Arizona River Runners is one of the fourteen licensed Grand Canyon National Park’s river outfitters that have managed the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund, a non-profit enterprise established in 1988. Each year, approximately eighty percent of all passengers on professionally outfitted Grand Canyon river trips donate $1 per day of their river trip to the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund. This money is then awarded in the form of grants to non-profit conservation groups, as well as groups working to provide outdoor experiences for those with physical and socioeconomic challenges. Organizations like the Grand Canyon Trust are working hard to protect the Canyon and its natural beauty, while other groups like River of Dreams help provide river trip scholarship assistance to the disabled. Grand Canyon Youth’s mission is to give teens an experiential education along the rivers and canyons of the Southwest while promoting environmental awareness, community involvement, personal growth, and teamwork among people with diverse backgrounds and the Peregrine Fund is committed to the reintroduction and protection of the California Condor through their efforts at their Vermillion Cliffs site in Northern Arizona.
Managed by volunteers for over 20 years, the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund makes sure that 100 percent of donations go directly to the effort of protecting and conserving the Grand Canyon and providing access to those who would otherwise not be able to share in the Grand Canyon river experience. In the past 13 years, the involved river outfitters have raised over $1,000,000 in donations which has been awarded to these and other non-profit organizations in the form of grants. A lot of care and attention goes into choosing the groups to receive these funds and each individual grant generally ranges anywhere from $5,000- $20,000.
One of the most exciting new projects that the GCCF is becoming involved in is the potential of a Grand Canyon River Heritage Museum to be located at the South Rim. Participating outfitters are currently working with the Grand Canyon Association to determine the feasibility of converting the historic laundry building, located within walking distance to the rim, into this new proposed museum which will tell the history of rafting the Grand Canyon.
All of the non-profit public interest organizations involved with the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund are working hard in an effort to continue to spread awareness, education and conservation in the Canyon. Anyone can help make a difference and all donations are fully tax deductible as charitable giving. Each person to donate as little as $1 is helping to preserve one of the world’s natural wonders and is giving people an opportunity to experience that which they might otherwise never be able to.
Please visit http://gcroa.org/Pages/gccfund.htm for more information or to make a donation.
