Assessing Your Organization

While there are many different types of organizational assessments, Assessing Your Organization (AYO) is designed for land trusts and other groups that wish to evaluate their progress toward implementing Land Trust Standards and Practices. The completed AYO provides the land trust with a snapshot in time.  It includes a numerical ranking for each of the 88 practices followed by a series of questions to help land trust personnel determine where the organization currently falls on a scale of 1 to 4.

Improve Practices

Once areas for improvement have been identified through the AYO, a land trust can take advantage of the Standards and Practice Curriculum, the most current, authoritative and comprehensive information on private land conservation, to improve its practices.  Authored by some of the best conservation experts in the community, each course in the Standards and Practices Curriculum was put through a rigorous review and pilot process to ensure that land trusts have not only the best information, but that the information represents the diversity of good land trust practices throughout the country.  Each course identifies which practices are covered so land trusts can quickly and easily determine on which courses to focus.

What is the Process?

For all-volunteer and small staffed land trusts, the AYO is best completed by the full board (and staff) with the aid of a trained assessor (an experienced land trust professional or Alliance or local service center staff).  Find a list of Alliance-trained assessors by region and guidance on how to select the right consultant for your land trust.  Completing the assessment can take four to six hours, depending on the amount of advance preparation and the detail and depth of dialogue and discussion during the assessment meeting(s).

Land trusts with larger staff use several approaches to completing the assessment.  Some choose to have staff complete the assessment first and then share the results with the board in a facilitated discussion.  In other organizations, the board may review or complete the assessment along with staff.  If the board has active committees, each committee may review and report on those standards most applicable to their committee.  Those organizations with a very large staff and multiple departments may choose to have a staff leader who delegates completion of specific sections to an appropriate staff person.  Because the board has oversight responsibility for the land trust’s operations, its review and consideration of the final assessment report is strongly recommended.  The time needed to complete the assessment and permit board review will vary tremendously.

Action Steps

We recommend incorporating action steps into organizational strategic and annual plans and conducting a reassessment approximately every three years.  The completed assessment forms will provide an invaluable record of the organization’s growth and development.

AYOs for Accreditation

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, requires an applicant seeking accreditation to show at registration that it has completed an assessment against the full set of Land Trust Standards and Practices. The assessment must not be older than three years from the date of pre-application.  The AYO is one tool available for this purpose. Accreditation is a process of continuous improvement and periodic assessments support this process.

For more information and/or assistance in using Assessing Your Organization, please contact the Land Trust Alliance program in your region or send an e-mail to sbates@lta.org.

To order a printed copy of Assessing Your Organization, visit our publications catalog.

Land trust members can download a free PDF copy of Assessing Your Organization from The Learning Center library.  They can also access an interactive version of Assessing Your Organization at The Learning Center through Pathways to Accreditation, a private online meeting space that helps land trusts prepare for accreditation.

Read One Organization’s Experience with "Assessing Your Organization.

Excerpted from the Blue Mountain Land Trust's 2009 Annual Summary

Land Trust Alliance Partners Who Have Taken Alliance AYO Training

The Land Trust Alliance provides these referrals as an informational service only and does not endorse individual consultants or trainers. Those individuals who are listed below have completed the Alliance’s Assessing Your Organization training session and have committed to building strong land trusts by joining the Alliance as a Professional Partner. We encourage you to engage consultants and trainers only after following routine best practices, including soliciting a proposal, interviewing more than one candidate and checking references. More guidance on hiring a consultant that is right for your organization.

Midwest

AYO-Trained Consultants

David Allen
P.O. Box 6751, Monona, WI 53716   
Phone: 608-239-5006
Email: fundraisinghelp@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.thebamteam.com

Karen Bassler
222 Dixon Street, Madison, WI 53704    
Phone: 608-242-8321    
Email: karen@superiornonprofits.com
Website: www.superiornonprofits.com

Julie  Stoneman
Heart of the Lakes    
Phone: 517-925-8649   
Email: julie@heartofthelakes.org

Sara Wilson
3323 North Summit Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211   
Phone: 414-332-718   
Email: sara@mayeswilsonassociates.com
Website: www.mayeswilsonassociates.com

Kate  Zurlo-Cuva
Gathering Waters Conservancy    
Phone: 608-251-9131    
Email: kate@gatheringwaters.org

Northeast

AYO-Trained Consultants

Jim Abernathy
Abernathy Consulting
Phone: 202-257-8816
Email: jabernathy@verizon.net

Ole Amundsen III
The Conservation Fund    
Phone: 607-277-0999
Email: oamundsen@conservationfund.org

Renee Bouplon
Agricultural Stewardship Association    
Phone: 518-692-7285
Email: renee@agstewardship.org

Melissa Burke
Brandywine Conservancy    
Phone: 610-388-8110    
Email: mburke@brandywine.org

Michael Catania
PO Box 594
Chester, NJ 07930-0594
Phone: 973-543-6004
Email: michael@conservationresources.org

Deborah Chapman
Maine Land Trust Network    
Phone: 207-236-4148    
Email: dchapman@mcht.org

Sharon Danosky
Phone: 860-355-0249
Email: sharon@danosky.com

Rupert Friday
Rhode Island Land Trust Council    
Phone: 401-932-4667    
Email: rfriday@rilandtrusts.org

Anne Heasly
Conservation Resources, Inc.
PO Box 594
Chester, NJ 07930
Phone: 908-655-6594
Email: anne@conservationresourcesinc.org

Beth Hershenhart
11 Round Table Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866    
Phone: 518-584-7206
Email: beth@innovativeresourcesgroup.com
Website: www.innovativeresourcesgroup.com

Rebekah Howey
Maryland Environmental Trust    
Phone: 410-514-7915    
Email: rhowey@dnr.state.md.us

Stephen T. Johnson
Sage Advisors
49 Birchwood Lane
Lincoln, MA 01773
Phone: (406) 579-8259
Email: stjohnsonmcp@gmail.com

Andy Loza
Pennsylvania Land Trust Association    
Phone: 717-230-8560    
Email: aloza@conserveland.org

Theodosia Price
Brandywine Conservancy    
Phone: 610-388-2700   
Email: tprice@brandywine.org

Caroline Pryor
459 Sound Drive, Mount Desert, ME 04660     
Phone: 207-244-052
Email: carolinepryor1@gmail.com

Sherri Evans-Stanton
Brandywine Conservancy    
Phone: 610-388-8393   
Email: sevansstanton@brandywine.org

Sam Stokes
8000 Park Crest Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910    
Phone: 301-585-227    
Email: samstokes@aya.yale.edu

Jonathan Wagar
Conservation Resources, Inc.
PO Box 594
Chester, NJ 07930
Phone: 908-879-7942
Email: jon@conservationresourcesinc.org

Southeast

AYO-Trained Consultants

Carol Mayes
17746 Caldwell Station Road, Huntersville, NC 28078    
Phone: 704-655-8727    
Email: carol@mayeswilsonassociates.com
Website: www.mayeswilsonassociates.com

West

AYO-Trained Consultants

Steve Bonner
26 Cascade Caverns Road, Boerne, TX 78015    
Phone: 210-387-8628
Email: steve.bonner@sonricorp.com
Website: www.sonricorp.com

Allison Handler
1001 SE Water Avenue, #360, Portland, OR 97214    
Phone: 503-249-0000    
Email: allison@decision2.com
Website: www.solidgroundconsulting.com

Sally Johnson
P.O. Box 8327, Missoula, MT 59807    
Phone: 406-721-227    
Email: sally.johnsonlawfirm@msn.com

Anjali Kaul
8826 Chalk Knoll Drive, Austin, TX 78735    
Phone: 512-917-2525    
E-mail: anjalihkaul@gmail.com

Glenn Lamb
Columbia Land Trust    
Phone: 360-696-0131    
Email: glamb@columbialandtrust.org

Jim Morris
1001 SE Water Avenue, #360, Portland, OR 97214    
Phone: 503-249-0000
Email: jimm@solidgroundconsulting.com

Website: www.solidgroundconsulting.com

Sara Wilson
P.O. Box 946
San Marcos, Texas 78667
Phone: 512-787-9647 or 414-807-4319
Website: www.mayeswilsonassociates.com

Resources for Hiring Consultants

• Exempt Organizations: Independent Contractors vs. Employees.  IRS information regarding how to determine whether an individual who provides services is an employee or independent contractor.
• Getting and Working with Consultants.  This website by Free Management Library has a wealth of information about consultants and consulting for nonprofit organizations, including understanding consultants and consulting, doing consulting, hiring consultants and requests for proposals.
• How Do I Find a Consultant for My Nonprofit? The Foundation Center’s FAQ factsheet on this topic includes both Web and print resources.
• Practice 7H of Land Trust Standards and Practices: Working with Consultants. Consultant and contractor relationships are clearly defined, are consistent with federal and state law, and, if appropriate, are documented in a written contract.  Consultants and contractors are familiar with sections of Land Trust Standards and Practices that are relevant to their work.
• Tips for Hiring a Consultant. An excellent document prepared by the Maine Association of Nonprofits that includes information on why and how to hire a consultant and how to manage one.  This document is excerpted from Succeeding with Consultants.
• Top 10 Mistakes Made When Hiring Consultants.  Although this list was created for businesses, it is equally relevant for nonprofit organizations.