Organizational Assessments, Implementation Grants and Support

Selected land trusts will have the opportunity to participate in one of four types of assessments. After the assessment, each land trust will receive a list of priority action items and become eligible for an Implementation Grant to address those priorities. Prior to receiving the Implementation Grant funding, participating land trusts must submit an application detailing the work they plan to undertake with the grant support. Along with the grant funding, land trusts will participate in quarterly coaching calls.

Explore the Land

Participating organizations will each receive the following as part of a comprehensive package.

Land trusts are invited to apply for a comprehensive organizational assessment tailored to their specific needs and interests. After the assessment, each land trust will receive a list of priority action items and become eligible for an implementation grant to address those priorities. Prior to receiving the implementation grant funding, participating land trusts must submit an application detailing the work they plan to undertake with the grant support.

Each participating land trust will receive a detailed implementation plan and up to $10,000 grant to support the execution of the action items outlined in the plan. Implementation action items may include, but aren’t limited to, board and leadership training, staff supervision and best practices, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consulting, strategic planning assistance, fundraising consulting, technology upgrades, recordkeeping support, establishing a remote monitoring plan, completing baseline documentation reports or accreditation consultant support. Staff time is an eligible expense.

Along with the grant support, land trusts will also participate in coaching. This includes quarterly check-ins, strategic advice and hands-on assistance to ensure that projects are progressing smoothly and effectively.

The Massachusetts Advancing Conservation Excellence program, created in partnership with the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, is a multi-year effort to provide support and resources to the land trust community in Massachusetts. As part of this program, we’re offering organizational development support for land trusts that seek to strategically increase their impact, ensure financial sustainability, or bolster organizational management and leadership, or those land trusts who seek to enroll in Terrafirma, become accredited or generally understand and implement Land Trust Standards and Practices.

Selected organizations will each receive the following as part of a comprehensive organizational development package:

Organizational assessment.
Implementation grant.
Mentoring support.

This application will be used to select land trusts to participate in this program. Your land trust can choose to apply one of four types of assessments, based on your organization’s needs.

Eligibility: Applicants must be a Massachusetts-based land trust that is a member of the Alliance and/or the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition.  

Timeline: Applications will be open from April 14, 2025-May 16, 2025. Announcements will be made in June 2025.  Assessments typically take 4-6 months. The window for assessments to take place is July 2025-July 2026. 

Primary contact for application *

Organization *

Email *

Phone number *

Describe your land protection efforts to date.

(e.g., acres protected, number of conservation easements and fee lands)

What is your organization’s annual budget?

How many full-time equivalent staff does your organization have?

If your organization is all-volunteer run, please enter 0. If you have one part-time staff person that works 20 hours per week, please enter 0.5.

How many people serve on the Board of Directors or Board of Trustees?

Please indicate which organizational assessment you would like to apply for. *

Go to the drop down menu labeled ‘assessment options’ under Organizational assessment on this page for more details about each assessment option (description, timeline, etc). Please note each selected organization will be asked to contribute to the total assessment cost. Thanks to generous funding from an anonymous foundation, the costs of these assessments are much lower than they would be if pursued separately. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Jen Plowden (jplowden@lta.org) before applying.

Organizational capacity assessment [$250]

Terrafirma eligibility assessment [$300]

Standards and Practices assessment [$1,200]

Requirements manual assessment [$600]

Please tell us why you are applying for the opportunity to participate in an assessment, including your main goals (what you hope to gain or change).

Thanks to generous support for this program, the fee to participate in the assessment is much lower than the cost to undertake the process outside of this program. That said, we do not want cost to be a barrier to participation. Would your organization require a fee waiver to participate in this assessment?

Assessments will occur between July 2025 and July 2026. What is the earliest your organization would be able to start the assessment process? Is there any information we should know about your availability to participate?

Is there anything else you would like us to know as we consider your application?

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Organizational Assessments, Implementation Grants and Support

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