Every director goes through the same scene: someone asks "how much will the Camporee cost?", you answer with the registration fee, and three months later you find out the bus cost four times more than registration did. The VI South American Pathfinder Camporee takes place in January 2027, at Parque do Peão, in Barretos (SP), in two editions — Alpha, from January 5 to 10, and Omega, from January 12 to 17 — with an expected 120,000 participants.
The official registration fee exists, it's public, and it's in the Guidelines Manual released by the South American Division in October 2025. The problem is that it lives inside a PDF dozens of pages long, and almost no one reads all the way to the table. Worse: registration is the smallest line item in a club's real budget.
This article brings together, on a single page, what's official (the fee by Union, exemptions, deadlines, payment rules), what varies from club to club (bus, food, T-shirts, gear), and how to turn that into an honest spreadsheet that fits families' budgets. If you're still getting oriented on the event itself, start with the DSA 2027 Camporee guide.
What is the official registration fee for Camporee DSA 2027?
The Guidelines Manual of the VI DSA Camporee 2027, published by the South American Division (DSA) in October 2025, includes a single table of fees by Union. The fee is per registered person, not per club. Data checked in July 2026, straight from the official PDF:
| Code | Union | Fee per participant |
|---|---|---|
| UCB | Central Brazil | R$ 379.00 |
| UCOB | Central-West Brazil | R$ 379.00 |
| USB | South Brazil | R$ 379.00 |
| USEB | Southeast Brazil | R$ 379.00 |
| ULB | East Brazil | R$ 354.00 |
| UNB | North Brazil | R$ 354.00 |
| UNEB | Northeast Brazil | R$ 354.00 |
| UNOB | Northwest Brazil | R$ 354.00 |
For the other countries in the South American Division, the Manual sets fees in dollars: US$ 67.00 for Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay; US$ 62.00 for Chile, North Peru, and South Peru; US$ 57.00 for Ecuador. International delegations (from outside the DSA) pay US$ 199.00 in the individual category and US$ 109.00 in the category for administrators, department leaders, and pastors.
Not everyone pays full price. The Manual spells out who gets a discount or exemption, and that changes the final math for a large club quite a bit:
| Role | How much they pay | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pathfinder | 100% | Counts toward the 55% quota of spots |
| Directorate (director, chaplain, treasurer, secretary, counselors, instructors) | 100% | Capped at 45% of the club's spots |
| Health professional | 50% | Must cover a shift at the Union's medical post |
| Security | Exempt | 1 exemption, mandatory |
| Cook | Exempt | 1 exemption for up to 20 registrants; 2 exemptions for 21 to 40; from the 3rd on, full price |
| Military-area professional | 100% | Optional; works the internal security shift |
| Directorate member's child (age 0 to 9) | 100% | Pays full price, counts toward the directorate's 45% quota, and is the only registrant without the right to a trump card |
Two traps in this table. The first: a leader's young child is not a courtesy registration — they pay the same R$ 379.00 or R$ 354.00 as a Pathfinder, and still take up a spot in the directorate's quota. The second: the Manual requires a minimum of 20 registrations per club, counting directorate, exempt staff, and support roles. A small club needs to hit that floor — or team up with another club through the Guest Club option.
Who decides what: the registration fee is set by the DSA and published in the Manual — no club, association, or union changes that number. What your Association/Mission decides is the club's spot quota and approval to participate. And what the club decides is how that cost gets split among families, with or without a fundraising campaign.
What does registration include — and what doesn't it include?
This is the question that heads off 90% of the arguments at parent meetings. Camporee registration is the ticket and the right to camp. Full stop. Per the Manual, upon arrival and after handing in the required documents, the club receives the Camporee Kit: ID wristbands for every registrant, a program booklet with the schedule, the theme song, a general map, and the activity carousel, plus two directorate badges for barcode scoring.
| Included in registration | NOT included |
|---|---|
| Event admission and ID wristband | Round-trip transportation |
| Campsite area (10x10 m per club) | Food (own kitchen or an accredited restaurant) |
| Program, main arena, activity carousel | Tents, mattresses, and camping gear |
| Event health structure (central hospital and medical posts) | The club's gate and materials to build it |
| Official booklet and scoring badges | Uniforms: the Manual requires full A and B uniforms for 100% of the club, plus C for community projects and closing |
| Simultaneous FM radio translation (the radio and earpiece are the participant's own) | A stool for each participant, a fire extinguisher, and a drinking-water reservoir — items scored during inspection |
| Street and access lighting | Electricity in the club's area — the Manual states there will be no power grid for campsites |
Two small details that turn into real expenses: a wristband lost through carelessness is only replaced upon payment of R$ 50.00 — lose five wristbands in a 60-person club and that's R$ 250.00 gone from the cash box. And the club cannot bring its own gas canister: it has to be obtained on-site at the Camporee. Worth an honest heads-up here — the Manual contradicts itself on this point: in the list of what not to bring, it says canisters "will be loaned on-site"; in the kitchen section, it says the canister "must be purchased at the Camporee." Leave this line in your spreadsheet as an amount to be confirmed, and ask your Association/Mission before you travel.
There's also the Daypass, for anyone who wants to visit without registering: visits are allowed Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the fee is R$ 185.00 per day. It can only be purchased through the SGC, by one of the registered clubs, between December 3 and 10, 2026 — and the club is responsible for its visitor, including their departure time.
How do you calculate transportation, the costliest line item?
There is no official bus fee — and any number you see floating around is just someone's guess. What does exist is a method. The Guidelines Manual includes a table of distances to Barretos, and that's the honest starting point for your quote:
| Departing from | Distance to Barretos | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|
| São Paulo (SP) | 430 km | 5h |
| Goiânia (GO) | 480 km | 5h30 |
| Belo Horizonte (MG) | 590 km | 7h30 |
| Brasília (DF) | 655 km | 8h |
| Curitiba (PR) | 780 km | 10h |
| Rio de Janeiro (RJ) | 830 km | 11h |
| Porto Alegre (RS) | 1,540 km | 18h |
| Salvador (BA) | 1,830 km | 22h30 |
| Recife (PE) | 2,540 km | 32h |
| Manaus (AM) | 3,480 km | 47h |
When negotiating with the bus company, the Manual itself tells you to check five points that tend to become hidden costs mid-trip: where the drivers will be lodged and who covers their expenses; adding 50 km more, needed for transfers during the Camporee; who pays tolls and border fees; who is responsible for travel insurance; and making sure the driver stays available for the whole event, because the club will need the bus.
An important detail that's often overlooked: drivers cannot camp or use the Camporee's facilities. There will be a bus parking area outside the campsite, but the organizers take no responsibility for it. In other words: driver lodging and meals are a budget line item, not something to improvise.
Practical formula: (round-trip distance + 50 km of transfers) → request three closed quotes, including tolls and driver per diem, and divide by the club's paying spots — not the total number of spots, since exempt staff still take up a bus seat.
Read alsoHow to Join a CamporeeFood: own kitchen or an accredited restaurant?
The Manual gives the club two options: set up its own kitchen or hire one of the Camporee's five accredited restaurants. The choice must be reported to the Field and logged in the "CAMPORI DSA 2027 – BRASIL" report, in the SGC's Ranking module. Watch the deadline: the Manual sets 06/05/2026 as the cutoff to report that choice — meaning anyone reading this in July 2026 has already missed it and needs to sort it out directly with the Association/Mission, not through the system.
| Criterion | Club's own kitchen | Accredited restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| Cook exemption | Yes (1 or 2, depending on club size) | No — the club loses the exemption |
| Score | Up to 50 points, and only if it passes the kitchen inspection (menu, hairnets, facilities) | The same 50 points automatically, no inspection, plus 50 bonus points |
| Extra spot | — | Frees up registration for one more Pathfinder or leader |
| Cost | Groceries, gas, utensils, tent, 30 m extension cord | Direct contract with the restaurant (negotiated price) |
| Workload | High: setup, inspected menu, cleaning, sorted trash | Low |
Notice what this table says: on scoring, the accredited restaurant is strictly better. A club that chooses it gets the 50 kitchen-inspection points automatically, without being inspected, and also earns 50 bonus points. A club that runs its own kitchen competes for those same 50 points and can lose them. So the math for a club's own kitchen only works out because of cost and club culture — not the ranking.
If you go with your own kitchen, go into the budget with your eyes open: the menu has to be ovo-lacto vegetarian and will be inspected; the event's official voltage is 220V, and microwaves, electric ovens, or any resistive appliance are not allowed; kitchen lighting is limited to two 26W PL bulbs and two general-use outlets; and the club needs to bring its own extension cord at least 30 meters long, with a three-prong male/female plug.
There's also a cost line almost no one plans for. Each club gets a 10x10 m area and can pitch tents up to 5x5 m with no extra requirement. Beyond that, the Manual only allows it with a rental contract, a structural stability report, a canvas flammability report, and a paid ART (Brazil's technical engineering liability certificate), signed by an engineer or architect licensed in the state of São Paulo. If the tent belongs to the club itself, the rental contract naturally doesn't apply, but both reports and the ART are still required — the Manual itself spells this out explicitly. A large club that skips this risks being shut down by the Barretos Fire Department. Related rule: for clubs with more than 70 Pathfinders, the kitchen tent can't exceed 10x5 m without that same ART.
Official reference for order of magnitude: for international delegations, the Manual publishes the food package at US$ 43.00 (ages 6 to 9) and US$ 85.00 (age 10 and up), covering 15 meals, from Tuesday lunch through Sunday breakfast. A transparency note: as of July 2026, the official site's international registration page sells a standard ticket for US$ 199.00 and a full ticket for US$ 299.00 already including food — a US$ 100.00 gap that doesn't line up exactly with the Manual's US$ 85.00. Treat these numbers as an order of magnitude, not a fixed table. For Brazilian clubs, the fees are not set by any table: the contract and payment are handled by the club, Field, or union directly with the five authorized restaurants. Get quotes from all five.
Insurance, paperwork, and the expenses nobody remembers
The Manual is unambiguous: to register, the club needs an Annual Insurance – SPA policy in force for 2026/2027. This insurance covers every participant with an active membership record at the local club, including cooks, security staff, and health professionals. It isn't a standalone Camporee fee — it's the annual policy that should already be current, purchased through the SGC and billed to the Association/Mission. To understand how it works, read the club annual insurance guide.
There's one exception that becomes an extra cost: insurance for children under 10 is purchased separately and is entirely the club's responsibility — this covers directorate members' children below Pathfinder age. For Brazilians, the Manual points to the "Excursion Insurance" option, quickly purchased on the South American ARM's website. ARM's public rate table charges per person, per day, based on the plan chosen and the length of the trip: on the basic plan, the daily rate per person runs under R$ 0.40 for a 6-to-10-day trip; on the table's highest plan, just over R$ 1.00. It's a cheap line item — and an unforgivable one to forget.
Paperwork costs money too. Among the required documents checked at inspection is parental or guardian authorization with a notarized signature — or, for those over 16, an electronic signature via Gov.br, per a CNJ ruling. Multiply the notarization cost by the club's number of minors and add it to the cash box. The free Gov.br option only applies to that age bracket; confirm with your directorate before assuming it applies.
The uniform is the invisible line item. The Manual requires 100% of the club to have complete official A (dress) and B (club activities) uniforms, because both will be inspected, and uniform C (Association/Mission activities) is worn for community projects and closing. Worth flagging an inconsistency in the document itself: that's the rule in the uniforms chapter, but the inspection scorecard only awards points for uniform A (40 points) and uniform C (20 points) — B doesn't appear on the points sheet. In practice, budget for all three. For a new Pathfinder, this can be the single biggest expense of the trip. Bring it up with families twelve months ahead, not in December.
- Club first-aid kit — the Manual lists the minimum items (gloves, antiseptic, saline solution, bandages, gauze, pain reliever, fever reducer, sunscreen, insect repellent, and more), sized to the number of campers.
- Shared camping gear — shovel, ropes, flashlight, torch, bucket, hoe, and a drinking-water reservoir. Add a fire extinguisher and a stool for every club member: both are worth points at inspection and often get left off the spreadsheet.
- Per participant — rain poncho, hat or cap, sunscreen, pen, Bible, and original ID document. Also add plastic bags to store mattresses and backpacks, an item checked during tent inspection, and an FM radio with earpiece, since the event's simultaneous translation runs over radio.
- Club gate — mandatory, made of recyclable material, up to 3 meters tall per club. You can split the cost: two clubs from the same Union can share the same gate between the Alpha and Omega editions, with authorization from the Association/Mission.
Did it get more expensive? The 2019-to-2027 track record
Comparing editions helps the treasurer defend the budget at a meeting. The V DSA Camporee took place in January 2019, at the same Parque do Peão in Barretos, and that edition's Manual also published a table by Union. The comparison between the two official documents is straightforward:
| Union group | V Camporee (2019) | VI Camporee (2027) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCB, UCOB, USB, USEB | R$ 197.00 | R$ 379.00 | +92% |
| ULB, UNB, UNEB, UNOB | R$ 170.00 | R$ 354.00 | +108% |
| Argentina (UA) | US$ 47.00 | US$ 67.00 | +43% |
| Chile (UCH) | US$ 38.00 | US$ 62.00 | +63% |
| Ecuador (UE) | US$ 33.00 | US$ 57.00 | +73% |
| International delegations (outside the DSA) | US$ 60.00 | US$ 199.00 | +232% |
There are eight years between one edition and the next — the 2019 and 2027 Camporees aren't annual events, and that gap explains much of the jump. Another data point for context: a lost wristband cost R$ 100.00 in 2019 and costs R$ 50.00 in 2027. So it's not a straight-line increase across the board.
We could not confirm, in an officially accessible source today, the fee table for the 2014 IV DSA Camporee ("Encounter Set in Eternity," also in Barretos, January 7 to 12, 2014). The copies circulating online are on third-party sites, with no guarantee they're the Manual's final version. So we've left that row out rather than publish a number we can't stand behind.
The practical takeaway: if your club is planning the next South American Camporee, work on the assumption that registration could double over an eight-year cycle, and start saving early. See how in the club fundraising guide.
How do you build the spreadsheet and find the cost per Pathfinder?
The number that matters isn't "how much does registration cost," it's how much does it cost per Pathfinder. And there's a catch: the club pays registration for everyone, but not everyone pays it back. Exempt roles (security, cooks) and the health professional's discount come out of the collective pot, so the real split falls on the paying spots.
| Line item | Who sets it | How it enters the spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | DSA (official Manual) | R$ 379.00 or R$ 354.00 × total spots, minus exemptions and the 50% health discount |
| Transportation | Club (quote) | Round trip + 50 km of transfers + tolls + driver lodging and meals |
| Food | Club (kitchen or restaurant) | Groceries + gas + utensils, or a contract with an accredited restaurant |
| Insurance | Required by the DSA; priced by ARM | Current annual SPA policy + excursion insurance for children under 10 |
| Uniform and T-shirt | Club and family | Complete A and B for 100% of the club, plus C for projects and closing; a commemorative T-shirt is a club option, not a requirement |
| Gear | Club | Tents, gate, 30 m extension cord, first-aid kit |
| Paperwork | Notary / Gov.br | Notarization of travel authorizations |
| Cash reserve | Club | Margin for surprises, a lost wristband, medicine, a name change |
Pay close attention to cash flow. Registration works on a post-registration model: the invoice is issued for a single purchase of 100% of the spots the club received, due 24 hours after issuance. Miss that deadline and the spots are lost automatically — and the Field can reassign them to another club. An issued invoice can't be canceled to generate a new one. And the Manual is explicit: under no circumstance is a paid registration refunded, whether a Pathfinder or the whole club withdraws. Treat this the way the club treasurer would: money in the account before you click "generate invoice."
Dates that still affect your budget (per the Guidelines Manual, checked in July 2026):
| Period | What happens |
|---|---|
| 07/01/2026 to 01/04/2027 (Alpha) | Adding and swapping names on already-purchased spots, respecting the 45% directorate cap |
| 07/01/2026 to 01/11/2027 (Omega) | Same window, for the Omega edition |
| 07/17/2026 | Release of the VI DSA Camporee's Events Manual — may bring new materials and costs for the 8 events |
| 07/20 to 07/30/2026 | SGC registration for the band/fanfare and creative drill contests (25 points each) |
| 12/03 to 12/10/2026 | Daypass purchase in the SGC (R$ 185.00 per day) |
| Through 12/20/2026 | Guest Club enrollment in the SGC, handled by the Fields, to fill unused spots |
| 01/04 or 01/11/2027, from 12 p.m. | Early entry, only for clubs authorized by the Fields after checking with the DSA. Special cases needing extra gate-setup time must be arranged three months in advance |
One underused option is the Guest Club: if your club received more spots than it has members, you can bring in a guest club from the same Field instead of losing spots you already paid for. That splits the fixed bus and gate costs between two clubs — and saves the budget of a club that bought too many spots.
An honest note about tools: registration, spot quotas, scoring, and insurance all happen exclusively through the SGC, the church's official Club Management System. Nothing replaces it, and you shouldn't try to make something else work instead. If you don't have access yet, see how to get into the SGC. A spreadsheet, an app, or a notebook are only good for planning and talking with families — there's only one official record. Once the budget is locked in, the next step is getting the club ready: see how to prepare for a Camporee.