Algonquin Campership Fund

The mission of Algonquin Campership Fund is to provide "camperships" (scholarships) to children in need, to attend a canoe tripping camp in Algonquin Park. Our vision is a world where all children, regardless of circumstance, have access to outdoor camping experiences and carry with them the skills to be the future leaders in environmental stewardship.Emphasis is placed on children and school groups in western New York. Scholarship criteria include financial need and extraordinary circumstances in a child’s life. Awards may cover up to 100% of camp costs. In 2000, Camp Pathfinder alumni, and Rochester locals Scott Forsyth and Trip Pierson helped camp owners the Prewitts, Arthurs and Sladdens create a fund to help boys and girls attend camps Pathfinder and Northway. Administered as a 501 (c) (3) scholarship fund through the Rochester Area Community Foundation (RACF), Algonquin Campership Fund (ACF) allows camp alumni, parents and friends to make tax-deductible charitable gifts directly benefitting families and school groups with limited financial resources. The Fund also attracts support from family charitable funds and trusts, focused on education, outdoor opportunities for at-risk youth, and conservation-ecology learning and action. Fundraising, and the recruitment and review of applicants, is handled by a volunteer steering committee of camp alumni representing many decades of attendance and service. Virtually 100% of donations is directed to endowment and direct annual scholarship. As ACF celebrates 23 years, over $800,000 has been granted to individual summer campers and to inner city student groups, using camp for vital outdoor education experiences. Meanwhile, the Fund’s endowment remains at a strong and growing $636,000. There are minimal overhead costs: virtually all of the giving goes to the kids. Think of it! We have generated over one million dollars of support, both for the camps we love and the young people who need a helping hand to experience camp’s amazing lifelong effects. While the coronavirus panademic put a halt to summer camp plans this year, we have high hopes for summer 2021. Goals for 2020-2021 include increasing the ACF donor base, and to re-engage school group alumni. ACF has developed highly successful outdoor education partnerships with three WNY schools in low-income urban centers: Wilson High School and World of Inquiry in Rochester, and City Honors HS in Buffalo. Several notable alumni of these school partnerships have gone on to work on the Pathfinder guide staff. ACF rank-and-file donor participation inspires greater support from other foundations and family trusts. When more alumni give, more current parents give, and more young alumni give, ACF attracts support from more large-scale donors! Your giving can also be matched by a donor’s employer. Thank you for supporting Algonquin Campership Fund and investing in our future outdoor leaders!

We focus on: The Environment, Education

Where we are: Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, Yates