Sustainability Toolkit

In 2022-2023, in partnership with a team of senior Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering students at Cal Poly University, the Retreat Center Collaboration studied models for financial and programmatic sustainability at retreat centers, seeking to identify the most influential variables that impact a retreat center’s performance. The study gathered data from 8 retreat centers within the RCC, selected to represent diversity of geography, budget size, and religious affiliation.

Completed in July 2023, our Sustainability Toolkit offers an overview of the study and its findings, including highlights from the students’ literature review and data analysis. The toolkit suggests key areas for improvement, provides a True Cost Calculator Tool and simple Best Practices Manual, plus links to related studies and community survey data from the RCC network across the United States and Canada.