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CURRENTS - November 2001 |
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[Welcome]
[About Land Trusts] [About
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CURRENTS - November 2001 |
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In this edition of Currents: · Fundraising in the wake of September 11th Fundraising in the Aftermath of September 11th by Jane de Broux The September 11 terrorist attacks have brought about a profound change in America, and for those of us charged with the responsibility of raising funds for our non-profit organizations, the challenges created by those catastrophic events were immediate. Many of us agonized about upcoming fundraising activities, rescheduling or canceling those that seemed somehow inappropriate in the wake of such devastation. Meanwhile, huge events raising millions of dollars for victims of the attacks occupied Americans who longed to help, and I-along with fundraisers all over the country-wondered if this generous outpouring would take the place of donations typically given to other groups, including ours. According to the special report on "Grieving and Giving" in the October 4 issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, charitable giving, as a whole, does not necessarily decline in times of crisis. While crises can and do affect the types of charities Americans support, history suggests that it is economic crises that create the most serious problems. (For more information, see a new study commissioned by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel through the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University at www.aafrc.org/press5.html). The current economic downturn was already having a significant effect on charitable giving before the events of September 11. Some corporate and foundation giving was reduced due to poor stock market performance and a low return on their investments. In combination with world events, these economic conditions helped create a unique climate of uncertainty. No one knows exactly how everything will shake out. Therefore it is premature to assume that giving for our individual organizations will go down. At Gathering Waters Conservancy, we are operating under the belief that Wisconsin's citizens appreciate their homes and homeland more than ever, and that our donors will not waver in their commitment to protecting our natural heritage. So far, nearly half of those who have renewed their memberships this fall increased their donation. (Our year end appeal has just been mailed, so we don't yet know how it will be affected.) After reading as much as I could on the topic and talking to other fundraising professionals, I am convinced that our task is not whether to ask or apply for funds during this time. The dilemma is whether or not we refer to national events in our fundraising appeals, and if so how we do it. The key here is to be very careful neither to trivialize nor appear to exploit the events of September 11 as a fundraising strategy. Each organization must find its own balance for this approach. The most effective strategy depends on the personality of your donors, whom you should know well. You may want to take the time to connect with them on these issues without asking for money. Run your ideas past board members and a representative member or two to make sure you achieve the right tone when you send out your renewals and appeals. As an additional resource, please feel free to contact Jane at Gathering Waters Conservancy. She is available to provide feedback on your renewal letters or your year end fundraising appeal mailings. Other resources include: · Chronicle of Philanthropy on line at www.philanthropy.com · A helpful article from non-profit fundraising guru, Kim Klein, on "Quick Ways to Raise Money During the Holiday Season" appears in its entirety at www.chardonpress.com/titles/feature20_6.html. (Just an FYI, the site also sells the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, but the article is free.) · An excellent special section on giving appears in The New York Times at www.nytimes.com/specials/giving/index.phpl . New Program Director Karen Bassler has recently joined the staff of Gathering Waters as the new Program Director. Karen will oversee Gathering Waters' programs and services for land trusts, organizing our conferences and workshops; providing one-on-one training, assistance and mentoring to land trusts; advising landowners on their conservation options, and designing new programs to build land trust capacity and encourage protection of private lands. Her first tasks included attending the LTA Rally in Baltimore and facilitating the Site Conservation Planning Workshop in October. Karen can be reached at (608) 251-9131 or kbassler@gatheringwaters.org. Conservation News Farm Bill Update The House recently narrowly defeated the Boehlert-Kind-Gilchrest-Dingell Conservation Amendment to the Farm Bill. This amendment would have provided $5.4 billion per year for conservation incentives on working lands. The House then passed the un-amended farm bill by a large margin. However, support from many organizations and individuals for making conservation a cornerstone of Farm Policy has made this idea a legitimate and widely-supported position. Newspaper editorials across the country supported the Boehlert amendment, as did a broad coalition of conservation and advocacy organizations. The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Tom Harkin (D-IA), has been working on the Farm Bill legislation. Harkin introduced his Farm Bill, S.1628, to the committee on November 2, 2001. A compromise Bill was approved by the Committee on November 16, 2001. This Bill will establish a new comprehensive incentive payment program funded through CCC for farmers and ranchers who voluntarily maintain and adopt conservation practices on working lands. It also reauthorizes the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and increases the acreage cap to 40 million acres, and reauthorizes the Farmland Protection Program, increasing funding to $200 million by FY 2006. For more information, see Farm Bill Network's website: www.fb-net.org/index.phpl. Land and Water Conservation Fund Congress approved a $19.1 billion Interior appropriations bill which included $573 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This includes $144 million in state grants for land acquisition - which can be spent by state and local governments for parks and natural areas. Also included are $10 million in the Cooperative Endangered Species Fund to help private landowners protect habitat for rare and endangered species through approved Habitat Conservation Plans. Land trusts cannot access these funds directly, but can partner with local government to identify important local resources to be targeted by these funds. Forest Legacy Program Congress also approved $65 million for the Forest Legacy program, to
be used by states to acquire fee title or easements over forested lands.
An initial $500,000 base funds will be allocated to each state, with
an additional $4 million allocated on a competitive basis. Only states
can hold title or easements, but land trusts may be involved by selling
an easement over land they hold to the state. For more information on
the Forest Legacy Program, contact Linda DePaul of the WI-DNR's Division
of Forestry at Conservation Initiatives Nationwide On November 6, 2001, voters approved state and local ballot measures that generated $905 million in funding for parks and open space. Of 113 proposed ballot measures, 82 were approved in 14 states. For more information on specific initiatives, check the Trust for Public Land's website: www.tpl.org. Upcoming Gathering Waters Conservancy Events Third Annual Retreat for Wisconsin Land Trust Staff The Annual Staff Retreat has become a highly-anticipated event by land trusts throughout the state. The format for the retreat is one full day of intensive training designed to meet the needs of small land trust staff members. The second day is a half-day of facilitated experience sharing and exchange among land trusts, providing an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning. This year's retreat will focus on organizational change. Gathering Waters also uses this opportunity to solicit input on the training and service needs of land trusts. Southeast Wisconsin Initiative Gathering Waters will be facilitating two workshops in SE Wisconsin. The purpose of the workshops is to discuss and identify specific ways that land trusts, local governments and others in the conservation and environmental communities can work together to protect southeast Wisconsin's remaining natural areas and critical habitats. Discussions will focus specifically on how to implement the recommendations that the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) makes its Report No 42, "A Regional Natural Areas and Critical Species Habitat Protection and Management Plan for Southeastern Wisconsin." For more information, contact Peter McKeever, (608) 223-1275 or heartlakeC@aol.com. Gathering Waters Strategic Planning Gathering Waters will be undertaking Strategic Planning for the organization, working with Marc Smiley. As part of this work, we will be seeking input from land trusts about what services you have found most helpful and what types of trainings or other support you would like to see us offer in the future. Look for a questionnaire in early 2002! Board Development and Strategic Planning Board Development - The most fundamental elements in the success of an organization start with the board of directors. While many groups spend time considering how to best recruit board members, they fall short of an organized and targeted approach to building strength through diversity. Board development establishes a systematic approach to adding people to the organization, and follows up with specific steps to keep current board members active and excited, including orientation, training, evaluation, and recognition. Strategic Planning does not have to be intimidating. It is as simple as knowing where you want to go and how you plan to get there. But unless a group has taken the time to understand strategic planning, much of the energy going into its work can be wasted. Time will be spent looking at the kinds of questions that groups need to ask and answer to ensure that the time people give is time that makes a difference. We will examine the full range of planning processes, from an intensive strategic planning effort to specific annual and organizational plans. We will also explore the relationship between strategic planning and other activities - including fundraising and board development as well as developing a fundraising plan from a strategic plan. Fundraising For Land Trusts Gathering Waters plans to hold regional workshops on fundraising for land trusts in a similar format to last summer's workshops on membership development. This training will cover major donor recruitment and cultivation. The training may also cover capital campaigns and planned giving depending on land trust's needs and interests. Gathering Waters staff are currently reviewing trainers to select the most appropriate instructor(s) for these workshops. The workshops will be very hands-on, and participants will have an opportunity to practice the "ask" with real donors.
Newsletter Articles Gathering Waters Conservancy is pleased to provide land trusts with articles to be placed in your newsletters. For example, we have articles on tax benefits of conservation easements, protecting woodlots, and much more. Simply call (608) 251-9131 for more information. Wisconsin's Land Trust Listserv Gathering Waters Conservancy's e-mail listserv is your opportunity to share expertise, ask questions, and make announcements directly to your colleagues in the land trust movement. To join the listserv and the 115 other members already using this communication tool, visit the website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wisconsinlandtrusts/members and follow the instructions for subscribing. Alternatively, you can call Gathering Waters Conservancy. Site Conservation Planning On October 17 - 19, Rob Sutter of The Nature Conservancy led 26 staff and volunteers representing 14 land trusts, 2 government agencies and one individual consultant through the process of Site Conservation Planning. The workshop was designed to introduce land trusts to The Nature Conservancy's Site Conservation Planning process, which is a methodology used to determine appropriate conservation actions within an organization's site or preserve. Riverland Conservancy's Merrimac Preserve served as the focal point for four teams as they went through the various stages of site conservation planning. Workshop participants brought a variety of experiences and needs to the program, resulting in some good exchanges of ideas and approaches being used and thought about in the upper Midwest. We hope to be able to hold this workshop again in coming years. In the meantime, Karen Bassler will be available on a limited basis to facilitate Site Conservation Planning efforts for land trusts. For more information, contact Karen. Other Conferences and Events Growing and Operating a Successful Land Protection Program This seminar is designed to help young, new land trusts start out on the right foot. It will cover choosing the best conservation tool for a property, an overview of tax benefits of conservation and the fundamentals of land and easement stewardship. For more information, call LTA at (616)324-1683 or check their website: www.lta.org/regionallta/midwest.htm Toward Harmony with Nature The Fox Valley Area Chapter of Wild Ones is hosting a seminar on native landscaping. For more information, call (920)233-4853 or email HarmonyVI@aol.com. Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program The Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program is an intensive two-year program designed for women and men in the early stages of their leadership careers. It consists of eleven seminars, eight held in Wisconsin. These deal with topics such as natural resource policy, social change issues, state government, education, business and community economic development, urban issues, health care and leadership. The program also includes a national seminar conducted in Washington, DC, a regional seminar held somewhere outside the Midwest and an international seminar in a foreign country. The Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program is now accepting applications through Dec.1 for the next group of participants. If you or someone you know is up to the challenge of leadership development contact WRLP, UW-Madison, Cooperative Extension, 432 North Lake Street, Madison, WI 53706, 608/263-0817 or visit our website, www.uwex.edu/ces/wrlp. GIS Overview for Community-Based Natural Resource Conservation This overview course describes the basic principles of GIS and helps community-based conservation groups and watershed organizations assess how it can be used to support their conservation goals. Topics include an overview of GIS and global positioning systems (GPS) technology, an evaluation of available GIS tools and data, and the basics of using ESRI's desktop GIS software. For more information, call the Conservation Fund at (304) 876-7452. The Practice of Environmentally Sensitive Development Through lecture, case studies and class exercises, this course provides "why" and "how-to" advice to members of the development community and others interested in practical, cost-effective ways to apply the principles and techniques of environmentally sensitive development to the real-estate industry. For more information, call the Conservation Fund at (800) 321-5011. Land Trust Alliance News Mark your calendars for the LTA/Midwest Annual Land Trust Conference, to be held April 5-7, 2002, at the Holiday Inn North Campus in Ann Arbor, MI. The regional conference will start with pre-conference seminars, field trips and an opening dinner on Friday, April 5. A plenary session followed by concurrent breakout sessions will take place on Saturday, April 6. Roundtable discussions will be held Sunday, April 7. Look for registration brochures in the mail in January. For more information, contact Elizabeth Seaman at LTA/Midwest, 616-324-1683 or by e-mail, eseaman@lta.org. LTAnet Land conservationists searching for current information on how to protect land most efficiently have a new Internet tool: www.LTAnet.org. The Land Trust Alliance's password-protected Internet site is available to LTA Sponsor members and to certain Affiliate members. LTAnet, filled with documents and other information about land conservation, provides the full Standards and Practices Guidebook in digital format along with updated appendices of policies, sample worksheets and checklists. Additionally, all articles published in Exchange since 1996 are indexed for easy searching and retrieval. Census Results The nation's local and regional, private, nonprofit land trusts have conserved more than 6.4 million acres of open space as of Dec. 31, 2000, a 238 percent increase over the acreage protected as of 1990. This data is the result of the LTA's Census of land trusts, which is now complete. Wisconsin has the seventh highest number of land trusts of the 50 states - a testimony to the conservation ethic of our state! Statewide, local and regional land trusts have protected nearly 25,000 acres of land! The results for the nation and summary information for Wisconsin are available on line at LTA's website: www.lta.org (However, there are some discrepancies between the data LTA has posted and other information Gathering Waters has collected.). Gathering Waters also has the full data set for Wisconsin available. Funding Sources Lois Almon Small Grants Once again, the Lois Almon Small Grants Program, through the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, has funds available to do research. Grants up to $1000 are available for field studies of plants, animals, and natural communities in Wisconsin, especially in State Natural Areas. Preference is given to projects with conservation management implications. Call (608) 263-1692 or check the WASAL website for more info and online
application form: 2002 Wisconsin Forest Stewardship Grant Program The Forest Stewardship Program is seeking proposals that address the following areas: a. Providing information on multi-resource management of forest lands
to the general public and especially private forest landowners. For more information, contact: Linda DePaul, Forest Stewardship Program Coordinator at (608) 266-2388. Deadline for applications is January 1, 2002. Other Resources AFT National Poll American Farmland Trust recently completed a nationwide poll to assess how Americans feel about farms and farm support payments. The results of this poll are available online at www.aftresearch.org. Several results of this poll are very encouraging: 85% of Americans feel that farmers who receive federal aid should be required to apply conservation practices, or that those who did apply conservation practices should receive more aid. However, in Wisconsin, 39% of requests for participation in conservation programs were denied due to a lack of funding.
The American Farmland Trust has also produced over 20 fact sheets on topics ranging from Transfer of Development Rights to Agricultural Conservation Easements. The two most recent fact sheets, on the costs of community services and purchase of agricultural conservation easements, are attached to this issue of Currents. Past fact sheets are available online at www.farmland.org/landworks.htm. Gathering Waters also has copies in our library. Invasive Species Publications Alien Invasive Species (AIS) and Biological Pollution of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem - www.ijc.org/boards/wqb/ais01may.html Out of Place: How Aquatic Exotic Species Alter Wisconsin Waterways - Ron Martin, WI-DNR (608) 266-9270 or martir@dnr.state.wi.us. Conservation Biology in Practice The Society for Conservation Biology is currently offering a one-year subscription to Conservation Biology in Practice for $30. To subscribe, call (206) 616-2958, or go to their website: www.conservationbiology.org/InPractice. Join Us! We hope you will consider joining Gathering Waters Conservancy as an individual member. Membership dues are used to establish new land trusts in critical areas, present statewide and regional conferences, train lawyers, appraisers and other professionals who work with landowners and land trusts, and to promote collaborative conservation efforts among conservation organizations around the state. For membership information, contact Jane deBroux at Gathering Waters, (608) 251-9131.
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