Developing the Millennial Leaders that Land Trusts Need

Many land trusts have entered a new age where succession plans are being developed out of necessity, as the original land conservation pioneers prepare for retirement. The retention of talented staff within the land trust community becomes even more imperative in order to continue conservation in perpetuity and develop the next generation of leaders within.

Tired of being “blamed” for destroying everything from the napkin industry to home ownership and being generally misunderstood, a group of millennials working in land trusts decided to tackle the confusion that seems to surround this generation. We developed a brief 12-question survey to advance the discussion of how the land trust sector can best retain and develop millennial employees. The twelve questions were designed to illuminate what millennials were thinking, needing, and hoping.

Over 500 millennials responded. We presented the results of the survey at Rally 2018, and are distilling the lessons from the survey and discussions from our Rally workshop here.

Whether you’re a board member or staff member - and regardless of your generation - we hope this document can serve as a tool for developing leaders and for understanding the trends in the millennial generation of conservation professionals. Furthermore, we hope it will serve as a useful jumping off point for discussions with and about America’s second largest generation.