Mergers & Other Collaborations of Land
Trusts in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference
Worcester MA
March 2012
Presenters:
Mark H. Robinson
Executive Director
The Compact of Cape Cod
Conservation Trusts, Inc.
&
Kristin DeBoer
Executive Director
Kestrel Land Trust
Panelists:
Jaci Barton
Executive Director
Barnstable Land Trust, Inc.
&
Peggy Stevens
Executive Director
Westport Land Conservation Trust
Mergers & Other Collaborations
General Forms of Collaboration
Information Sharing:
listserv, get-togethers
Resource Sharing:
equipment, office, knowledge
Joint Venture:
land acquisition
Service Agreements:
MassLIFT, one-time or extended; mapping, etc.
Staff Sharing:
potential conflicts can be avoided
Group Purchasing:
bulk discount; NonProfit Connect
Fiscal Sponsorship:
MLTC for many years
Service Centers:
The Compact, Coalition for Buzzards Bay
Restructuring:
mergers, affiliations, supporting organizations
•
Why get a partner? It just complicates
things!
•
Answer:
– They have something you don’t
– They have something you need
– Such as: $$$$ or expertise or clout or
backup
– Create a track record
– Satisfaction of success shared
Mergers & Other Collaborations
What comes first?
The Project or the Partner?
Usually, the project, but not always
Ex: 1997 MV Conservation Partnership
TTOR, TNC, SMF, VCS, MVLB
Ex: current W. Mass Aggregation Project
Mt. Grace, Franklin LT, BNRC, etc.
FIRST PRINCIPLES
How to pick a partner:
•
Understand niches and needs
•
Identify interests (functional, geographic)
•
Don’t waste time: round pegs, square holes
Examples:
TTOR, MAS: adding to existing holdings or
large new areas
TNC: prime rare species habitats
DFG: hunting and fishing access
$$$$
Land is ever more expensive
Each pot is limited:
(CPA matching grants way down; 25%)
Fundraising in down economy likely to be
tougher
Partners enable you to reach
higher and more often
Dennis Pond Deal, 2006-2007
PARTNERS:
• Public:
– Town of Yarmouth (OSC, CPC, ConCom)
– State Self Help Program
• Private:
– The Nature Conservancy
– International Fund for Animal Welfare
– The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation
Trusts
– Yarmouth Conservation Trust
• Each had a different reason to be involved
DENNIS POND DEAL, 2006-2007
Town of Yarmouth
$500,000
CR
Deed
March 2008
$250K
Dec 2007
State
LAND
grant
Deed
Yarmouth Conservation Trust
pre-acquisition
$500,000 no-interest loan
Intern. Fund for Animal Welfare
$250,000 guarantee
$250,000 guarantee
The Compact
The Nature
Conservancy
Seller
$500K
June 2007
A Service Center
The Compact is the oldest, selfsustaining regional service center
for land trusts in the U.S.
Land Trust Alliance, 2002:
Compact “a national model of sustainable land
trust cooperation on a regional basis”
Source: Robert Bowers, LTA Board Chairman, letter to The Compact.
Texas State University, 2005:
Compact “an excellent example of how a
grassroots effort of dedicated land trusts can
build a sustainable service center that continues
to evolve to meet the needs of land trusts.”
Source: Rebecca Ann Blecke, “Land Trust Training and Technical Assistance Programs: A National Assessment,” M.P.A. thesis, TSU, Fall 2005.
“Models of Collaboration Among Land Trusts”
by Sylvia Bates for Maine Coast Heritage Trust, June 2005
Conclusions:
1. Volunteers who manage land trusts find the
full-time staff support of Compact crucial
2. Compact enables land trusts to do more work
and more ambitious complex projects.
3. Compact’s philosophy: best way to keep
Compact strong is to build capacity of land
trusts
4. Compact does not compete with member land
trust on fundraising
5. Compact cannot substitute for local leadership
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Ingredients of The Compact
1. Shared regional identity: an area that makes
sense to people (Cape Cod, as opposed to
MetroWest, whatever that is)
2. Scope: large enough to create economies of
scale, small enough to be present in each
community regularly
3. Create trust by time, familiarity
4. Longevity at the top
5. Create value-added for each member land
trust; money being well-spent
6. Not just a clearinghouse, hands-on help
Vive la difference!
Most land trust service centers founded with
“top-down” approach or “other peoples’ money”
Examples:
1. Connecticut Land Trust Service Bureau
founded by The Nature Conservancy
2. Gathering Waters land trust coalition in
Wisconsin funded by state operating budget
3. LTA funded statewide land trust centers in
NY and WA.
BUT, The Compact formed by local land trusts
banding together and self-funding.
Members of The Compact, 2012
Association to Preserve Cape Cod
Barnstable Land Trust, Inc.
Bourne Conservation Trust
Brewster Conservation Trust
Chatham Conservation
Foundation
Coalition for Buzzards Bay
Dennis Conservation Trust
Eastham Conservation Foundation
The 300 Committee, Inc.
(Falmouth)
Massachusetts Audubon Society
The Nature Conservancy (MA Chapter)
Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, Inc.
Orleans Conservation Trust
Provincetown Conservation Trust
Sandwich Conservation Trust
Three Bays Preservation, Inc. (Barnstable)
Truro Conservation Trust
Wellfleet Conservation Trust
Yarmouth Conservation Trust
Friends of Pleasant Bay
Harwich Conservation Trust
20 Voting Members – $1,500 minimum for dues and service; entitled to direct
service on projects, access to Land Fund loans and grants
3 Associate Members - $300 - $500 annual dues
GOVERNANCE
Board of Directors - 18
(each Voting Member land trust pays
$1,500 per year and sends a delegate
to vote on Compact matters; meets 5-6x/yr.)
Nominating
Committee – 3
Recommends
officers, and
annual award
recipient
Staff – 3
Thomsen Land Fund Managers – 5
(appointed by Board of Directors, including 2
at-large, non-board members; has separate
decisionmaking on investments and requests by
land trusts for mini-grants and low-interest
loans; reports decisions to Board; meets as
needed; advised by Exec. Dir.)
The Compact also provides office space
for a full-time administrator of one land trust and
payroll services for 4 others
Executive Director
Mark Robinson, 26 years
Assistant Director
Michael Lach, 12 years
Senior Land Protection
Specialist
Paula Pariseau, 9 years
(all full-time professionals)
PROGRAMS
There are only 300 acres of American holly/American beech forest on Cape Cod,
according to the Wildlife Conservation Project, a countywide GIS
mapping project published by The Compact in 2003.
In 2003, The Compact
published its Cape Cod
Priority Ponds Project, which
analyzed and ranked for
protection almost 3,000
pondshore parcels totaling
more than 12,000 acres.
In 2005, The Compact completed its Perceived Open Space Project,
inventorying about 9,000 acres on Cape Cod, all unprotected lands
used for recreation, agriculture or institutional use, such as the boy
scout camp in Yarmouth shown here.
Charles H. Thomsen Land Fund for Cape Cod
The Charles H. Thomsen Land Fund
The
Compact’s revolving
loan fund, providing local
for Cape Cod is a
land trusts with timely access to
capital to purchase critical land.
$560,000 in capital has been
lent out and returned 39
times for a total of $3.55m
since 1992
“A distinguishing quality of the Land Fund is the close connection between the Compact’s
leadership and the client land trusts. The land trusts work together to guide The Compact,
which creates a high level of trust and interchange. The commitment to shared risk
developed through an awareness of the work of each trust, and the governance role that these
land trusts play in The Compact, allow the loan fund staff and board to feel comfortable
offering generous, flexible loan terms.” Source: A Field Guide to Conservation Finance by
Story Clark, Island Press, 2007, p. 243.
Charles H. Thomsen Land Fund for Cape Cod
• Working capital: $650,000
• Loan terms: 1% -4%,
unsecured, short-term (less
than 5 years)
• 39 loans made since 1992
• Loans have ranged from
$7,500 to $300,000
• $3,550,000 in loans made, all
but $9,000 has been paid
back so far.
• $95,000 in small grants have
also been distributed to local
projects.
• In total, grants and loans
have resulted in the purchase
of 681 acres worth more than
$18 million.
The Thomsen Land Fund
provides money for land
acquisitions by tree-huggers
all over Cape Cod.
SERVICES
COMPACT REVENUES, 2006
Town
Consulting
Services
9%
Contributions,
Grants
21%
Land Trust
Memberships
8%
Land Trust
Service Fees
62%
Most of the funding for The Compact’s operations
comes from the land trusts themselves, in the form
of annual dues and fees for direct services on their
local projects. Source: 2006 audit of The Compact
How Compact staff time is spent
General and
Administration
4%
Member Land
Trust Projects
Regional
Projects
20%
Source: Compact timesheets, 2005
76%
Types of services provided
to Member land trusts:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Landowner outreach and negotiations
Deed, conservation restriction drafting and approvals
Natural resource baseline & property inventories
Educational workshops for land trusts and landowners
Regional open space research & ranking
Land use management plans for conservation areas
Grant writing
Newsletter writing, editing, layout
Advice on public filings
Fundraising campaign structure
Membership development coordination
Liaison to county, regional and state non-profits & agencies, media
Cultivation of regional network of professionals available to assist
land trusts at no or low cost
• Whatever else land trusts want/need and
cannot get done with their available help!!
All-volunteer land trusts can do land projects without The Compact.
They cannot do multiple, complex projects simultaneously without The Compact.
SERVICES NOT PROVIDED
• Land trust membership data base
tracking
• Envelope stuffing
• On-the-ground land maintenance
(i.e., driving around with rakes and saws)
• Most tax filings
• Local leadership