Why Have a Lottery?
A lottery gives all interested organizations a chance to be selected to participate in the accreditation program. The lottery also provides the Commission with important information about land trust interest in accreditation. It also provides advance notice to the land trusts selected to participate next year so that they can start preparing their applications now.

2007 Lottery for 2008 Applications
The lottery for 2008 applications closed on August 31, 2007 with over 80 participants! Thank you to all the land trusts that expressed an interest in applying for accreditation.

The Commission announced in September that it will be able to accommodate all organizations that participated in the lottery in one of three application rounds next year. Land trust interest in the program matches the Commission’s projections for the number of applications it will review 2008 – an indication that plans for the program are on target.

Names of applicants were drawn at Rally 2007: The National Land Conservation Conference in Denver, Colorado at a special Accreditation Kick-Off: Lottery Drawing and Reception on Friday, Oct. 5. The lottery drawing was used to select the organizations for each application round. Click here to see the lottery results (updated December 14, 2007).

The Commission will still be evaluating its pilot program in 2008 so it will not yet be at full operations. We expect the number of applications that can be reviewed to grow after 2008. Next year, the Commission will also evaluate the lottery for 2008 applications and determine how it will accept applications in future years.