Introduction
The Commission is committed to objective, fair and consistent treatment in making accreditation decisions. It is also committed to the avoidance of real or perceived improprieties in the day-to-day operations of the Commission.

The Commission recognizes that real or perceived conflicts of interest sometimes exist and that the appearance or potential of conflict must be avoided whenever possible. The potential for conflicts exist in all accreditation programs as they rely on experts and leaders in their communities of interest to participate in the accreditation process.

Individuals involved in land trust accreditation are experts and leaders by virtue of having broad interests, multiple affiliations and positions of responsibility within the land conservation community. However, these interests and affiliations must not be a barrier to enforcing the principles of objectivity, fairness and consistency in the accreditation process or to conducting the affairs of the nonprofit corporation in a legal and ethically sound manner.

This document describes conditions that might constitute real or perceived conflicts of interest and identifies the procedures the Commission will follow to disclose and manage and/or avoid these conflicts.

Definitions
Potentially Conflicted Parties
This policy applies to the following: all Commission members, staff, consultants and contract employees; LTA staff, board members, consultants and contract employees that assist the Commission in fulfilling its responsibilities; and any substantial contributor to, or any other individual working on behalf of, the Commission who has an ability to influence decisions or has access to accreditation information that is not available to the general public; as well as parties related to the above. (This policy uses the Internal Revenue Service’s definition of related parties which includes the following: spouse, brothers and sisters, spouses of brothers and sisters, ancestors, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and spouses of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.)

Conflict of Interest
Conflicts of interest can exist whenever an individual’s personal, professional, financial, or other interests compete with those of the Commission or whenever past experiences, current beliefs, biases, relationships or financial interests affect an individual’s ability to make objective, fair and consistent decisions.

Proximity of Interest
A real or perceived conflict may occur when a potentially conflicted party works or resides in close proximity to an applicant or accredited organization, or when an individual’s professional interests bring them in close contact with land conservation organizations operating in a particular field or fields in such a way that the individual would not be able to participate in accreditation decisions in a fair or unbiased manner.

Review Team
The Commission members, staff and other individuals working on behalf of the Commission to review applications for accreditation, project files, field data and other information relative to an applicant for accreditation.

Substantial Contributor
For the purposes of this policy, substantial contributor is defined as a person making an individual contribution of $1,000 or greater. Contributors above this amount must disclose their status as substantial contributors. Contributors below this amount may also feel that their contributions are substantial within the context of the organizations they are giving to and may disclose accordingly.

Potential Conflicts of Interest
The following section is intended to help potentially conflicted parties determine if a conflict exists. The examples are not exhaustive, and are provided here for guidance.

Conflicts of interest may exist if an individual associated with the Commission has one or more of the following relationships with an applicant or an accredited organization.

• Is a current employee, consultant, board member, substantial contributor or volunteer.
• Is a former employee, consultant, board member, substantial contributor or volunteer (within past five years).
• Expects to be an employee, consultant, board member, substantial contributor or volunteer (within 2 years).
• Has a relationship with an applicant or accredited organization by virtue of proximity of interest. (For example, if accreditation applicant is in Commission member’s home town, or applicant is part of a working forest partnership involving a Commission member.)
• Has a close personal relationship with the applicant or accredited organization or its staff, consultants, board members or donors.
• Is involved in an organization that may compete with the applicant or accredited organization (such as competing for projects or donors).
• Has any other reason that would prevent the individual from rendering an unbiased decision or would cause the individual to be fairly perceived as potentially biased.

Conflicts of interest may also exist where an individual’s personal financial interests can or will be influenced by decisions made by the Commission. A financial interest may be an ownership or investment interest in, or a compensation arrangement with, an entity with which the Commission engages in business transactions (outside of accreditation decisions).

Disclosing Conflicts of Interest
Applicants for Accreditation

Each applicant will be informed in writing of the names and affiliations of the individuals on the proposed review team. If an applicant believes that any of these individuals possesses a conflict of interest as defined in this document, the applicant has the opportunity to inform Commission staff. If it is determined that a real or perceived conflict of interest exists, an alternate reviewer will be assigned.

Representatives of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission
Any individual assigned to participate on the review team who believes that participation may constitute a real or perceived conflict of interest should immediately inform the Commission director of their concerns in writing. Individuals who have a question regarding whether a set of facts may constitute a real or perceived conflict of interest on behalf of themselves or others should bring this matter to the attention of the Commission director or chair. The Commission director and chair shall discuss these concerns and, if necessary, ask for a vote of the Commission on the potential conflict.

Commission members, staff and other parties working on behalf of the Commission will annually disclose to the director any financial relationships that might pose a conflict of interest as well as a list of organizations for which the individual has a conflict of interest or may be perceived to have a conflict of interest, so that the individual will not be assigned to participate in any accreditation decisions relating to the listed organizations. These lists will be shared by the Commission director with the chair.

Annual disclosure lists should be drawn broadly enough to include all organizations posing actual or potential conflicts of interests but should also be drawn narrowly enough to avoid imposing undue burdens on other Commission members and staff.

Restraint on Participation and Documentation of Action
Individuals with a conflict of interest shall not participate in the accreditation review or Commission decision in any way except to provide information regarding the nature of the conflict or to manage administrative tasks associated with the application. The individual shall not participate in Commission discussions and will leave the room or terminate the telephone connection. The individual shall not make recommendations for or against the matter under consideration, shall not be counted toward a quorum and shall not vote. The following procedures will be followed to aid in the implementation of this policy.

1. At the beginning of every Commission meeting, individuals will be asked to declare if any new conflicts of interests have developed since the filing of their annual disclosure statement and/or the last meeting. An item on the Commission agenda will allow time for this declaration.
2. As applicants are reviewed for accreditation action(s), the chair will announce those Commission members who have declared a conflict of interest on their annual disclosure statement or have verbally announced their conflict of interest and ask them to leave the room. Any additionally conflicted party may also request to recuse themselves from the discussion and/or vote.
3. This action will be recorded in the minutes including the name of the potentially conflicted party, and that the person recused herself/himself from the discussion, left the room and abstained from voting on the matter.
4. The applicant, upon request, may be informed of any recusals from voting.
   
5. If any other Commission agenda item has the potential for a conflict of interest, the potentially conflicted party shall declare the conflict of interest and the chair will determine if the individual must be recused from discussion and voting. If an action of the Commission is required to make a determination of a conflict of interest, the potentially conflicted party will be asked to leave the meeting during the deliberations. Meeting minutes will record the disclosure of the potential conflict and any action taken to manage the potential conflict.

Notwithstanding the above, in the event that a commissioner who would otherwise have a conflict of interest, believes that an action of the Commission on a particular application would jeopardize the integrity of the land trust accreditation program, this concern may be disclosed to the chair. In response, the chair may direct the accreditation review team to gather additional data relative to the applicant. Such data will be reviewed in an objective and fair manner.

Managing Applications from Organizations Directly Represented on the Commission
In cases where the applicant organization is directly represented on the Commission by a board or staff member, the following restrictions shall apply.

Commissioners that serve as a staff or board member of an organization applying for accreditation shall:

• Not serve as part of the team that prepares the application for the organization they represent;

• Be recused from any Commission action relative to the organization’s application; and,Not be party to any of the materials provided to other commissioners about the application.

The Commission will follow all of its established policies and procedures for any such application.

Prohibitions
The Commission shall not provide compensation for services to any member of the Commission. However, reasonable travel expenses and other expenses incurred in the direct performance of Commission duties may be paid by the Commission.

The Commission shall only approve financial transactions with potentially conflicted parties if it determines that the transaction is in the best interest of the Commission and that the transaction is more advantageous to the Commission than pursuing an arrangement with a party that is not conflicted, finds that the transaction will not result in private inurement or impermissible private benefit, and follows the procedures described in this policy.

Individuals affiliated with the Commission shall not deliberately use their association with the Commission to advance their personal financial interests.

Individuals associated with the Commission (more fully defined under “potentially conflicted parties”) shall not provide any party with an advantage in the accreditation process by providing information about the Commission’s policies, procedures or evaluation and review processes that is not publicly available. (This prohibition would apply, for example, to assisting organizations with preparing an application, providing organizational development support designed to coach an organization through the accreditation process, or providing other technical assistance based on information that is confidential to the Commission.)

Individuals associated with the Commission (more fully defined under “potentially conflicted parties”) shall not provide any organization with any assurance that the Commission will accredit the organization, as the final decision on accreditation rests with the Commission as a whole.

Breaches of Policy
Any person who believes that an individual has breached this policy may report the facts to the Commission as part of the Commission’s process to receive and address public complaints.

Individuals the Commission has determined to have failed to comply with these policies and procedures deliberately or recklessly may be required to terminate their affiliation with the Commission.

Periodic Review
The Commission commits to periodic monitoring and review of this policy to ensure that it is operating in a manner that fosters objective, fair and consistent accreditation decisions, maintains the integrity of the Commission and does not jeopardize its tax-exempt status. An initial review will be conducted no later than December 2007.

Approved by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission
and Land Trust Alliance Board of Directors
October 2006
Minor Amendment Approved by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission August 2008