2026 Spring Sponsorship Appeal

EFC alum Jeff Shannon and his wife Salley are extending their match offer another week to get us to our goal. We are already more than halfway and your gift can make a real difference. They made their match in honor of Jeff's father (see below).Your donation supports young people in the 2026 Encampment whose families cannot afford the full program fee. Here are just a few excerpts from their applications. Why do you want to participate in the Encampment? My friend attended the program last summer and told me about her experience. After hearing everything she learned and did, I became interested especially in the topics the program focuses on. I enjoy talking about issues in our country and the world, especially during times when people are being mistreated and affected by injustices. I care about those conversations and want to be a part of them. I expect to grow, challenge myself, and bring what I learn back to my community. Name ONE issue or problem that you care about. How does this issue affect you? How does it affect your community? One issue I care about is the lack of political awareness in the current day. I think that many people my age don’t invest time in modern politics because its "boring" or they just "aren't politically involved." Who runs the government determines everything about how we live, what we can and cannot do in our own country and I think if people were more aware of what is going on present-day we wouldn't have as many issues with government as we do now. From another applicant: Mental health and racial inequality. Having lost a friend to mental health issues last year had made me realize how many young kids struggle alone. This makes me want to help young people realize they are not alone in their silent battles even when they feel there’s no way out. With the Encampment starting in just 18 days, the challenge is to fund all the 2026 Encampers whose families cannot afford the whole program fee. Jeff and Salley have stepped up to provide an incentive to help us get to the $45,000 mark. For the next week, double your donation: You can honor someone who inspires you by supporting the Encampment and that donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $4,000! We are at the $2,250 mark so we can do this! Just click and tell us in your donation note the person or organization you want to honor. We'll add your note to our Honor Scroll. Read on for Peter Neufeld and Belinda's talking about the Encampment's impact on their lives.

We are asking for your help with a core part of the EFC’s mission. Each summer, we bring together young people (ages 15–18) of different ethnic, religious, gender orientation, geographic, and economic backgrounds for a living experience of participatory democracy and skills building. Your support is the reason that we are able to bring young people from different backgrounds together from across the country and beyond who want to work toward creating a more just world.

This year, we have been flooded with applications from young people who are eager to participate in our summer program. They want to either get started or get more skills and community support for their current activism. They understand, as we do, that the time to get involved is now. We asked two EFC alums, separated by 50 years’ time, to comment about why it’s so important to help sponsor Encampers:

“I support the Encampment financially because I recognize that it’s the diversity of the group that makes it as successful and as powerful as it has been over the years. It’s critical that people support the Encampment if you want to have a diverse body of young people live together for the summer and take on some of life’s most challenging questions.” — Peter Neufeld, 1966 alum, co-founder of the Innocence Project

“[Participating in the Encampment] would not have been a possibility for me without a sponsorship. When I think about whose voices need to be uplifted, whose confidence needs to be uplifted, and who we need solutions from, I see the need for sponsorship funding. Young people want to contribute to the solutions.“ — Belinda, 2015+ alum, legal advocate in an immigration rights nonprofit

To have the diversity that makes the Encampment the transformative experience it is, no young person who is accepted to the program is turned away because their family cannot afford the fee. Families pay according to their income. Many of the families of the young people cannot afford the full or partial program fee, so our sponsorship fund fills that gap.

We asked both alums: Why is the Encampment important now?

“That summer at the Encampment was one of the single most defining experiences of my youth. It was the first time in my life that that I lived in a situation where there was a significant number of people from disparate parts of the country who had very different life experiences than I had. We need more people to go through the Encampment experience who can perhaps become leaders of a movement to challenge what’s going on right now and move us in a much healthier direction.” — Peter

“I’ve worked at several nonprofits, volunteering and paid, and the Encampment is unique in the intergenerational skill-sharing, resource sharing, wisdom-sharing. The EFC values youth voices. I think about the young people who are currently detained by ICE. The disregard for young people is very alarming to me. The Encampment is a whole organization that is committed to young people on so many levels: the summer program, year-long opportunities such as the InterGen Café, being part of the board or on a committee. These are all ways that the Encampment embodies that respect for young people and the desire as a collective to come up with solutions with everybody's voice.” — Belinda

2026 is the 80th year since the Encampment’s founding by people who were committed to giving young people the experience and tools to strengthen democracy. Our founders saw the need for critical thinking in the face of fascism. They provided opportunities in the host community for Encampers to discover a variety of ways that people address community issues. More than that, like Peter and Belinda, they saw the EFC’s diverse community as a way of experiencing democracy in action. They encouraged Encampers to figure out ways to govern their time together. It was not easy and it was often messy, but it was a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. All of the people — no matter their family’s income.

That is what we continue to do each summer and during the year with our virtual community gatherings — InterGen Cafés: We bring people of all ages and different backgrounds together to talk about the issues that affect our lives and look for solutions together. You are invited to a special gathering in the fall to celebrate our anniversary — check your email for updates.

Right now, our efforts are focused on the crucial need to fund every Encamper for the summer program. You can help by donating today — any amount gets us closer to our sponsorship campaign goal of $45,000.

In Community,

The Encampment Team

*You can read Peter's alum story here: : https://encampmentforcitizenship.org/peter-neufeld-alum-story/

*You can read Belinda's alum story here: https://encampmentforcitizenship.org/belindas-alum...