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New Standards and Practices CoursesCurriculum
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Determining Stewardship Costs and Raising and Managing Dedicated Funds Indicator Practices Covered: 11-A Funding Easement Stewardship; 12-A Funding Land Stewardship; 6-F Investment and Management of Financial Assets and Dedicated Funds How much will it cost your land trust to manage a conservation easement for the long haul? Arriving at a realistic figure is tricky—but essential—if you are going to keep your promises. In this course you will learn how to calculate the full stewardship expenses of conservation easements and fee land transactions; present and/or anticipated future staff costs; potential enforcement/defense costs for conservation easement holdings; and any necessary legal or technical advice. This course will also discuss the various systems for the investment and management of financial assets and different types of dedicated funds (operations, land acquisition, stewardship, enforcement/defense, etc.). Go to the publications catalog to purchase a hard copy or download a free digital copy
Tax Benefits and Appraisals of Conservation Projects Indicator Practices Covered: 10-A Tax Code Requirements; 10-B-Appraisals Do you fully understand the tax code requirements for conservation easement donations? Do you know how appraisors come up with the figures they do? If not, this course is for you! It provides an overview of issues involved with appraising conservation projects and the new 2006 changes to the federal law affecting donations of conservation easements. You will become familiar with the different components of IRC § 170(h), forms 8282 and 8283, and will be able to explain a “qualified contribution ” and “qualified donee.” You will learn the basic techniques appraisers use in putting a value on conservation easements. In this day and age, every land trust needs to know how to review an appraisal for consistency with tax code requirements and with regional values. Estimated Time to Complete Course: 6-hours (instructor-led course) 4.5 hours (self-study)
Indicator Practices: 3B-Board Composition; 3C-Board Governance; 3F-Board Approval of Land Transactions; 2B-Nonprofit Incorporation and Bylaws A good board is the cornerstone of a successful land trust. How does your board measure up? This course covers the legal, ethical, and fiduciary responsibilities of the board, the roles and responsibilities of individual board members, the link between a strong board and land conservation success. You will receive practical advice on how to build a strong and functional board and how to create bylaws that foster good governance. Course materials include a board matrix template as well as other templates so that you can create your own board member evaluation form and board job descriptions. Estimated Time to Complete Course: 6 hours (instructor-led course); 4.5 hours (self-study)
Indicator Practices: 8B-Project Selection and Criteria; 8G-Project Planning; 8D-Public Benefit of Transactions; 8E-Site Inspection Has your land trust ever struggled with deciding whether or not to accept a conservation easement? Ever regretted accepting an easement? Think your project planning process could be improved but not sure where to start? If so, this course is for you. Learn how to determine what land or easement transactions are appropriate for your organization and go through the steps in planning a successful project. Learn how to develop and apply sound project selection criteria and how to document the public benefit of transactions. The course will cover the important elements of a site visit and how to use data gathered from the site visit for future baseline documentation reports or management plans. You will learn how to create customized acquisition criteria and project planning forms. Estimated Time to Complete Course: 7.5 hours (instructor-led course); 6 hours (self-study)
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest and Running and Ethical Land Trust Indicator Practices: 4A-Dealing with Conflicts of Interest; 4C-Transactions with Insiders; 1D-Ethics Can you name all of the disqualified persons in your organization? Do you know what to do if a major donor asks to amend her conservation easement? Are you secretly worried that your land trust will wind up on the cover of your local newspaper and not for the right reasons? If the answers to these questions keep you awake at
night, then this course if for you. In this course, you will learn how to avoid or manage conflicts of interest and transactions with insiders as well as the ethical obligations of land trusts. Estimated Time to Complete: 4.5 hours (instructor-led course); 3.5 hours (self-study)
(updated 12/13/07)
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