Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation

"Sporting camps are a cultural and entrepreneurial resource distinctive to the state"
– Alice Arlen, Author & Sporting Camp Historian

"There are serious challenges facing the sporting camp industry today"
– State of Maine Comprehensive Land Use Plan, 2007

"Continued operation of sporting camps contributes not only to local and regional
economies, but also benefits the tourism industry throughout the State"
– Resolution of Maine's 112th Legislature

The Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation's mission is to preserve Maine's Sporting Camps and the natural resources they rely upon so Sporting Camps may continue providing their special outdoor heritage and non-exclusivity in serving the public's need for remote outdoor recreation experiences, while strengthening Maine's rural economy.

The Foundation:

• Educates the public about Maine’s sporting camp heritage and their surrounding natural resources;
• Builds coalitions to support conservation of the natural habitats and wildlife depended upon by sporting camps;
• Provides sporting camps with marketing and business assistance, grants, and "patient capital", in order to restructure the economics of sporting camp operations.

The Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation is a State of Maine public benefit non profit corporation designated by IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. All donations are deductable as charitable donations.

Update January 2012:

The IRS has approved our application for recognition as a 501c3 public charity, effective December 2009. This includes all activities that we have described for the IRS in our application, including:

• Owning the land under a sporting camp and providing the camp owner with a long term lease -- thereby allowing the owners to obtain commercial financing, invest in long term capital improvements, and even to facilitate ownership changes
• Owning or otherwise conserving the broader landscape around a sporting camp Providing business, marketing and economic assistance to sporting camps
• Re-establishing closed and private sporting camps as businesses open to serve public demand and help re-establish the industry's critical mass and public awareness
• Providing grants for training, business assistance, and preservation of historically significant cabins and structures
• Providing grants and assistance for developing new recreational resources, like trails and wildlife observation blinds
• Providing grants and assistance to enhance habitats and populations of important animal, fish and plant species vital to sporting camps.
• Using sporting camps to preserve Maine's sporting heritage, hunting & fishing opportunities and to introduce new participants to these activities

We have prevailed over IRS claims that owning, operating and even conserving land around a sporting camp would not constitute a charitable purpose. Should the IRS have prevailed, it might have put into jeopardy the activities of other Maine organizations that currently own, build or operate sporting camps, such as the Appalachian Mountain Club, Chewonki, Maine Huts & Trails, and Eliotsville Plantation. The IRS had also made similar claims about many organizations that conserve farms and ranch lands in order to allow those families to preserve their way of life -- ie, their "heritage."

The Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation may now proceed with confidence that our plans for using land ownership and conservation as a small business and economic development asset will be in compliance with IRS rules, and therefore our potential donors may also have this confidence.

There is much work to be done now, and our progress will depend greatly on the development of our Board and financial resources.

Contact us for further info:

Please feel free to download this background article about the Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation, or contact us for further information.