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A Year to Celebrate

Summer 2026 will see a new record number of young people experience the magic of camp and the outdoors with A Thousand Summers. This has been made possible because a community came together once again to serve the next generation. Donors and partners answered the call in a huge way, creating the necessary funds to allow the staff at ATS to get to work. And they worked hard!

Programs Improvement 

Gillian and Anna continue to refine the ATS programs while simultaneously screening and shepherding applicants and their families with the help of an army of dedicated volunteers. As the number of participants in our programs increases, so does the workload to manage them. 

What’s most impressive to me, however, is that the philosophy is not one centered on management, but rather is rooted in service and improvement. Congratulations to Gillian and to Anna for positioning ATS for a successful year of programs. 

Record Fundraising

Our annual fundraising has grown consistently over the past several years and that can be attributed, in part, to the execution of a well-crafted development plan under Alyssa’s expert guidance. Donor stewardship has been a central tenet of that plan, and we have been rewarded by you and others who have remained generously committed to our mission. 

We have also attracted continued investment in our endowment that supports future camperships and creates a strong financial foundation for our organization, adding 6 new Endowed Campership funds in the past 4 years. 

This year we secured a record $1.3 million in new funding that has helped us to provide more camperships than ever before, continue to expand our programs including Outdoor Leadership and Fellowship, and build upon the preparation work that is so vital to a camper’s success through peer support and programs such as Compass. 

This success is certainly exciting and is something to be celebrated! Costs are continuing to rise, however, and it is critical that we invest in our organization to enable us to do the work to attract and retain the financial support that will allow us to continue to grow and expand our impact. As we prepare to mark Alyssa’s 10-year anniversary with ATS, I would like to share my appreciation for the leadership she continues to provide to our development efforts and congratulate her on her success.

Introducing Development and Communication Manager and Campership Program Alumna, Kyle Smith 

The importance of intentional investment in our organization is highlighted in our current strategic plan that calls for increased annual revenue and an expansion of our support base to allow us to serve more youth in our expanding program lineup. 

Positioning ourselves as a youth development organization makes us appealing to a broader audience but requires us to create the capacity to capitalize on that potential. We have steadily increased our fundraising, created six-figure annual revenue from our programs, begun to attract corporate partnership dollars, and have secured significant support from our associate camp partners. 

To fully capitalize on that potential it was necessary to invest in our development team, and we have been working toward this for the past couple of years. I am very excited to announce that in April we hired Kyle Smith as our new Development and Communication Manager.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Kyle to the team! 

Corporate Partnerships

We recognize the potential of partnering with businesses and corporations as our footprint expands and our reputation in the youth development space grows. We are seeking new and exciting opportunities to align with companies that share our values and wish to see young people thrive. 

This year we renewed partnerships with two such companies that helped to support the travel side of our work. ShipCamps and Southwest Airlines provided in-kind support for luggage transportation and round-trip air travel respectively. The combined value of these partnerships was worth $35,700 to ATS, enabling us to divert money that we would have spent on travel expenses to camperships, fellowships, and opportunities in our Outdoor Leadership Program in 2026.

New Endowment Campership Funds

I am thrilled to announce the new Endowed Campership Funds established in 2026. The Virginia Cheley Sass and Louis Sass Family Campership and the Fuller Family Trust Endowed Campership Fund add to the existing 21 funds to make a combined Endowed Campership fund that exceeds $4.3 million. 

These funds create extraordinary opportunities to support current and future generations. Individual campers are provided with guaranteed funding of their camperships for their ‘full lifespan of camp’. Introducing kids to camp at ages 10 or 11 allows for an experience that can last for up to 7 years, generating significant personal growth and development for these youth. In addition, these funds form the bedrock of our long-term financial security as an organization. 

Endowed Campership Funds and the potential they create for us to grow their value further enhance our ability to provide camperships in the name of these generous and dedicated supporters for many, many years to come. 

We are so thankful for these highly impactful gifts and we are honored to work with individuals and families to help create a powerful legacy.

Meet Some of the Youth We Are Serving in 2026

I could continue talking about ATS and the return on your investment in our organization, but the best way to share our success is to hear directly from the young people who are benefiting from your support. 

Whether this is their first summer at camp or if they are a seasoned camp veteran, they all are excited to develop new friendships and new skills, have new experiences, and seek adventure. Seeing their smiling faces and hearing in their own words what camp means to them reminds us of our “why.” These kids are why we work so hard to make this camp experience possible.

I hope their messages take you back to your own camp days or maybe remind you why you got involved with ATS in the first place. Your support over the years has allowed countless young people across the country to experience the magic of camp.

A Board Hard at Work

The ATS Board recently met in Estes Park, CO, for its annual spring retreat. On the agenda, amongst other things, was an opportunity for trustees to experience first-hand the workings of our Compass Program, the finalization of organizational values as part of our pre-strategic planning work, and a tour of Cheley Camps. 

The slate for 2026-2027 was finalized with Teddy Shaw assuming the role of Chair from Mike Brower. Mike will stay on for another year, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his leadership, his support, and his friendship as we worked together to guide the organization over the past two years.   

After each serving two terms and volunteering a combined 18 years as trustees, we thank Kim Kittle, Ann McCollum, and Terry Taylor for their incredible service to ATS. As they prepare to join you all as former trustees, we know that they will remain close and loyal to our organization.   

A slate of three new trustees were elected to the Board. I am thrilled to welcome Mel Johnson (Denver), Asher Landay (Los Angeles), and Vallie Freeman (Cincinnati) who will commence their service on July 1. 

Mel is an Executive Director of Sales Support and Operations with Comcast and brings valuable institutional risk management, process improvement, and strategic experience. She is also a camp parent and long-time former camper herself at Greystone Camp in Asheville, NC. Asher, a former Cheley camper, is a Senior VP at Jerry Bruckheimer Television, and self-professed networker who is excited to join our Programs and Camps committees. Vallie, a former camper at Camp Thunderbird, works as the Associate Director of Development at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation having transitioned away from a legal career and brings key skills and experience to the Board. She is now a parent of two current Thunderbird campers–one at the Girls Camp and one at the Boys Camp.

Together we continue to work to build an even stronger organization, striving to expand the resources at our disposal so that we might make an even greater impact in the world.

Investment Management

As part of its fiscal governance responsibilities, the Finance Committee issued a request for proposals to several investment management firms, including Argent Trust Company where long-time investment manager and former JACF trustee, John McCollum now works. 

This resulted in the selection of a new firm, Harmony Nonprofit, to manage the Foundation’s assets and to take an active approach in seeking an increased return over time while still remaining protective of our precious assets. 

Harmony Nonprofit works exclusively with smaller nonprofit clients and delivers institutional investment management, stewardship, and strategy governance to support sustainability and mission continuity. Their unique approach and nonprofit expertise will help address liquidity and cash flow needs and provide the kinds of sophisticated investment strategies enjoyed by larger institutions. We are excited for this partnership and what it can bring to our organization. 

As John McCollum steps away from the role he served so generously for over 15 years managing our assets, I would like to publicly express our appreciation for his expert management that helped our organization establish a solid financial foundation. I am also personally thankful for his advice as we navigated this process and the resulting transition.

Updated Giving Levels

You may have read in our spring newsletter and in a recent blog that we will be increasing our giving levels beginning on July 1st.

While we continue to do all we can to leverage relationships with our camp and community partners, raise funds, and effectively control expenses, just like everyone else, we are experiencing challenging cost increases:

• In 2010 the average cost of a campership was $5,000
• Today that cost has increased by around 60% and is now closer to $8,000
• The costs of travel and equipment have also increased significantly, making it more difficult to support the young people we send to camp

We have been able to deliver the camp experience at a below-market price due in large part to the contributions of our partners, and we have not increased our giving levels for over 10 years. We will continue to deliver the camp experience at a below-market price, but as our costs rise, we must balance those increased costs without sacrificing our commitment to service and quality.

We are committed to offering the highest quality youth development experiences for the young people we serve. We are confident that we will continue to offer incredible value in the investment you make in our organization. It is our belief that the decisions we’ve made, coupled with your continued support, will ultimately allow us to deliver on the dream that Jack Cheley had all those years ago to make camp more accessible…the dream that launched A Thousand Summers. 

In Memoriam

In recent months we celebrated the lives of two beloved members of our community.

Judy Phillips served as a trustee from 1996-2002. Her deep love for the Colorado mountains was born during her childhood summers at Cheley Camps, where she embraced hiking, backpacking, and horseback riding. Her time there, first as a camper and then as a counselor, shaped her adventurous spirit and forged lifelong friendships. Her experiences at Cheley remained important to her throughout her life.

Richard “Smitty” Smith was an institution both within our organization as well as at Cheley Camps. Smitty joined the John Austin Cheley Foundation’s Board in 1990, shortly after the organization was founded and went on to serve as Chair for 3 of his 10 years. I will remember fondly my many conversations with Smitty about camp and the importance of the work we do.

We are grateful for the support that Judy and Smitty provided to the young people we serve and for their lasting impact on our organization. They will be missed.  

Closing

As our first-term campers are well into their 2026 summer adventures, I want to thank you again for your continued support. Your contributions to ATS over the years, both in monetary gifts and in volunteer service hours, have allowed us to grow into the organization we are today. 

Thank you for helping us provide a life-changing experience for the wonderful young people we serve.

Happy summer!

Tim Lucas

Executive Director

Messages from some of the many deserving and grateful young people we are sending to camp this summer.

Gai shares why camp is in his heart…

Our campers are very excited about the summer of 2021 and all of the positives that it will bring. Click on the video below to view a special message about what they are looking forward to and how grateful they are for the support of our donors and volunteers.