In the non-profit world there is always lots of talk of partnerships. To do them right, however, takes patience, experience, and an understanding of motivations. Success is measured when collective objectives outweigh what could be accomplished individually.
Recently, we featured a video on our homepage about the Lake Michigan Shorelands Alliance. This partnership of ten land trusts that operate in the Lake Michigan basin and that have been collaborating for nearly a decade, represent an incredible amount of regional expertise and opportunity for learning. One recent collective success was the completion of regional critical resource evaluation maps.
Staff at GWC have also recently begun work with the Blufflands Alliance, a collaboration of six land trusts that operate in the upper Mississippi river basin across four Midwest states. This Alliance is a model for collaboration nationwide and it is an exciting challenge to strategize and plan with such a gifted group of conservation leaders.
As these two entities look at opportunities in the future we are challenged with defining the value of collaboration. A sustainable partnership demands mutual benefits and defined leadership. We’ve learned from these two models and continue to study the best ways to make our work more efficient while also adding resources for conservation in Wisconsin.
It is here that we see more opportunities for LEAP. Through the Land Trust Excellence & Advancement Program we will unveil a peer mentoring network in the coming year. It is our hope that we can continue to facilitate successful partnerships that benefit of the land trust community. Stay tuned for more information on this and other universally-available services to help land trusts achieve excellence through LEAP.
GWC is grateful for support from the Joyce Foundation, the Brico Fund, Sustain Our Great Lakes, and Wisconsin DNR to work with LMSA and the McKnight Foundation to work with the Blufflands Alliance.
