Bond that Binds Us Capital Campaign

Campaign Update: As of July 2025, nearly 60% of the estimated $6 million goal to fund all the projects listed in the master site plan has been pledged or donated by 130 community members.

Please read more below about the campaign, what has been accomplished with your donations, and what we plan to do with future gifts.

Clearwater’s capital improvement planning began in 2018 when the board engaged the community, campers, and staff to determine what was needed to optimize the camper experience. Many of Clearwater’s facilities were originally built in 1912 as the Pottawattamie Lodge to accommodate Camp Minocqua families and became Clearwater’s camp buildings in 1938. Clearwater’s community has been generous in ensuring proper maintenance of these buildings and grounds over time. However, we are now executing an ambitious, comprehensive effort to update and upgrade so that we can:

• ensure safety while meeting the needs of today’s campers, 
• remain faithful to camp’s beauty, history, and traditions, and
• continue to fulfill Clearwater’s mission and vision.

An expert architect, Blake Theisen of Parkitecture + Planning, guided the board in envisioning the possibilities for Clearwater’s future. After a thorough planning process and additional input from the community, Clearwater’s board adopted the master site plan in spring 2022. Clearwater’s vision for the future:

To complete this comprehensive master site plan, we are initiating each “portage” of this journey after thorough design and construction planning is completed and funding is secured. Blake Theisin and Lee Construction continue to provide expert support and execution of the plan. The portages are outlined below.

While our board approved the final master site plan in May 2022, there were a few donors who contributed to the vision for Clearwater’s future as early as 2021. These early donors made the first “portage” possible as we began construction in August 2023 shortly after alums left our 90th reunion.  Campers and counselors enjoyed an elevated experience of camp when they arrived in June 2024 with the completion of the projects outlined below under Portage #1.

We officially launched our capital campaign, The Bond that Binds Us: Building Clearwater’s Future in early 2024. Over 120 donors responded to a special $150,000 challenge issued by one of our long-time donors to complete two of the anticipated four new staff cabins in Portage #2. This summer, senior staff lived in these new cabins and brought excellent experience and skills that were invaluable to making camp so successful and fun.

We aim to complete all of the projects in the site plan by Clearwater’s 95^th Reunion in 2028. We are grateful to everyone who has joined this capital fundraising effort to achieve the $6 million+ goal required to complete all the projects in the master site plan outlined below. Along with these donors and others who will join our campaign with their donations, our wonderful community is securing Clearwater’s future for the benefit of current and future generations of Clearwater daughters.

Portage #1 Projects 

$2.4 Million secured! Completed and enjoyed by campers and counselors in summer 2024!

Initial fundraising efforts began in the fall of 2022 by meeting with those who could expedite an initial round of priority capital projects with their significant personal donations. These donors provided $2.4 million for the first “portage” and construction was completed on the following projects during the off-season before Clearwater’s Opening Day in 2024. You can read more about this portage in our July Site Plan Sparks.

• Mainstay, the new Welcome Center, is a beautiful new focus when you drive into camp. It houses a welcome center office, the camp store, nurses’ quarters, exam rooms, and an infirmary. A large new storm shelter on the lower level doubles as a great space for rainy-day activities
• Backstay, our new maintenance facilities near the riding ring.
• Increased green space on the waterfront and behind the swamp for expanded programming.
• New multi-purpose sports courts for tennis, pickleball, and basketball.

Portage #2: Staff Housing 

$550,000 secured for 2 new staff cabins used in summer 2025

August 2025 Update: THANK YOU Clearwater Community for responding to the $150,000 challenge in Fall 2024! We now have two new staff cabins that were used by senior staff this summer.

While our traditional college-aged counselors remain an important key to our success, we would like to expand the depth of our summer team, and this would require additional staff housing of up to four new cabins. Previously, our staff housing options were more communal and did not allow staff members to bring a partner or child to camp with them. Now that we can offer a more family-friendly option, we know of multiple alumni who would happily return to work at camp. This upgrade to staff housing allows us to fill very important leadership positions requiring more maturity and life experience than our younger staff members can offer, thus elevating the camp experience for everyone. Additionally, having more adults at camp creates a more balanced staff culture and provides more opportunities for mentorship and guidance for our younger generations of counselors, which is always a need.

Each of these new cabins will cost approximately $250,000 to design, build, and furnish. To read the latest update on this portage, please read our Site Plan Sparks.

Future Portages

approximately $3 million required

(timing to be determined by meeting funding goals and ability to complete construction around the camp season and harsh winters of the Northwoods)

• Expanding the Mains’l (the dining hall) so that campers and staff have more room to comfortably eat, enjoy one another’s company, and continue traditional after-meal singing! This will include adding a wrap-around porch and additional mainland bathrooms.
• Re-building and expanding the early 1900’s kitchen to modern standards, as well as to ensure safety and longevity as the wear and tear of so many years has taken a toll.
• Shoring up the area between Mains’l and the Deck, creating new activity space.
• Upgrading the storm shelter and reinforcing the shoreline on the island.
• Expanding program offerings by adding a state-of-the-art ropes course and a wetlands classroom.

Today’s girls need a place like Clearwater to literally unplug from the world and leave the pressures of school and sports behind so they can flourish and “grow in purposeful maturity” (a favorite quote from Halokwe). Clearwater campers deserve the highest quality programming and that requires high-quality facilities and grounds. We have created a plan to meet the needs and safety of campers now and into the future without compromising the values and traditions of Clearwater, and now we ask you to consider making a significant capital gift toward the Bond that Binds Us Campaign. Your support is pivotal on this journey to strengthen Clearwater’s future.

Halokwe, Sunny, and all of the women who over our history have nurtured Clearwater’s enduring value for girls and young women will be proud that this legacy will continue. With the community’s support, we ensure many more generations will learn, grow, sing, and make lifetime memories and friendships in our lovely Northwoods paradise on Tomahawk Lake.

Every donor is an important partner in our mission to foster confidence, courage, compassion, and community – four points on Clearwater’s compass – by providing a traditional sleepaway camp experience for girls. You help us achieve camp’s vision to provide the Clearwater Camp experience to as many girls as possible –because we know it makes a difference in their lives and they will make a difference in the world. 

To learn more details about the plan, please choose one of the buttons below, or contact our Development and Communications Director, Sheila Ferguson via sheila@clearwatercamp.org or by calling her at 901-830-7896.