) could be excluded from the employee’s income if certain requirements were satisfied to be classified as a “qualified moving expense reimbursement.” Due to the nature of the qualified moving expense reimbursement requirements, it likely was difficult for seasonal camps to satisfy such requirements to exclude such payments from an employee’s income. This consideration, however, has been removed entirely as tax reform eliminated this benefit as well, and even qualified moving expenses paid by an employer are now taxable income for the employee.

Overall, these benefits that we understand are often provided by camps to employees now, in some cases, have significantly different tax treatment as a result of tax reform for both the camp, as the employer, and individuals, as employees. Despite this negative impact on camps, absent a legislative solution through Congress, camps will have to comply with these changes for tax years after December 31, 2017.

The American Camp Association and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal or accounting advice.  This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.  Please consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors for advice.

Legal opinion provided by Ice Miller LLP. You can download the PDF version here.

How ACA Is Involved

ACA is engaged with our advocacy team in Washington working to raise awareness about these new tax issues impacting camps.  ACA is actively educating Members of Congress about the negative consequences these tax changes with have for America's camps.  ACA officials also met with the Treasury Department about these new tax matters.  A federal legislative solution is the likely necessary remedy to these tax issues, and the ACA advocacy team is actively exploring and seeking options on Capitol Hill.

For questions, please contact ACA’s Government Relations Consultant, Ralph Forsht, at ralphforsht@gmail.com or 703-944-2739.  

Photo courtesy of Cheley Colorado Camps, Estes Park, Colorado.

Martinsville, IN — The American Camp Association® (ACA) announced today that Henry DeHart has been named chief operating officer of ACA, effective September 10, 2018.     

DeHart has had a lifetime of involvement in overnight camping, which had its start when his father was a camper at Camp Sea Gull as a child. He started off as a camper at Sea Gull and grew through the staff ranks, eventually becoming the program director and then executive director. In all he has worked, in some capacity, in overnight camping for more than 25 years. DeHart has most recently served as the executive vice president, camping services, for the YMCA of the Triangle. In this role he was responsible for the three overnight camps of the Association — YMCA Camp Sea Gull, YMCA Camp Seafarer, and YMCA Camp Kanata.

During this time, DeHart has served on the Y-USA Overnight Camp Cabinet, the Y Global Camping Conference Planning Committee, and the Government Affairs Advisory Committee for Y-USA. In addition, he held a position on the Board of Directors of the NC Youth Camp Association and served as the chair of their Legislative Affairs Committee. DeHart is a longtime ACA accreditation visitor and has led a number of education sessions at both regional and national ACA conferences.

A graduate of Emory University, DeHart worked in the marketing industry as a senior account executive and a strategic marketing consultant before joining the staff of the YMCA of the Triangle. A native of Greenville, SC, DeHart now lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, Ana, and his two third-generation campers.

About ACA:

The American Camp Association® (ACA) is a national organization with more than 12,000 individual members and 3,000 member camps. ACA is committed to collaborating with those who believe in quality camp and outdoor experiences for children, youth, and adults. ACA provides advocacy and evidence-based education and professional development, and is the only national accrediting body for the organized camp experience. ACA accredits over 2,400 diverse camps nationally.

On Friday, March 23, President Trump signed the omnibus spending package, which included provisions for the Child Protection Improvements Act (CPIA). The new law enables organizations serving vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities to conduct fast, accurate, and affordable FBI background checks on prospective volunteers and employees. Prior to this law being passed, more than one-third of states do not have access to FBI background checks.

ACA leadership and volunteers were very influential in advocating for the inclusion of CPIA in the final omnibus bill. CPIA enjoyed the support of prominent members of Congress from both political parties, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT).

For more than 10 years, ACA has worked closely with YMCA-USA, MENTOR – The National Mentoring Partnership, and many other youth-serving organizations to champion the passage of CPIA. ACA’s advocacy efforts, in cooperation with the other dedicated organizations, have helped enrich the lives of children, youth, and adults. 

ACA and our partners will now work with the Department of Justice to make sure CPIA is set up effectively. In the coming months, we expect to learn more about CPIA implementation and the regular rulemaking process that takes place for new laws. ACA will remain engaged during the CPIA implementation process and provide regular updates on any new developments.