2025 Grants: Supporting Camino Infrastructure
2025 Grants: Supporting Camino Infrastructure
by Ruben Mendoza, Board Member and Grants Committee Chair, American Pilgrims on the Camino
American Pilgrims in 2025 approved 22 grants totaling $160,700, the largest one-year total in the history of the organization’s grants program. Each year, volunteers review grant applications against a set of criteria that evaluate need and the impact to improve the pilgrim experience.
In 2024, the American Pilgrims board authorized an increase in the maximum possible grant from $6,000 to $10,000. The 2025 grants cycle is the first cycle with that change in effect. Grants awarded in 2025 support infrastructure projects across a wide variety of Camino routes, in part to help take pressure off the increasingly popular Camino Francés.
Projects the 2025 grants supported include:
- Structural, plumbing, energy-efficiency, technology, and furnishings upgrades to albergues
- Improved way-marking on routes
- Accessibility programs to help persons with disabilities experience the joy of the Camino
View this presentation to read more about the 2025 grants recipients.
Since 2008, membership dues and special donations have enabled American Pilgrims to make grants totaling more than $920,000. Visit our grants page to learn more about selection criteria, past awards, and more.
Special thanks to the following members who served as 2025 grant application reviewers: Annette Argall, Daniel DeKay, Carlos Mentley, Cynthia Slagter, Miriam Gallet, Dawn Bratsch-Prince, George Greenia, Maryjane Dunn, MJ O’Meara, Herbert Medina, Miriam Martínez, Lynn Talbot, Paco Martinez-Alvarez, Rosa Torres Tumazo, Tracy Pawelski, and Sonya Varea Hammond.
Thanks also to fellow Grants Committee members: Joseph McClain, Sarah Pierce Martin, Tracy Pawelski, Luis Gussoni, and Martin Peña.
Finally, thanks to our members whose membership fees and generous donations help make the grants program possible.
Your MEMBERSHIP in American Pilgrims on the Camino makes it possible for everyone to make the pilgrimage that is best for them. Thanks, as always, for your support and if you aren’t already a member, you can become one here.
