Camp Scholarships
We are committed to equitable access to Ekone land and programs.
To this end, we offer scholarship support to children and families who are otherwise unable to attend. We fundraise with enthusiasm, and with the help of our generous supporters, provide financial aid to about 20% of our campers each year.
Please apply for a scholarship if camp tuition is out of reach, and spread the word to families who might not consider that a camp like Ekone is a possibility for their children. Ekone is for everyone!
Our approach to financial aid:
We evaluate applications according to the four goals of our scholarship program:
Offering an experience of nature, animals, and community to children lacking access to these things in their daily life
Increasing social, cultural, racial, economic, ability, and other diversity in our camp community
Prioritizing youth from tribal and local communities
Supporting leadership potential in the next generation, and a multi-faceted, multi-generational sense of belonging
We ask all families to contribute financially, so that we can stretch scholarship funds as far as possible, and so that we know you’re invested in camp. A meaningful contribution for your family might be $5 or $500—please consider your resources carefully, offer what you can, and keep in mind that the more you can offer, the further our scholarship funds will go. We may offer a smaller award than requested.
We support payment plans, up to the end of the calendar year. You can indicate if this would be helpful for your family in the scholarship application.
We encourage campers to raise tuition funds in their home communities, either through asking friends and family for pledges or earning and saving money through babysitting, mowing lawns, etc. We find that this is a wonderful way to build community and make the experience much more valuable for the camper as well. (We also recognize that this isn’t possible for all campers.)
Our scholarships are based on trust—we do not ask for details on your income and expenses, nor will we verify with your employer, but depend on the integrity and generosity of applicants to request only the support they truly need and help our scholarship funds stretch for as many deserving children as possible.
What about work-trade? We are unable to do “work-trades” for camp tuition. We do accept many volunteers throughout the year, and some families are inspired and able to “give back” and become a part of the Ekone community in this way. Please email summercamp@ekone.org if you’d like more information about volunteering.
The scholarship application is built into the online registration process. The first step is to apply to a program! Information on how to do that can be found HERE.
Questions? Email us at summercamp@ekone.org
Scholarship availability depends on the generosity of many individual donors. If you’d like to contribute to a deserving child’s camp experience, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today!
