Since 2000 Over $1,250,000 of Fantastic Support From People Like You.
Making a donation to the Algonquin Campership Fund is quick and easy, tax-deductible,
and 100% of your gift is devoted to camper awards!
Our Mission
• Provide camperships to children in need, allowing them to attend a canoe tripping camp in Algonquin Park.
• Scholarship criteria includes financial need and extraordinary circumstances in a camper’s life.
• Emphasis on children in western New York (children may reside anywhere in the US)
• Awards may cover up to 100% of camp costs for a qualifying family.
​Apply for an ACF scholarship
ACF Updates
Read the ACF report and donor appeal for this giving season. Read the report here...
2023 Looking Back / Looking Ahead - With Algonquin camps closed by provincial order in 2020, a number of awarded scholarships for boys and girls could not be used and the funds were held for them in 2021. This year, while our partner schools could not attend, a couple of boys were able to attend Pathfinder with their scholarships, and all the rest are welcome back in 2022. Vaccination, border policies and family confidence are the key factors bringing the camps back into action, and our ACF kids back to our camps!
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ACF History
In 2000, Pathfinder alumni Scott Forsyth and Trip Pierson helped camp owners the Prewitts (Northway), Arthurs and Sladdens (Pathfinder) create a fund to help boys and girls attend Algonquin camps like Pathfinder and Northway.
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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 that are 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 the kids via endowment and direct annual scholarship.
The Results
As ACF celebrates 23 years, over $1,250,000 has been raised or granted to individual summer campers and to inner city student groups, using camp for vital outdoor education experiences.
The Fund remains at a strong and growing past $900,000. There are minimal overhead costs: virtually all of the giving goes to the kids.
Think of it! We have generated over a 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.
Who Can Get a Scholarship?
Campers as individuals and in selected school groups can benefit from ACF support to attend Northway and Pathfinder. Camp counsellors may also receive scholarship support for their required certification coursework.
In a given summer, up to 2 girls and 6 boys attend Northway or Pathfinder as ACF campership awardees. Two or three school groups attend Pathfinder outdoor ed. each year, helped by ACF support.
ACF outdoor education partnerships serve 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.
Who Gives to ACF?
ACF rank-and-file donor participation inspires greater support from other foundations and family trusts that support ACF. Our goals for 2019-2020 are to increase the ACF donor base, and to re-engage lapsed traditional donors. When more alumni, friends and current parents give, ACF attracts support from more large-scale donors! Giving may also be matched by a donor’s employer.
When to Give? Right Now! How to Give? Online or By Mail.
• Online - Our Giving Page
• By Mail- Make check to Algonquin Campership Fund, and mail to...
Rochester Area Community Foundation, 500 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607.
For RACF details, email Sarah Johnston, sjohnston@racf.org
Comments from some of our ACF Campers
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“I grew the most in my self-confidence…I found myself helping others get through the hard times…I realized that I really am a capable person who can make the best of any situation.”
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“The canoe trips were so exciting because we got to portage and slide down the Pardee waterslides. I definitely want to go back to Pathfinder next year for more memorable experiences.”
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“I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime that I will never forget. It was the best summer I could have possibly had with the best group of guys…Thank you for making a life-lasting memory for me, and also for the friendships I have made with the kids on my trip and the staff.”