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September 21, 2025 2025 Giving Guide

Camp Susan Curtis

 

Who We Are

Camp Susan Curtis is the only camp in Maine that provides a 10-day camp experience exclusively for Maine children from low-income households, at no cost to their families. Since 1974, kids in need have been learning how to swim, hiking their first mountain, and catching salamanders at Camp Susan Curtis.

Your Gift This Year Will:

• Give 400 Maine kids from low-income households 10 days of fun at an overnight summer camp and provide each child with everything they need to have fun at camp, including outdoor gear, bedding, toiletries, and bus transportation to and from camp.

• Get kids in need outside and introduce them to many outdoor activities, including swimming, biking, hiking, archery, kayaking, canoeing, and climbing a ropes course.

• Welcome our campers into a supportive community they return to year after year, where they make lifelong friends and meet adult mentors who encourage them to pursue their dreams.

• Disconnect kids from screens for their 10 days at camp, so they can connect to each other and have fun trying new things outside.

• Teach kids in need essential life and leadership skills, such as goal setting, positive risk taking, and collaboration, that help children build self-confidence.

• Provide underserved kids with exposure to career and college opportunities through skills workshops, campus tours, scholarship discussions, and 1:1 conversations with mentors about future aspirations.

Fundraising events/Opportunities

Upcoming fundraising events include: 

• Last fall’s 50th Anniversary Gala, “Campfire Under the Stars,” was an extraordinary evening – bringing together 350 guests at Portland’s Brick South and raising over $300,000 to advance Camp Susan Curtis’s mission of serving Maine children from low-income families. Building on that remarkable success, we are now preparing to launch the upcoming gala in 2026. While details are still unfolding, anticipation is already building for another celebratory evening filled with connection, purpose, and support for Maine youth.

• Join us for the 10th Annual Evening with Maine Authors in August 2026 – an inspiring evening of cocktails, buffet dinner, author readings and signings all supporting Camp Susan Curtis. Previous events featured Lily King, Elizabeth Strout, Monica Wood, and Peter Brown. This milestone event honors a decade of community engagement and camper transformation. Event details and Maine authors to be announced in early 2026.

Giving Opportunities

• Individual Donations: It’s because of caring people like you that Maine kids in need get to come to camp each year. $150 sends a child to camp for a day. $1,500 will send one child to camp for all 10 days! Visit susancurtis.org to donate today!

• Corporate Sponsorships: Send a local child from your community to camp! A donation of $1,500 will give one child a 10-day life-changing experience at Camp Susan Curtis.

• Gifts of Stock: If you’d like to make a gift of stock, please contact our Director of Development, Alaena Dunn, at adunn@susancurtis.org.

• Bequests: By including Camp Susan Curtis in your will, kids in need will get to return to Camp Susan Curtis for years to come.

• Giving Tuesday – Dec. 2, 2025: Celebrate Giving Tuesday by sending kids in need to camp!

Volunteer Opportunities

• Individual opportunities include serving on one of our dynamic board committees, teaching campers a new hobby or skill at our “special interest weekends” at camp and assisting with mailings and fundraisers at the office in Portland.

• Group opportunities include landscaping, camp clean-up days, and assembling camper supplies.

• Corporate partners welcome campers to their workplace through “Camp to Campus” field trips that help expose campers to possible career opportunities.

At A Glance

Established: 1971 / Employees: 7 / Annual revenue: $1,415,000

Top funding sources

37% Individual contributions

36% Foundation and corporate grants

11% Investments

8% Corporate contributions

5% Special events

3% Rentals and miscellaneous revenue

Contact

70 Center St., Unit 204

Portland, ME 04101

207-774-1552

www.susancurtis.org

Program Details

Camp Susan Curtis provides Maine youth ages 10-18 from low-income households with a safe, supportive, multi-year summer camp experience. Kids are provided with everything they need to have fun at camp, including clothing, swimsuits, sneakers, toiletries, bedding, and more. Our trauma-informed curriculum is designed to create lasting community – helping kids grow confidence, resilience, and life skills they carry beyond camp into school, home, and beyond.

Mission Statement

The mission of Camp Susan Curtis is to provide a transformative camp experience that nurtures self-confidence and a sense of belonging in Maine children facing economic hardship.

Service locations

Camp Susan Curtis exclusively serves Maine kids from low-income households. In 2024, we served children from all 16 of Maine’s counties.

Leadership

Scott Merrow
Executive Director

Board Officers

Pat Skall, Chair, Self Employed

Laura Huddy, Vice Chair, Senior Vice President, Commercial Lending, Bangor Savings Bank

Michael Norton, Clerk, Writer & Marketer, Self Employed

Jeannine Pendergast, Treasurer, Principal, Senior Vice President, ESOP Client Advisor, Spinnaker Trust

Nolan Reichl, Past Chair, Partner, Pierce Atwood LLP

Board Members

Tanner Adams, Vice President, Middle Market Banking, JPMorganChase

Ted Hall, Retired, Great Schools Partnership

Maria Happnie, Partner, Purdy Powers & Company

Colin O’Neill, Chief Clinical Officer, Tri-County Mental Health Services

Paul Ostrowski, Engineering Design Manager, Sebago Technics

Katy Rand, Partner, Pierce Atwood LLP

Kini-Ana Tinkham, Vice President, Public Health Systems Consultants

Dean Walker, Chief Operating Officer, R.M. Davis

Kathryn Wise, Director of Design and Construction, L.L.Bean