Impacts of the National Archery in the Schools Program

By Tom Bennett

The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) has expanded from twenty-one pilot schools in 2002 to more than 5000 schools in five countries.  More than 1,000,000 students in the 4^th-12^th grades learn archery from their teachers.   Recently, NASP® conducted an analysis to determine economic impacts of the program and whether 'archery'' leads to other outdoor activities.

   According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) archers participate in other outdoor activities at significant rates.  Archery is a ‘Gateway' activity which encourages participation in other outdoor pursuits.   The SGMA 2009 report indicates that the 'cross participation' of 'Archers' is significant.  State Fish and wildlife agencies play a major role in coordinating NASP® at the state sate level and want to know if their investment of time and funding is providing a return on their investment.  NASP® teaches more than one million students in 4^th-12^th grades each year.  Seventy-seven (77%) of these students had not shot a bow before the NASP® class.   The SGMA report finds that target archers participate in bow hunting at a rate of almost 29%.  Archers hunt with a shotgun at a rate of almost 33% and with a rifle at a rate of 38%.  This means that if you teach archery to a million students a significant percentage of them will try other outdoor pursuits.  According to SGMA, archers are likely to become ‘anglers' at a rate of 56%.  Clearly, this is strong reason to promote target archery to the potential conservationists of the future.

                On the economic side, NASP® contracted with Lynn Garrison, former Director of Public Affairs and Policy for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and a national expert on data collection and analysis. He was asked to determine the economic impact of NASP® to the outdoor industry. NASP® is now in 46 states in the US in more than 5000 schools. It was decided that since NASP® has expanded to more than 100 schools in 23 states that the benchmark would be one hundred schools. His mission was to determine the economic impact of 100 NASP® schools in a state.  Some basic assumptions were necessary.  The NASP® ‘kit' costs approximately $3000.  Surveys completed by Mark Duda, Responsive Management®, US School Data at the National Center for Education Statistics and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service were used  as the basis for formulas and assumptions. 

                Using 200 students as the average participants per school  size, computations were made on the economic impacts of 100 NASP® schools in a state.   The research indicated that 14% of NASP® students purchased personal archery equipment.  We assumed the average cost of the bow was $250, $60 for arrows, $50 for a target, and $150 for accessories.  When you add the $3000 'NASP® archery kit' for 100 schools you can estimate the direct economic impact of 100 NASP schools to be  $1,075,600.  Economists compute 'Total economic impact including multipliers'' which is a fancy way to estimate the ripple effect of the money spent by consumers .  it is assumed that the store then buys equipment, pays for services and spends the money in the local community and ‘multiplies' the expenditure.  Given the standard ‘multiplier' for the impact of 100 NASP schools the TOTAL economic impact is $2,158,000.  This can also be computed to support 49 jobs related to and supported by 100 NASP schools.

                The NASP® continues to grow.  This month Canada will add its fourth province when British Columbia completes training.  Plans are being developed to add the final four states  : Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Delaware.   Clearly, NASP® is a good investment for state fish and wildlife agencies and the archery industry.  NASP® is a gateway activity which leads archers to other outdoor pursuits.  Archery , through NASP® is passing on the shooting sports traditions to the next generation 'One Arrow at a Time.'