Foundation News

Our Board recently spent a day in Connecticut  with the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) program development staff to discuss developing several joint programs. The NSSF staff shared their abundant knowledge and research with us, and offered their continued support. Our common goal is to preserve traditional outdoor recreation like hunting, and the opportunities for public access to areas where this tradition may be enjoyed by all.

It has been long in coming, but we have received the official letter from the IRS granting full approval of the Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation as a 501(c)3 public charity as of December 2009!

The IRS has accepted all the activities we said we would be involved in. Among them are:

• 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 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 — 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.

Donors: Please contact us should you need a copy of the IRS’ Determination Letter.

The Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation is preparing to launch its new website. You can now view a great deal of information about us and our programs, although much editing will be taking place as our volunteers work on the content.

We ask for your support in this effort, and will appreciate any photographs you might send us.

We especially need photos of:

• Sporting Camps
• Historic Cabins
• Historic Sporting Camp Postcards
• Unique scenery, habitat and wildlife

All donations are appreciated, and all donors of either photographs or funds will be recognized on our Sponsors page.  Remember, donations are deductible as charitable donations for income tax purposes.