• Michigan United Conservation Clubs is made up of individual members and hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation clubs
• The nonprofit is pausing its youth camp operations, which it started in 1946
• The board president said the group is trying to figure out how to operate through the rest of the year

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Michigan United Conservation Clubs is pausing its youth camp and magazines while dealing with financial issues. 

“It’s tight right now,” said board President Stephen Dey.

In a fundraising email sent on Feb. 27, his tone was more dire.

“Today, MUCC faces one of the most serious challenges in its history. Financial strain, structural limitations, and a changing outdoor landscape have placed the organization at a crossroads,” the message said. “If we do nothing, nearly 90 years of conservation leadership could quietly fade away.”

The camps are paused for at least a year and the magazines are paused indefinitely.

MUCC is also leaving its Lansing office to transition to a remote or hybrid working environment.

The Michigan nonprofit, founded in 1937, is made up of individual members and hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation clubs. It claims to be the largest statewide conservation organization in the nation. The group lobbies, produces a podcast, publishes two magazines, holds waterway cleanups and runs a youth camp.

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MUCC first started its youth summer camp operations in 1946, originally just for boys. Over the years, it opened up to girls, most recently holding camp at Cedar Lake Outdoor Center in Chelsea. 

This summer, the club planned to offer eight weeklong sessions at which attendees could do things like canoe, fish and take a hunter safety class.

MUCC had already begun hiring staffers and was expecting around 250 campers this year.

“Camp provides a true deep connection for these kids to get off their screens and get outdoors,” said MUCC Education Director Shannon Stover. “I’m heartbroken for all the parents and the kids.”

Dey, the board president, blamed the organization’s financial issues on operational costs, like office rent, going up. He also said that a change in how MUCC bills membership fees — some clubs pay less and some clubs pay more — and when the fees come in has put a strain on the organization.

“The staff wanted all the money to come in on Oct. 1, so all of our club dues came in Oct. 1, and all that money gets used up in operations earlier. And this gets to be a little bit of a thin time,” he explained.

He declined to talk specifics about finances, but tax forms from 2024, the most recent listed online, say that MUCC had about $1 million in net assets. It brought in $1.7 million in 2024 and spent $1.75 million that year, a net loss of about $50,000. In 2023, the organization suffered a net loss of around $390,492, but that was coming off of a net gain of $860,377 in 2022.

Dey said in a mass email Friday, “Operating costs for summer camp programs have also increased in recent years.” Tax records indicate revenue from camps increased from $19,300 in 2021, the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, to $184,237 in 2024.

Dey said camp is paused this year not directly because of finances, but because of construction on a new archery range that was expected to wrap up on June 1. Camp was slated to start two weeks later on June 14.

“You never know if the project’s going to be completed on time,” he said, adding that any construction workers onsite during camp would need to go through a background check. 

Dey said camp would return next year, but he also said he wasn’t sure that MUCC has enough money to get through the year.

“It’ll be tight on that, and that’s what we’re going to be working on here in the next few months, on getting more income and how we go about doing that,” he said.

Dennis Eade is the executive director of the Michigan Steelhead and Salmon Fishermen’s Association, an affiliate club of MUCC. He said that times are tough for all member-based nonprofits. 

“We’ve got less and less younger members who are interested in being involved in clubs or associations or groups. They’re more focused on their own individual family,” Eade said. “And so your revenue base is being impacted from the bottom up.”

As for MUCC pausing camp, he said it “was nice and served a really important portion of their mission in the past,” but he’s not concerned about it being canceled this summer.

“They’re taking a look at what their priorities are going to be and how they’re going to service their membership. It may no longer fill that particular part of their mission,” he said.

MUCC is also pausing its two magazines — Michigan Out-of-Doors and TRACKS. Tax documents show that revenue from TRACKS remained stable at around $56,000 a year between 2021 and 2024. Michigan Out-of-Doors has been around since 1947 and is sent out to members, but Dey said the price of sending out the magazine costs more than individual membership dues.

“I’ve never even probably seen their magazine,” said Michael Trombley, the treasurer of Michigan Ducks Unlimited, an MUCC affiliated club. “And I’m not too sure what their camp does.”

MUCC’s website says it has around 40,000 individual members and about 200 affiliated clubs. Membership levels are listed as $35 per year, $60 for two years or $1,000 for a lifetime. Membership dues revenue increased between 2023 and 2024 from $323,072 to $474,662. 

“We need to get people to support the organization, both individual members and clubs,” Dey said. 

Individuals or clubs don’t have to be affiliated with hunting or fishing. They could be a hiking group, for example, Dey said.

“We’ll look for members any way we can. If they’re interested in conservation in Michigan and the outdoors, that’s fine,” he said.

The organization has seen a lot of personnel changes over the past year. MUCC parted ways with CEO Amy Trotter and let Policy and Government Affairs Manager Justin Tomei go. MUCC currently has three full time staffers plus an acting CEO, Mike Mitchell.

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