2007 Lottery for First Year Applications!
Land trusts around the country are eager to participate in the new accreditation program. The Commission will conduct a lottery in 2007 to select applicants for the first year of the program.

Land trusts eligible for accreditation that wish to be part of the lottery drawing must submit an electronic “intent to apply" by August 31, 2007. This is your organization's "lottery ticket." Names of applicants will be drawn at Rally 2007: The National Land Conservation Conference in Denver, Colorado in early October. Results will be posted on our website by mid-October.

Organizations interested in accreditation should review the 2007 pilot application and Applicant Handbook to determine whether they are eligible and are prepared to apply.

*The 2007 lottery for accreditation applications is now closed."

Update on the Pilot Program
Initial feedback from pilot participants has been positive and constructive. “Everybody knows the accreditation process involves a lot of work, and that may cause some hesitation about applying,” says Westchester Land Trust Executive Director Paul Gallay. “Virtually every hour we put into our application is also helping us make Westchester Land Trust a better and hopefully more successful organization. We learned a lot about our land trust, ‘tweaked’ our program in a few places, and the dividends are already starting to become apparent. If we had it all over to do again, we would definitely do so.”

A second round of the pilot program will begin this summer, with applications due on August 15. The full list of participating land trusts will be announced in June. Like the organizations participating in the first round, these groups represent a diversity of land trust types and sizes and are providing a great service to the land trust community.

Read more on the pilot program including the full list of first round participants.