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There are several fundamental elements to running
an effective, sustainable land trust organization. The Land Trust
Alliance, a national organization which serves the land trust community,
has compiled these fundamentals into a guidebook: Land
Trust Standards and Practices  .
These standards and practices relate to the two main components
of running a non-profit conservation organization: operations and
programs. One set of practices provides guidance on maintaining
an ethical, effective and efficient organizational structure, including
fundraising, legal compliance and accountability. Other practices
detail certain policies that all land trusts should have adopted
regarding how their land conservation and management programs are
implemented, funded and reviewed.
All land trusts should be familiar with the Standards and Practices,
and should have as one of their organizational goals the adoption
of at least the most basic of these guidelines. Gathering Waters
Conservancy offers organizational assessments that evaluate how
well a group has integrated Standards and Practices into their operational
functions and conservation functions.
Land Trust Accreditation
As the land trust movement has grown in recent
years, more attention is being paid to the details of the conservation
work being undertaken. In response to this scrutiny, the Land Trust
Alliance and land trusts from across the nation are developing an
accreditation program for land trusts.
This accreditation program is based on Land Trust Standards and
Practices, and will comprise three parts: individual land trust
audits, training and education, and accreditation at varying levels.
See the Land Trust Alliance's brochure, An
Introduction to the New Voluntary Land Trust Accreditation Program
for more
information. The Land
Trust Alliance's website will provide updates as this new program
is implemented.
Gathering Waters Conservancy is working to prepare the Wisconsin
land trust community for accreditation by offering a pre-accreditation
suite of services to land trusts. These services will provide
evaluation, consulting and ongoing advising on specific aspects
of the land trust organization which will be part of the accreditation
audit. For more information about these pre-accreditation services,
please contact Karen Bassler, Program Director, at (608) 251-9131
ext 12 or karen [at] gatheringwaters.org.
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