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CCT Programs & Accomplishments
CCT Initiatives
Promoting Statewide Coordination and Leadership
“CCT worked closely with us to make intelligent decisions about our role and the impact on the Front Range Mountain Backdrop.”
- Brad Feld, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital and Founder and Chairman of the Front Range Alliance, an organization established to educate the public about issues and projects affecting the Front Range Mountain Backdrop and to devise strategies to preserve its open space and scenic vistas.
CCT recognizes that financial investments alone are not enough to protect Colorado’s lands. We advance long term conservation goals by identifying statewide priorities, developing conservation plans, and forming strategic partnerships between funders, landowners, conservation organizations, and governmental agencies. This year, CCT will publish a State of the State Report that will address the current state of land conservation, including land protected, future needs, and recommendations on how to effectively advance conservation.
Strengthening the Effectiveness of Conservation Organizations
Capacity Building Grants
Through capacity building grants, CCT is building the infrastructure of organizations so they may maximize their conservation efforts and overall impact in Colorado communities. CCT capacity building grants have helped organizations: 1) hire a first staff person, 2) implement plans and policies to ensure sustainable conservation programs, and 3) create a development plan and increase fundraising capacity. CCT has made a total of $250,000 in capacity building grants to nine conservation organizations.
Examples of CCT’s Capacity Building Grants
Building a land trust’s fundraising capacity:
Significant growth in Larimer and northern Weld counties in recent years has placed new development pressures on the region’s open lands. To keep up with this growth, the one local land trust faced a critical and urgent need to grow and expand its conservation easement program. However, small staff size - one full time staff person - and limited fundraising capacity restricted the number of conservation transactions the land trust could complete each year, leaving more high resource value open land at risk of development.
To do more conservation deals and to support a growing easement program, the land trust needed a sustainable funding base. In 2004, CCT made a $70,000 grant to help the organization hire its first full-time development staff person responsible for raising funds for the local conservation program.
The grant will also help the land trust develop a three-year fundraising plan, which will provide a road map for meeting fundraising needs and goals.
Helping a land trust hire its first staff:
Established in 1997, the local land trust in the Wet Mountain Valley had a strong presence in the community from the beginning. Through active involvement in community outreach and fundraising efforts, the organization garnered and maintained strong local support. However, as an all-volunteer organization, the land trust did not have the capacity to complete many conservation easement transactions. Seven transactions had been completed by the end of 2001.
Population in the Wet Mountain Valley grew by 82% between 1990 and 2000 and in 1996, Custer County was the fourth fastest growing county in the nation. Development pressure on working ranches and open lands in the valley increased dramatically. To handle the growing conservation needs of the area and to keep up with day-to-day operations, the land trust needed a full time staff person.
CCT made a $60,000 grant in 2001 to fund the organization’s first ever, full time executive director. The result: 26 Wet Mountain Valley properties that total 11,600 acres are now protected by the land trust. Furthermore, the work of the land trust is now recognized by other conservation organizations throughout Colorado and in other parts of the west, and the scope of its work is expanding.
Land Trust Accreditation Program
Protecting Colorado's important landscapes will not be achieved solely through investments in purchasing land. Long-term conservation success requires us to build the long-term capacity of Colorado land trusts to steward the land and to effectively manage non-profit organizations.
To increase the effectiveness of conservation organizations, CCT has been working with the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts and the Land Trust Alliance to develop a set of benchmarks and indicators for assessing the work of land trusts. Thirty land trusts have used this tool to conduct self-assessments. The results of those assessments provide guidance about best practices and identify areas where improvement is needed. The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts held a training session in February 2004 to help land trusts address better recordkeeping methods. This effort is the first step in achieving an overall goal of developing an accreditation program for land trusts in Colorado and nationwide.
In 2005, CCT will:
- Help partners conduct 3-5 in-depth assessments of individual land trusts.
- Develop and implement a training and education program to address deficiencies in land trust practices.
- Begin work with land trusts to improve these practices.
CCT Fellowship Program: Developing Tomorrow’s Conservation Leaders
CCT's fellowship program places graduates from leading graduate schools of conservation, natural resources, law, and business with land trusts and local government open space programs for two-year fellowships. Fellows assist with such projects as land stewardship, conservation easement transactions, conservation planning, public outreach, legal issues, and water conservation studies.
This hands-on training ground assists fellows as they launch their careers and guides them in their development into stewards of Colorado 's lands. The program also provides conservation groups with additional capacity to pursue new projects, increase fundraising and accomplish long-term organizational goals. In addition to specific work for the land trust or open space program, the Fellowship Program includes a unique professional development curriculum that covers a broad variety of topics. As part of this education component, Fellows network with land trust professionals, attend conferences and trainings, participate in community outreach efforts, and learn about current issues facing conservation and the non-profit sector. Details on the professional development curriculum are attached.
Upon completion of the CCT Fellowship program, Fellows have attained and honed skills that prepare them for careers and leadership roles in land conservation.
For more information on the fellowship program, please email Patrick Holmes at pholmes@coct.org or contact us by phone at 720.565.8289.
CCT Initiatives
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