Standards & Practices

Issue 4 – Why Standards?

Issues

Issue 1 – Tax Appraisals and Easement Valuation
Issue 2 – Conflicts of Interest
Issue 3 – Fundraising
Issue 4 – Why Standards?

The Texas Land Trust Excellence Program is underwritten by the Houston Endowment.

Education and Training Opportunities

Valuation of Conservation Easements: Training for Appraisers:
August 25-29, 2008 in Austin, TX
Rally 2008: National Land Conservation Conference:
Sept. 18-21, 2008 in Pittsburgh, PA

Resources

Discussion

In the most fundamental terms, Land Trust Standards and Practices serve as a "common set of operating principles for all land trusts - large and small, voluntary and staffed - for managing their organizations and protecting land" (Hocker, in Exchange, Spring 1997). Our land conservation accomplishments are intended to be perpetual. Therefore, each land trust's responsibility to the land - and to its current and future users - is also perpetual. Quite literally, our land conservation efforts must stand the tests of time, political change, and even legal challenge. Conscientious adherence to our established set of operating principles is the surest way to ensure the long-term sustainability of our work and our conserved land.

When a group of concerned and action-oriented people forms a land trust - even before the organization takes on an easement or a piece of land - that group accepts certain responsibilities. Consider for instance to story of the formation or Bexar Land Trust and that organization's early decision to adopt and implement Land Trust Standards and Practices:

"Many groups become land trusts because they want to protect a certain property. In San Antonio, five members of the original board of the Bexar Land Trust had recently served on the Open Space Advisory Board of the City of San Antonio and recognized the importance of developing an alternative for landowners who preferred to deal with a local private conservation group rather than a governmental entity. The board understood that it must set up an organization that would be here "forever" to protect the land or easements that it acquired in perpetuity. It found that the standards and practices from the Land Trust Alliance provided good advice and guidance. Over a six month period, committees reviewed each standard and practice and presented each one, with local additions, to the board as a whole. After discussion, each standard and practice was adopted by the board. They have provided a solid foundation for our organization."

June Kachtik
First Board President
Bexar Land Trust

A land trust's responsibilities are not limited to land conservation; they extend to the members of your community, your land trust peers, and to future generations who will ultimately benefit from your conservation efforts. "All of this brings great rewards, but also great responsibility. The actions of each land trust affect not only its own success, but the success and credibility of every land trust and of the entire land trust movement" (Hocker, in Exchange, Spring 1997).

Fortunately, land trusts today have access to vast resources and materials to guide them in their organizational and conservation efforts. The most critical reference, of course, is Land Trust Standards and Practices (revised in 2004). This compilation of 12 standards and all associated practices, produced by the Land Trust Alliance, is intended to serve as a guidepost to new and existing land trusts, to provide a set of operating principles that can be followed and applied at any point in a land trust's development and at any level of conservation activity. Land Trust Alliance President Rand Wentworth has noted that Land Trust Standards and Practices, "is a document that balances ethical clarity with flexibility" (Exchange, Fall 2004). Standards and Practices are not intended to spell out to the letter a land trust's business or conservation activity. Rather, they are intended to serve as a guidepost for leading day-to-day operations, near-term land deals, and long-range conservation goals for the future.

The Standard of Excellence

The land trust business is dynamic. Over recent decades, many new land trusts have formed, some existing land trusts have grown significantly, and conservation deals for all of us have become increasingly complex and expensive. Moreover, the circumstances within which we operate also continue to change. Both heightened IRS scrutiny and recent changes in federal tax incentives have impacted the land trust business and conservation deals across the U.S. So today – more than ever before – land trusts are called upon to meet a standard of excellence.

Our enduring commitment to land conservation must be at the forefront of all the work we do. Adhering to a standard of excellence in our work ensures that the land we conserve will retain the natural, historic, and cultural resources that ultimately benefit us all – current and future generations alike. The goal, after all, is preserving the land in perpetuity. And that goal is not accomplished by the isolated efforts of one organization but by us all, in every corner of the state and the nation. Therefore, it's important to remember that your good work upholds not only the goals and credibility of your own land trust but also helps uphold the standard of excellence for the entire land trust community.

The vitality and growing strength of the land trust movement relies on the effectiveness and credibility of all members of the land trust community, regardless of the size of the organization, the scope of conservation activity, or the geographic area of operation. The Land Trust Standards and Practices reminds us that the "continued success of land trusts depends both on public confidence in, and support of, the conservation efforts" of every land trust. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every land trust "to uphold this public trust and to ensure the permanence of its conservation efforts" (Land Trust Standards and Practices, 2004).

Adoption

Land Trust Standards and Practices was created and is intended for use by any and all land trust organizations across the U.S. However, as they are strictly voluntary, not all land trusts have adopted them. As of this writing, almost 1,100 organizations have adopted the revised Standards and Practices. That's an impressive number, to be sure. However, for the land trusts who have not yet adopted these guidelines, many are encouraged to do so because of the clear benefit of having an operating framework by which to conduct current business and realize future goals. Moreover, it is also a requirement for membership with the Land Trust Alliance.

Formal adoption is accomplished through board resolution to use Land Trust Standards and Practices as the guide, or "touchstone", for their organization's policies and programs. Ultimately, the most telling standard is that to which you hold your own organization. Tammara Van Ryn, formerly of the Land Trust Alliance and now Executive Director of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, has characterized adoption of Land Trust Standards and Practices as meaning that the "organization:

has reviewed Land Trust Standards and Practices;
agrees that Land Trust Standards and Practices are the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust; and
adopts Land Trust Standards and Practices as guidelines for the organization and commits to making continual progress toward implementation of these standards and practices" (Exchange, Fall 2005).

Beyond the review of Land Trust Standards and Practices and the formal board resolution of adoption, Van Ryn emphasizes several other factors land trust organizations should keep in mind. Namely, adoption of Land Trust Standards and Practices should also indicate that a land trust "recognizes its role in upholding the public trust and the credibility of the land trust community." Further, it signifies that the document will serve as a guide for the organization - for its operations as well as its conservation activity. In this way, Land Trust Standards and Practices is a "touchstone in developing or refining programs and policies… Lastly, adoption signifies that the land trust is continually learning, refining its programs in an effort to implement the standards and practices, and striving for excellence" (Exchange, Fall 2005).

Implementation

Adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices is only part of the process. As important as formal adoption, is the implementation of these policies and procedures as a guiding framework by which the organization can fulfill its mission and achieve its intended goals. For each land trust, Land Trust Standards and Practices should be applied on the books and on the ground. Implementation may seem a daunting task at first glance. However, each organization should remember that "the practices are guidelines; there are many ways for a land trust to implement the practices, depending on the size and scope of the organization" (Land Trust Standards and Practices, 2004).

Adoption of Land Trust Standards and Practices "indicates that its (the land trust's) implementation efforts are consistent with the spirit and intent of the practices" (Van Ryn, Exchange, Fall 2005). The Land Trust Alliance offers many valuable resources to assist with implementation including the Land Trust Standards and Practices Guidebook 2005 (available through the Land Trust Alliance), the self-assessment tool called Assessing Your Organization, and hundreds of sample policies, procedures and templates via LTAnet.

The difference in Texas…

The land trust movement overall is still relatively young in Texas. But, thankfully, it's growing. Working with private landowners and conservation peers, land trusts have conserved more than 1 million acres of land in Texas thus far. This is certainly an admirable accomplishment - but it does not make the land trust community in Texas unique. Land trusts and conservation peers, here as in other parts of the country, are well-advised and well-positioned to make certain that growth is healthy and productive. Jim Jefferies, professional appraiser and Chair-Elect of the Texas Land Trust Council, recently noted, "As an advisor who has been lucky enough to get to work with land trusts and be involved with the land trust movement in Texas, I have witnessed the important first steps of the creation of a profession. Webster defines a profession as, 'one of a limited number of occupations or vocations involving special learning and carrying a certain social prestige'. As an appraiser, I know that an important element of gaining the public's confidence is drawn from our required adherence to a Code of Ethics and our Standards of Professional Practice. Likewise, the Land Trust Standards and Practices serve a similar defining function and, as more or more Land Trust organizations adopt them, the movement will, undoubtedly, take another important step toward that desired level of professional recognition."

Lastly, the conservation movement in our state is relatively distinct in that it is supported in many ways by the Texas Land Trust Council (TLTC). Land trusts - and, by extension, land conservation in Texas - benefit from the presence of a very active statewide service center and its programming aimed at helping land trusts build organizational capacity and strengthen their land conservation activity.

That programming is chiefly constituted by the Land Trust Excellence Program, a vanguard initiative focused on building and sustaining the organizational capacity of Texas land trusts through training, technical assistance, consultation, needs assessment, and outreach. The Excellence Program delivers programs, resources, and training opportunities to land trusts at our annual statewide conference as well as specific events and sessions around the state.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, will be responsible for awarding the accreditation seal to land trusts and community institutions that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. The Commission is currently conducting its Pilot Program for land trusts interested in accreditation and will begin its first lottery for formal applications - the deadline is August 31, 2007. For more information in the Accreditation Commission's lottery please visit them online.

For those organizations that want more information about training and technical assistance related to Land Trust Standards and Practices, please contact the Texas Land Trust Council's Excellence Program Manager, Tommi Ferguson, at tferguson@texaslandtrustcouncil.org or (512) 236-0655.

Continue to Links…

¹ "Related contributions include donations, legacies and other gifts received as a result of fundraising expenditures" (Land Trusts Standards and Practices, Standard 5: Fundraising).

² For more information, please refer to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The document may also be accessed in the 'Links' section of this Bulletin.

³ "For non-cash gifts, including land and conservation easements, it (the notice) must describe the gift, but no estimate of value is required" (Standard 5: Fundraising).