Land Trust Alliance Rally 2010

test

The Alliance — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:15:59 +0000

Title: test
Location: test
Description: test
Start Date: 2010-10-01
End Date: 2010-10-05

Effective Supervision of Staff and Volunteers SEM – 17

The Alliance — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:37:29 +0000

Effective supervision is critical to maintaining a productive workforce in the face of shifting and competing priorities. And yet, few supervisors have been trained and even fewer receive regular support and professional development specific to their supervisory skills, resulting in miscommunication, lack of clarity around goals, and unnecessary turnover. But successful supervisory relationships can create a culture of mutual respect in which employees and supervisors communicate regularly and clearly about job expectations and overall performance.

Conservation Easement Stewardship SEM – 27

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:00:56 +0000

This course will give you an overview of how to monitor your easements and build long-term relationships with landowners. You will learn the different methods for monitoring easements; how to select and implement the method that works best for your land trust; and how to use a baseline documentation report to protect land. Designed for all levels of expertise, this course covers the land trust’s responsibilities AFTER the conservation easement is in place and practically applies the Land Trust Standards and Practices pertaining to ongoing stewardship and easement performance. Each participant will receive a copy of Conservation Easement Stewardship by Renee Bouplon and Brenda Lind.

“What factors do you consider when determining the capacity of your organization to actually steward your easement properties in perpetuity?”

Building Your Land Trust with the Tools of Promotion SEM – 20

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:39:33 +0000

This course is designed to explore how to develop and use effective outreach methodologies and tools, including 1) identifying target audiences; 2) developing “message” and “brand”; 3) considering day-to-day communications – logo and letterhead, website and social media, media releases, and newsletters; and 4) supporting special projects – site signage, fundraising materials, advocacy pieces.

An associate of mine in the radio business once said, “S/he with the most friends wins.” Or, restated, the number of people who know about you is the key factor in determining how much money you will raise, the number of volunteers you’ll have, your organization’s status in the community. Is this really true – that your mission, effectively, becomes secondary to how well you promote yourselves?

Amending Conservation Easements SEM – 19

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:19:23 +0000

As easements mature, it is likely that land trusts and landowners will seek amendments to modify an easement’s terms. This seminar, part of the Land Trust Standards and Practices Curriculum course “Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity,” will give your land trust the knowledge and tools to make ethical, legal, and sound decisions about amending its conservation easements. We will cover the basic elements that should be included in an amendment policy and provide an in-depth look at amendment principles that ensure land trusts use their best judgment in evaluating risks, serving the public interest and maintaining landowner relationships.

The Appraisal Mine Field: What a Land Trust Needs to Know SEM – 10

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:09:20 +0000

In this interactive, group-oriented session, you will learn how to review an appraisal for red flags that could jeopardize your landowner’s donation. Get your hands on appraisals designed for this seminar, learn qualified apparaisal requirements, discuss the problems and what they mean for landowners and your organization, and apply your knowledge to real-life scenarios.

What is the role of a land trust in reviewing and commenting on an appraisal, and what are the risks if the Land Trust does not pay attention to the appraisal?

Planning and Managing Conservation Easements: The Legal Perspective SEM – 11

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:52:38 +0000

Program focuses on the how-to’s of the notice and approval processes, easement amendment procedures, and the steps to respond to a violation. The course also reviews important cases on easements with an eye toward drafting easements to minimize and avoid unnecessary stewardship burdens.

A Survey of Innovative Conservation Finance Strategies SEM – 15

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:17:07 +0000

To pay for land protection, land trusts must use innovative funding techniques wherever they can be found. Their transactions are often aided by prudent financing from private, commercial, and public sources. Given the present economic challenges, it is especially fortunate that innovation and creativity are expanding financial options for conservation. This interactive, fast-paced workshop will survey an extensive array of revenue-generating and financing techniques, touch on optimal organizational positioning, identify imaginative strategies, and offer case studies.

If conservation is to succeed, it will need more techniques for attracting money to its projects. What new techniques have you considered or are working for you and what challenges would you like help addressing?

Stretching Our Bounds: Land Protection in a More Urbanized Environment – SEM 3

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:03:26 +0000

As land becomes increasingly scare, the projects to protect it become more complicated. At the same time, land trusts across the nation are struggling to connect to urban residents. Tackling more urban “neighborhood scale” projects means addressing complex ownership combinations on smaller parcels, with possible contamination risks. While often small-scale in acreage, good urban land protection projects can have large-scale impacts on communities. This course touches on successful urban land protection projects from urban land trusts and professionals across the country – bring your own stories to share and learn new approaches and strategies.

How is your organization “stretching its bounds” toward looking at more smaller-scale, complex land protection projects?

Tax Aspects of Conservation Easements – SEM 13

The Alliance — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:23:27 +0000

Course is designed to explain basic tax principles. Course is a basic but comprehensive introduction to the tax laws governing conservation easements, conservation transactions, and land trusts. Course will cover calculation of both income and estate tax benefits from easement contributions and bargain sales, land trust responsibilities in the substantiation of contributions, appraisal requirements, the role of easements in estate planning, tax law governing land trust operations, and recent developments in law. Presenter is author of “A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements”, and the text will be the basis for the course.

Are tax benefits for conservation easement contributions and bargain sales, at either the state or federal level, being abused? If you believe that abuse is occurring, what is the best solution in your mind?