The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) is operating in all 50 states, with the majority of states hosting the program through their state fish and wildlife agency. The program continues to expand and is currently being taught in over 10,000 schools. According to the 2024 NASP® Student Survey, well over 20% of the student archers want to learn to hunt, shoot in other disciplines, and enjoy more outdoor wildlife-based recreation. However, they lack the knowledge of how to get started, and wildlife agencies often lack the tools to adequately communicate such opportunities to them. Even when student archers find their way to state agency websites, they rarely “see themselves” in the imagery and descriptions of hunters and shooters they find there. This project will provide a much-needed national database of imagery and videos of NASP® student archers in a variety of settings, from the gymnasium to outdoor ranges, to field hunting. This marketing collateral will enable state agencies and their partners to develop pathways to hunting and shooting sports for 1.3 million student archers annually—pathways that clearly show how these activities are already being enjoyed by many other student archers that look just like they do. In a 2025 survey of NASP® state coordinators, a significant number of respondents indicated they had an inadequate number of resources for marketing pathways to NASP® student archers and that they would be extremely interested in access to such media resources. This project will not only develop new and exciting marketing collateral, it will also test which kinds of imagery and messaging resonate best with the actual target audience. The end result will be a national toolkit that can be used by state agencies and their partners to lead this vast and growing corps of student archers and their families toward hunting, fishing, and shooting sports. This project is a partnership among the National Archery in the Schools Program, National Bowhunter Education Foundation, International Hunter Education Association, Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA), Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and the National Wild Turkey Federation. The Youth Shooting Sports Recruiting Toolkit (MAFWA 2025) developed by MAFWA through a previous Multistate Conservation Grant gives state agencies and their partners the tools they need to attract youth into the shooting sports. This project will build upon that effort, providing agencies the resources they need to encourage those youth to take the next steps into hunting, other shooting sports, and beyond.
Creating a National Toolkit to Support Hunting and Shooting Sports Pathways for 1.25 million NASP® Student Archers Annually
Fiscal Year
2026
Organization
National Archery in the Schools Program
Grant Number
F26AP00613
Categories
Marketing, R3, Tool Development
R3
Yes