You could use COUNTIF:

=COUNTIF(A1:A100,"p")

This will count the number of times "p" occurs in the range A1 through A100.
Repeat the formula substituting your other letters.

HTH
Elkar


"Excel Sum function with IF" wrote:

I am trying to set a formula that will count how many frequency in the column
that match the criteria...

I have one column that has p, c, and v which means p as participants, c as
committee, and v as volunteers. I would like to count how many p there are
in the column into different sheet and same thing for c and v. any
suggestion?