Wayfinder’s Hero Fund

Our Financial Aid Program

The Wayfinder Experience Hero Fund is a scholarship program to help kids and teens in financial need attend Wayfinder events. Allowing more access to community spaces and different kinds of programming regardless of financial status is important to us as an organization and so we endeavor to grant as many Hero Fund requests as we can. These funds are intended for those community members most in need. Given the number of campers who apply for Hero Fund grants and the level of donation we receive we cannot provide more than 50% of the cost of camp through the Hero Fund. Please consider if a payment plan or work exchange might be a better fit for you or could be used in combination when requesting Hero Fund assistance (inquiries about payment plans and work exchange can be made via Info@WayfinderExperience.com).

While Wayfinder is annually the largest individual donor, Wayfinder staff and community members make up the bulk of the donors to the Hero Fund. The help and commitment to the work that we do is something that we are endlessly grateful for. Please consider donating and know that donations have made transformative experiences available to kids going back over a decade.

Please note that donations made to Wayfinder are separate from donations made to the Hero Fund- to donate directly to the Hero Fund please mail a check to our office or give us a call. Donations made to Wayfinder are also used for a broader variety of purposes than the Hero Fund, which goes directly to covering camp tuition.

To make a donation

Thanks to our partnership with Adventure Game Inc, we can accept tax deductible donations!

Your donations will directly contribute to our ability to continue to run live changing immersive LARP programs for kids, teens and adults in the Hudson Valley. Donations will be used for, but are not limited to, our Hero Fund Scholarship program, improvements to our warehouse and Adventure Game production quality, and providing support to our full time staff.

 

Ways to Donate

Online
Make a donation to support the magical work of The Wayfinder Experience here!

By Mail
Mail a check to our office (write Hero Fund in the memo)
The Wayfinder Experience
61 O’Neil St
Kingston, NY 12401

By Phone
Give us a call at (845) 481-0776

Be a Hero and help a child or teen join the adventure! Thank you!

Requesting Aid

The amount of aid we can give out is variable depending on the current balance of the Hero Fund.

The process for requesting scholarships is below:

1. Register online for the camp you’d like to attend and select to pay by check. Register here.
2. Next please write an email with information that tells us how much of the camp price you are able to afford and how much aid you would need. Please remember we are able to accept installment payments throughout the summer, and in some cases, during the off-season. Send your email to info@wayfinderexperience.com. We will contact you for any additional information we may need.
3. Once Wayfinder has a better idea of camp enrollment, we will let you know how much aid we can give. If our offer works for you, you will be enrolled. If it does not meet your needs, you may un-enroll with no penalty.

For the 2025 Summer Season, the due date for scholarship applications is May 1st.  The first round of decisions will be made by June 1st.  Applicants submitting after May 1st will be considered in a second round decisions which will be made by June 21.

Hero Fund money is first come first serve. Once the collected donations are given out, that is all we can provide for that given season.