Articles

A visit from the IRS is not something that land trusts wish for, but that knock on the door or the ten-page document request from the IRS is an increasing reality. Because donations of conservation easements are on the rise, so too are tax deductions.

What does it mean when a land trust board evolves past a common notion of a “working board” to take on a larger focus on governance? This is a critical transition, but not without its challenges.

Lori Ensinger served on the board of the Westchester Land Trust in New York for nine years, but it wasn’t until she joined the staff as president that she realized how much she didn’t know about the land trust’s work.

In accepting our responsibilities for protecting land in perpetuity, land trusts are rightly focused on ensuring we have financial capacity to defend easements and recordkeeping systems that will serve to inform future generations.

Is your land trust considering a capital campaign? Then it’s time to read Story Clark’s advice on capital campaigns from A Field Guide to Conservation Finance.

Fatty bacon, gossiping hummingbirds, well-mannered cows and bullwhip-cracking archeologists — all are topics you wouldn’t expect to find in a membership email from a land trust. But each of these found their way into the creative and delightfully absurd emails sent out by land trust staff.