Policy Toolkit

Grassroots Toolkit: Spread the News of the Easement Incentive

Unless Congress acts, the easement incentive will expire December 31, 2009! We need your help to achieve two goals:

• Landowners in your community need to know about the looming expiration of the incentive. By acting fast they can receive full credit for conserving their land and will demonstrate the value of this incentive to policy makers.
• Your Senators and Representatives need to hear about legislation to make the incentive permanent and we need to thank those who cosponsor.

This is a tremendous opportunity for us to educate potential donors, elected officials and the media about our conservation work and the enhanced conservation tax incentive. The Alliance has created this Grassroots Outreach Toolkit to assist land trusts with that education.  The toolkit provides the information needed to reach out to key audiences in a timely, cost-effective way.

Looking for tools to recruit cosponsors directly? Click here.

Media Outreach | Host an Event | Inform Landowners | Thank Cosponsors 

Publicize the Incentive, and Legislation to Extend it, via the Media

• Talking Points on the extended tax incentive
• Template press release on the expiring incentive and legislation to renew it
  
• A sample letter to the editor
• A sample op-ed for your local newspaper
• Sample email for forwarding press clips to Congress
  

Host an Event to Inform Potential Easement Donors

• Tips for hosting a local public education event
• A sample event flyer
• A sample event media advisory
• A sample invitation letter for elected officials
• Prefer to simply invite your Rep. to visit a conserved property? Click here for our guide to hosting that kind of visit.

Share the News with Potential Easement Donors

• Brochure: Using the Conservation Tax Incentive--SOLD OUT! This brochure includes a brief introduction to the incentive and answers to frequently asked questions for landowners considering a conservation easement. With only 8 months remaining until the incentive's expiration, we won't be ordering more of this edition. Please feel free to print copies of our free PDF version.

• A sample two-page fact sheet for potential easement donors

Thank Your Members of Congress for Co-sponsoring

• A sample thank you from your organization to Members of Congress
  
• A sample thank you letter for your easement donors to send to their Representatives
• Sample press release to publicly thank your Members of Congress for cosponsoring
• Sample article for your newsletter to thank your Members of Congress for cosponsoring
• Sample Letter-to-the-editor thanking easement incentive cosponsors
• ADVOCATES alert with more ideas for saying thank you

Please feel free to adjust any of these pieces to your particular communications needs.  Should you require further assistance, please don’t hesitate to e-mail Policy@lta.org.

Thank you for helping to spread the word on this great opportunity to support conservation!