Algonquin Campership Fund

The Algonquin Campership Fund, administered by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, is on a mission to enhance outdoor educational and recreational experiences for youth while fostering diversity, safety, and a profound appreciation for the natural world. Founded in the year 2000 by passionate alumni of Camp Pathfinder in Algonquin Provincial Park, our Fund is dedicated to enriching the lives of young individuals within the Eastern United States and Ontario, Canada. ACF’s overarching ambition is to inspire and enable more young individuals to partake in the tradition of canoe-tripping summer camps nestled within the stunning landscapes of Algonquin Park, Canada. 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) accepts tax-deductible charitable gifts that directly benefit 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. There are minimal overhead costs: virtually all of the giving goes to the kids. Goals for 2023-2024 include increasing the ACF donor base, and to re-engage school group alumni, and the creation of a new funding arm to support enrichment programs related to outdoor education and safety for local organizations and camps. 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