Character at Camp Initiative

ACA’s Character at Camp Initiative is a six-year effort to expand, strengthen, and celebrate character development at camp. Funded in 2023 by Lilly Endowment, Inc., the initiative includes the Character at Camp Grant Program and the Character Academy, an online resource built by and for camp professionals, thought leaders, and researchers — all designed specifically to support character development at camp throughout the initiative and beyond.

Character Grant Program

The ACA Character Grant Program will provide financial support, training, and technical assistance for selected day and overnight camps in the US that are interested in starting, enhancing, expanding, or celebrating character development programs or projects.

The application window for the first wave of the Character Grant Program is now closed.

There will be a second wave of Planning Grants and Implementation Grants that eligible camps can apply for in 2026. To receive all future announcements and updates, make sure that you’re signed up for the ACA Now newsletter.

Initiative Overview

The Character at Camp initiative will be conducted during the next six years. ACA will make available in-person and virtual training opportunities, educational tools, and other resources to camps to strengthen, expand, or establish character development programs at the more than 15,000 year-round and summer camps across the US. As a direct result of this new initiative, ACA will invite camp leaders to participate in educational and peer-learning opportunities, networking, training, other experiences to learn how to help develop character skills and traits at camp. ACA will work with camp professionals, youth-development experts, and others to create new educational resources, training, and assessment tools to provide camps with opportunities to engage in this important initiative.

Starting in 2025, all eligible nonprofit camps will have the opportunity to apply for competitive one-, two-, or three-year grants to support their character development programs. Eligible organizations will be able to apply for funding in amounts ranging from $5,000 to up to $300,000 based on the length of the grant period. Funds may be used for staffing, training, curricula, assessment, communications, and/or outreach and partnership efforts to support camps’ specific goals related to character development. The initiative will support a broad range of camps serving young people from varied backgrounds and experiences, including under-resourced and underrepresented youth, as well as provide funding for developing character-based programming that is culturally relevant and values the diverse perspectives of youth and families.

Camp Spotlight

We invite you to document and share highlights from character development programming at your camp this summer for the opportunity to be featured in Character at Camp educational and inspirational content.

Contact Us with Questions

Please reach out to our Character Grant Team at [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Learn more with our Character at Camp blog series.

Read the press release.

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