Design a System to Collect Event Participant Data and Measure Impact for Youth Fishing League

A participant data collection system we can run at live outdoor events and a measurement framework that lets us compare outcomes across our full 2026 season.

Right now we collect names and zip codes at events but nothing structured. We have seven events scheduled from May through August across Prince George's County, Montgomery County, and DC. We are targeting 600 participants. We need the collection instrument designed before our 1st event in May so we are capturing clean, comparable data from the start.

The core research question we want to answer is this: do kids who attend YFL events with a parent return to outdoor spaces at higher rates than kids who attend without one. We believe the answer is yes. We want to be able to prove it.
We also want to collect homeownership data from participants in a way that feels natural and non-intrusive. That data helps us demonstrate the demographic profile of our audience to potential sponsors and funders.
What I want to build with this volunteer:

A participant intake form designed for fast, clean data collection at a folding table outdoors
A homeownership question embedded in a way that does not feel like a survey
A simple comparison framework for parent vs. no parent attendance and return visit rates
A data structure we can populate across all seven events and analyze in September
A one-page summary template we can drop findings into for grant reports and sponsor conversations

The volunteer will be working 2 to 5 hours per week over 4 to 6 weeks. The instrument gets tested at our May event and refined from there.

YFL is built around a specific belief. When a parent stands at the water's edge and learns to fish alongside their child, something changes. That parent goes back to the park on their own. They bring their kid again. They go without us. That is the outcome the program is designed to produce.

When a parent learns to fish at one of our events and brings their kid back to that park three weeks later without any prompting from us, that is the moment we are trying to measure and prove.

A volunteer who builds this system will help us move from believing that to demonstrating it. That demonstration matters for every grant we write, every sponsor we approach, and every family we are trying to reach in 2027 and beyond.

All seven event dates are confirmed. We have existing participant data from 2024 and 2025 that the volunteer can use as a baseline. I will share that data on day 1.

I am the direct point of contact for this project. I will respond within 24 hours, supply materials quickly, and be present at events where the instrument gets tested. The volunteer will see their work used in the real world before the project ends.