AI Tools for Camp Professionals: Lindy AI and Granola

Running a camp means wearing a dozen hats before lunch. You're answering parent emails, scheduling staff meetings, updating the website, and somehow still trying to remember what was decided in yesterday's leadership huddle. This week I'm looking at two AI tools that tackle different parts of this chaos. Lindy AI is an automation platform that can handle repetitive tasks across your apps. Granola is a meeting note-taker that works without the awkwardness of a bot joining your calls. Both promise to give you back time. Let's see if they deliver.

Lindy AI: Your Digital Staff Member

Lindy AI is a no-code platform that lets you create AI "agents" to automate tasks across your business apps. Think of it as hiring a tireless assistant who works 24/7, never calls in sick, and connects to over 200 tools you probably already use.

Pricing:

• Free plan: 400 credits per month (about 40 simple tasks)

• Pro plan: $29.99/month for 3,000 credits

• Business plan: $199.99/month for 20,000 credits

How Camp Professionals Might Use It:

The possibilities here are genuinely interesting. You could set up a Lindy agent to automatically respond to common parent inquiries. When someone emails asking about the packing list or drop-off times, Lindy can send a personalized response immediately, even at 11pm when you're (hopefully) asleep.

For registration, you could create an agent that monitors new signups, adds them to your spreadsheet, sends a welcome email, and notifies your registrar in Slack. All without you touching anything.

Staff scheduling gets easier too. An agent could watch your calendar for open interview slots, email candidates to schedule, and add confirmed meetings to your calendar automatically.

Pros:

• No coding required. You describe what you want in plain English.

• Connects with Gmail, Google Calendar, HubSpot, Slack, and thousands more.

• Includes templates for common workflows, so you're not starting from scratch.

• SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant, which matters if you're handling camper health information.

Cons:

• The learning curve is real. Setting up your first agent takes patience.

• Credit consumption varies. Complex tasks eat more credits than simple ones.

• Some users report occasional inconsistency in how agents handle edge cases.

• At $30/month for the entry-level paid plan, it's an investment.

Best For: Camp directors or administrators who spend significant time on repetitive tasks across multiple apps. If you're constantly copying information from one place to another or answering the same questions repeatedly, Lindy could pay for itself quickly.

Granola: The Note-Taker That Stays Invisible

Granola takes a different approach to meeting notes. Instead of sending a bot to join your Zoom or Google Meet call (which can feel awkward and requires explaining to everyone), it simply listens through your computer's audio. No one else knows it's there.

Pricing:

• Free plan: 25 meetings total (lifetime, not monthly)

• Business plan: $14/user/month for unlimited meetings

• Enterprise plan: $35/user/month with SSO and advanced controls

How Camp Professionals Might Use It:

Staff meetings become dramatically more useful when you can actually pay attention instead of frantically scribbling. Granola records the conversation, then generates a clean summary with action items. You can even jot quick notes during the meeting, and Granola will enhance them with context from the transcript.

Parent conferences benefit too. Instead of trying to remember everything a concerned parent said, you have a searchable record. Three months later when they mention "that thing we discussed," you can actually find it.

Board meetings often require formal minutes. Granola's AI can help you produce them faster, pulling out decisions and next steps automatically.

Pros:

• No bot joining calls. Other participants don't know you're using it.

• Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and in-person meetings via the iPhone app.

• Built-in AI chat lets you ask questions about your meetings afterward.

• Privacy-focused. They don't store audio, only transcripts.

• Clean, simple interface that's easy to learn.

Cons:

• The free plan is severely limited at just 25 meetings total.

• Currently requires Google Workspace. No Outlook calendar integration yet.

• No Android app (iPhone only for mobile).

• Limited integrations compared to competitors.

• Some users report it struggles with speaker identification in group calls.

Best For: Camp professionals who have lots of meetings and want to be more present during them. Particularly valuable if you have external meetings where you'd rather not explain why "Fireflies.ai Bot" is joining your call.

The Bottom Line

These tools solve different problems. Lindy is about automating the repetitive work that clutters your day. Granola is about making your meetings more productive and searchable. If you're drowning in email and busywork across multiple apps, start with Lindy's free tier. If your issue is that meetings consume hours but you can never remember what was decided, try Granola. Just know that Granola's 25-meeting free limit means you'll hit the paywall quickly if it works for you.

About the Author

Matt Kaufman has spent 40 years in summer camp as a camper, counselor, and director, studying what makes people belong, grow, and thrive. He writes about intentional community, leadership, and the intersection of technology and human connection.

Connect with Matt:

• Instagram: @mattlovescamp

• LinkedIn: Matt Kaufman

• Website: ilove.camp

Books by Matt Kaufman:

• The Campfire Effect: How to Engineer Belonging in a Disconnected World (February 2026)

• The Summer Camp MBA: 50 Leadership Lessons from Camp to Career