To navigate the changing and challenging terrain together due to COVID-19, Gathering Waters has convened weekly forums via Zoom for land trust staff and board members since mid-March. We’ve gone to every other week in June, and will continue beyond as there is interest.
These forums offer an opportunity to check in with peers and focus on topics suggested by participants. We are happy to see many land trust board members on these video calls, along with staff covering a variety of roles, depending on the topic.
More than 100 people have participated in the forums, some nearly every week.
Following are the topics we have discussed on the spring 2020 Wisconsin Land Trust Forums.
Please contact Meg Domroese with your suggestions for future forums.
- March 19 – Check in and discussion of budget planning & adjustments, fundraising & messaging to donors, and guidelines for gatherings, outdoor events
- March 26 – David Allen, fundraising consultant, shared best practices for engaging supporters during this challenging time. Dana Chabot provided his perspective on budgeting and finances during periods of uncertainty.
- April 2 – Discussion of CARES Act loan program, with Dana Chabot
- April 9 – Creative ideas for events when convening in person is restricted
- April 16 – (1) Updates on how organizations are doing with CARES Act PPP applications, (2) Communicating about and managing public access to land trust properties
- April 23 – Engaging people in conservation in their own backyards with Jim Kleinwachter of the Conservation@Home program
- April 30 – (1) PPP loan program “certification of need” requirement, (2) Strategies for moving your land protection mission forward when coffee at the kitchen table with landowners isn’t an option
- May 7 – Accounting for PPP loans
- May 14 – Ideas for handling land management activities, including site/trail maintenance, invasive species control, and restoration activities
- May 21 – Discussion with DNR Leadership, including updates on the Stewardship Program, collaboration on land management, safe public access to outdoor spaces
- May 28 – Managing effective meetings on Zoom
- June 4 – Promoting the important role of land trusts in Wisconsin
- June 18 – Grassroots advocacy campaign for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program
