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About CCT
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a community foundation for land conservation?
- How is contributing to CCT different than making a contribution to one of Colorado's existing community foundations, such as the Denver Foundation or Boulder Community Foundation?
- How is CCT different from a land trust?
- Why should I contribute to land conservation through the Colorado Conservation Trust?
- Where do you get the money you donate?
- How can I apply for a grant?
- I always thought foundations were for very rich people. I am not rich. Why should I think about giving a small amount through the Colorado Conservation Trust?
- How do I set up a fund?
- Can I give anonymously?
- What services do I receive as a donor, and is there a fee for this?
- How will funds be invested?
- Are you creating an endowment with donations?
About CCT Links
What is a community foundation for land conservation?
A community foundation is a public charity whose principal purpose is to make grants for a wide range of community needs; typically limited to a relatively small geographic area (such as a county, city or metropolitan area). In addition, community foundations are often engaged in helping identify new funding needs within a community and helping marshal resources to address those needs. It receives it assets from multiple sources, including private foundations, individuals, corporations and fees for service.
Like a community foundation, the Colorado Conservation Trust (CCT) receives it funding from multiple sources and re-grants funds for a wide range of needs related to land and water conservation. And, like a community foundation, CCT will focus on identifying the complete range of needs and help focus technical and financial resources to address those needs.
Unlike a community foundation, CCT is focused on a specific topic that encompasses a need for the entire state of Colorado — the protection of agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, community open space, river corridors and scenic viewsheds.
CCT is a gateway for philanthropy for donors who are passionate about protecting Colorado's varied, beautiful and irreplaceable landscapes. They partner with us because of our strong connections to the varied organizations working in the field, our depth of knowledge, and our broad array of avenues for putting their contributions to work. 
How is contributing to CCT different than making a contribution to one of Colorado's existing community foundations, such as the Denver Foundation or Boulder Community Foundation?
These foundations play a very important role in the communities where they work. Community foundations, such as the Denver Foundation and the Boulder Community Foundation, exist to help cover a wide range of community needs including arts, civic involvement, education, the environment, and health and human services.
There are two main differences between the existing community foundations and Colorado Conservation Trust. First, CCT focuses solely on land and water conservation statewide. Second, CCT put donor contributions to work as quickly as possible rather than creating an endowment. While most community foundations create endowments with their donations to ensure that community needs are met over the long term, it is our belief that the nature of our business — protecting land — needs a different kind of funding. Funding is most crucial in the next few years when the opportunities are there to protect land before it is lost forever.
How is CCT different from a land trust?
CCT supports and complements, rather than competes with, the work being conducted by land trusts. The need for conservation is so great that no single organization can do it all. A single organization can, however, help foster leadership, develop partnerships, attract new funding sources, and focus resources on Colorado's most special and threatened lands.
We seek to raise additional funding and re-grant that money for land protection projects statewide, including grants to land trusts to acquire conservation easements or steward the lands they have protected. Land trusts, such as the Trust for Public Land or the Mesa Land Trust, are non-profit organizations whose primary purpose is the conservation of land through either the donation of conservation easements, acquisition of conservation easements, or acquisition of land in fee.
These organizations have either a specific geographic focus (such as the Mesa Land Trust and its focus on protecting land in Mesa county) or a topical, or resource specific, focus (such as The Nature Conservancy and its focus on preserving biological diversity, or the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust and its focus on protecting agricultural lands through conservation easements).
Rather than focusing on a limited geographic area or a single resource, the Colorado Conservation Trust's approach is to look at all of the types of lands that Coloradan's care about — including agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, community open space, river corridors, and scenic viewsheds — and focus funding on specific geographic areas that offer opportunities to protect several types of land. CCT will not buy land, but will help facilitate the protection of land through funding and marshalling other expertise to assist with acquisition, donation, or stewardship and good local government planning decisions.
Our approach is to identify all of the needs within each of these areas and attempt to address them together to produce maximum conservation results. Often, those needs must be addressed by funding multiple organizations within an area. To be successful, we believe that funding single transactions will not get the job done for the long term. Multiple strategies and multiple groups need to be engaged and funded to address the full scope of the problem. Strategies might include providing funding for the following:
- helping build the capacity of a local land trust to provide long-term stewardship of protected properties and providing the technical expertise necessary to protect land;
- helping a national land conservation organization work with a local land trust to acquire conservation easements on several properties at once to ensure the viability of agricultural lands that also provide wildlife habitat and scenic views; and
- helping ensure that local elected officials have the best available information about community open space values and how different development scenarios impact agricultural lands, wildlife habitat and scenic views.
Why should I contribute to land conservation through the Colorado Conservation Trust?
The problems facing Colorado's open lands are complex, but concrete results are achievable if organizations combine their resources and expertise to provide a lasting legacy for Colorado's future. When you give to the Colorado Conservation Trust, we will be your partners in philanthropy. We will help you:
- navigate the numerous organizations working to protect Colorado's agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, community open spaces, river corridors, and scenic viewsheds and the numerous ways to protect them.
- maximize your contributions by showing you where and how your contributions will have the most impact and be part of a longer-term protection strategy. There are places to put your money to work now that ensure those places will be there for your children and grandchildren.
The Colorado Conservation Trust provides a wide range of services to fulfill your philanthropic goals.
- First, we offer a helping hand. We work with you and your financial or legal advisor to define your charitable goals and identify areas of philanthropic interest.
- Second, we help you determine the most effective vehicle for your charitable giving — a program or area specific fund, a donor advised fund, a field of interest fund, or an unrestricted gift.
- Third, we offer our expertise in grantmaking, due diligence, and knowledge of the full range of needs, opportunities, and organizations working in land conservation across the state. With 30 years of combined expertise in land conservation, transactions, and grant-making, you can be assured that your gifts will be channeled quickly and effectively to the organizations you want to help — with the minimum administrative burden on you.
- Finally, we take care of all the grant administration, post-grant evaluation, and filings with the IRS.
By setting up a fund or providing an unrestricted gift to CCT, you can be as active as you like in your philanthropy, or as "hands off". In either case, you will be making a gift that ensures that land protection takes place in an area regardless of which specific tool is needed or which conservation organization is carrying out the work on the ground. In many places, several groups are working toward the same broader land protection goals using different methods, and a donation to a single organization or single project, while important, may not help achieve the longer term and broader land protection goals.
The donor will also have CCT's assurance that each organization that is funded is capable of accomplishing the land protection project and is doing so in concert with other organizations as part of a larger land protection strategy.
Where do you get the money you donate?
Our funding currently comes from national foundations (David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and others), Colorado-based foundations such as the Gates Family Foundation, Dowling Foundation, and El Pomar Foundation, and gifts from individuals.
We also seek funding from those that enjoy the beauty of Colorado as second homeowners or visitors. Our primary focus is to attract new dollars to Colorado land conservation.
How can I apply for a grant?
We do not currently accept unsolicited grant proposals.
I always thought foundations were for very rich people. I am not rich. Why should I think about giving a small amount through the Colorado Conservation Trust?
The Colorado Conservation Trust offers a variety of options for making donations. By combining your resources with those of others who share your interest in land conservation, you can maximize the impact of a modest contribution with minimal administrative costs.
How do I set up a fund?
Once you determine your charitable goals, a CCT fund can be established with a short written agreement and a donation to your fund.
Can I give anonymously?
Yes. All that is required is an address to which gifts may be acknowledged.
What services do I receive as a donor, and is there a fee for this?
The Colorado Conservation Trust provides all IRS reporting, accounting and accountability. The professional staff does extensive grant review, site visit work, and post grant evaluation. The staff ensures that all grant recipients meet tax deductibility tests and ensures they are capable of completing projects. Donors are kept apprised of land conservation needs and project accomplishments on a regular basis. We can also help donors publicize their funds or, conversely, act as a community liaison to provide anonymity for donors.
Fees for the establishment and administration of separate funds within CCT are set on a sliding scale, depending upon the size of the fund and the professional services required to implement the donor's wishes. Specific fees are worked out with each individual donor to cover money management, administrative, and professional services.
How will funds be invested?
Since CCT received its first grant, funds have been held at the Denver Foundation. As the largest community foundation in the State of Colorado, the Denver Foundation offers a sophisticated and effective investment committee that has wisely invested its funds, currently at more than $300 million, for many years. Given this success, the CCT has decided, for now, to keep its funds, for endowment purposes, invested through the Denver Foundation. The Board will periodically revisit this investment policy as CCT's revenues and investments grow.
Are you creating an endowment with donations?
Creating an endowment with donations is not CCT's current approach; however, if individual donors wish to place significant assets into an endowment, that is something that we will consider. Our approach is to put the money our donors contribute to work as quickly as possible rather than creating an endowment. While most community foundations create endowments with their donations to ensure that community needs are met over the long term, it is our belief that the nature of our business — protecting land — needs a different kind of funding. Funding is most crucial now when the opportunities are there to protect land before it is lost forever.
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