If you have questions about any of the grant and special projects on this page, please reach out to [email protected] and a member of our team will respond as quickly as possible.
 

Open and Upcoming Funding Opportunities

These are the camp grant opportunities currently accepting applications or opening soon. To receive all future grant funding announcements and updates, make sure that you’re signed up for the ACA Now newsletter. 

Grants and Special Projects

Character at Camp Grant Program

These grants will provide financial support, training, and technical assistance for eligible nonprofit day and overnight camps in the US that are interested in starting, enhancing, expanding, or celebrating character development programs or projects.
 

Camp-School Partnerships Project

The Camp-School Partnerships Project, currently funded by the SMBC Global Foundation, is a regranting initiative that awards one- to two-year grants to nonprofit camps to build their capacity to implement and sustain high-quality camp programs for school, district, or other community-based partners.
 

Indiana Youth Programs on Campus

Indiana Youth Programs on Campus is a new Lilly Endowment initiative designed to help Indiana colleges and universities in their efforts to create new or expand and enhance existing high-quality, on-campus programs for Hoosier youth, ages 5-18. Through this initiative, the endowment is allocating a total of $28.8 million for planning grants and program implementation grants.
 

CampWell Project

This project is a collaborative initiative with the Allicance for Camp Health and the H.E. Butt Foundation. The goal of this project is to identify and create strategies to foster mental, emotional, and social thriving at camp.
 

Leadership Pathways Project

ACA’s three-year grant program is designed to foster evidence-informed planning, testing, and improving initiatives to increase access to and engagement in counselor-in-training programs and other qualified leadership programs among young people with diverse backgrounds, abilities, and identities.

 

Recent Projects

Promoting Character Through Counselors-in-Training Programs at Medical Specialty Camps

In collaboration with the American Institutes for Research® and the SeriousFun Children’s Network, ACA served as the project team on a special project made possible through the support of grant 62332 from the John Templeton Foundation, designed to build knowledge and understanding about the development of character in resilient populations. 
 

Camp Program Quality Initiative

This initiative aimed to develop systems of support for program quality at camps and was conducted in partnership with the Forum’s Weikart Center. Outcomes of this project include a nation-wide community of practice centered around program quality, a revised program quality assessment tool adapted to the camp context, and two continuous improvement workbooks. Find out more about our Camp Program Quality resources.