One land trust executive director recently suggested that we try to help Wisconsin land trusts filter through the blizzard of advice on line about how to adhere to the seemingly constant adjustments to IRS regulations for organizations accepting donated conservation easements.

Great suggestion! Thanks!

Here are a few updated suggestions in one sample document that may help your land trust adopt similar standard procedures to help keep you (and your donors) on the light side of tax law. We'll feature a few more in our next issue of Currents.

Managing Landowner Expectations. Even the strongest land trusts struggle with this element of the process for proposed deals. One way to manage this is with a letter outlining mutual responsibilities in anticipation of further discussion. Here's a sample "agreement to proceed letter" used by one land trust here in Wisconsin to make conservation easement transactions as transparent as possible and dispel some confusion about the tax incentives associated with a conservation easement donation.

This sample letter touches on key issues in many conservation easement transactions:

• includes a thumbnail description of what the easement will protect
• points out that there will be transaction costs for the landowner
• urges the landowner to obtain legal counsel
• confirms that the land trust is an organization qualified per IRS rules to hold easements
• defines what payments and costs will not be tax deductible (see note)*
• references relevant tax rules

*NOTE: The land trust that created this letter has a board-approved policy that they will not accept an easement unless they have secured adequate funds for the long term stewardship of the easement. Because full funding of their own stewardship endowment is therefore a requirement of the transaction, not a request for an optional donation, any contribution the landowner makes to their stewardship endowment can not be described as "disinterested generosity" and will not be tax deductible.

Are you sending Contemporaneous Acknowledgment Letters for Easement Donations?

The IRS has denied at least two conservation easement deductions where the donors failed to secure a contemporaneous written acknowledgment and substantiation letter from the land trusts. In two recent cases, Gomez and Bruzewicz, courts have concurred with the IRS that donors must obtain a separate acknowledgment letter for any charitable contribution of $250 or more, despite the existence of other written records such as a Form 8283 or canceled checks.

LTA has compiled a thorough explanation of these rules and some sample letters for both easement donations and bargain sales here.

Form 990 Changes

2009 was the first year when most of us had to (or still have to) file the new Form 990, which includes questions about organizational governance. BoardSource has created a document that dissects the entire form and explains how your governance is on the IRS radar screen. This guide can help your board and staff become familiar with the 990 changes and keep track of what you're required to report to the IRS.

According to the IRS, there are three objectives for the new form: to enhance transparency; to provide the IRS and the public with a more realistic picture of an organization; to encourage compliance by shedding sunshine on the details of an organization's operations.

If you have not yet filed in 2009, this document and some Frequently Asked Questions on the IRS website might be useful (if not exciting) pre-reading; if you have filed already, it may not be too early to start collecting documentation for 2010's 990. (sigh).

 

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has announced dates for five public hearings on the draft of NR 52 (the administrative rule that defines the public access requirements for Stewardship Fund properties). Those draft rules are here.

Public Hearings on the Stewardship Access Rules -

• Wednesday, October 14, Eau Claire
• Thursday, October 15, Rhinelander
• Tuesday, October 20, Madison
• Wednesday, October 21, Green Bay
• Thursday, October 22, West Bend

All five public hearings for NR 52 will likely include an informational session at 6:00pm and then a public comment session at 7:00pm.

We strongly urge supporters of Wisconsin land trusts and the Stewardship Fund to attend and/or submit written comments to the Natural Resources Board to weigh in on  the draft rules and demonstrate their support for the Stewardship Fund. (Written comments will be accepted through October 31st).
 
Our position: We believe the draft rules fairly capture extensive input from the Citizen Advisory Committee that has been informing this draft for over a year, and we are advocating that they not be revised further.  On that Committee and throughout this rule-drafting process, Gathering Waters has argued that the administrative rules should allow land trusts and local governments the flexibility to protect places important to their communities and accommodate each property's circumstances.  These rules as they are now drafted provide a framework within which natural resource professionals in the DNR can work with local governments and land trust partners to determine how Stewardship dollars will best serve communities across Wisconsin.

In early October we will post additional information, sample talking points and suggestions about how to make the land trusts' voices resonate clearly at these hearings. Keep an eye on our website in the next few weeks.

 

With the law in place creating a statewide Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) program, Gathering Waters, American Farmland Trust and Wisconsin's DATCP are working out details of an implementation and outreach strategy now.

Of particular interest to land trusts, rules and criteria guiding the Purchase of Agricultural Easement grants program will be developed this fall. Please keep abreast of progress on our web page here. There will certainly be opportunities for input from the land trust community as the program is constructed.

Working Lands Workshops:
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will be hosting a series of training sessions around the state to share information and answer questions related to implementation of the Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative. The target audience for these sessions includes county planning, zoning and conservation staff, county officials and regional planning staff. While these workshops will not be very relevant to land trusts as potential PACE grant applicants, if you know county administrators interested, please spread the word.

Registration information is in the August edition of DATCP's Working Lands E-Newsletter. To sign up to receive that newsletter, visit DATCP's working lands page here.

More relevant to land trusts interested in the PACE program, there will be additional workshops in October and November sponsored by the Wisconsin Towns Association.  These will include more information about the PACE program under construction (we'll post an agenda for those on the our working lands site as soon as it's available).  Those dates are: 

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - Wisconsin Dells
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - Eau Claire
Thursday, October 29, 2009 - Wausau
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - Fond du Lac
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - De Pere
Thursday, November 5, 2009 - Janesville

Land Trusts interested should consider sponsoring the October/November workshops -- sponsorship will not require any financial support; it will simply be a way to share your land trust's support for the Working Lands Initiatives and start building relationships with landowners and local agencies interested in the new farmland protection measures. 

If you'd like to sponsor or get more information about these workshops, contact the Wisconsin Towns Association at (715) 526-3157.

And on our web page (soon!):
This winter we will provide a collection of sample documents and technical resources from the Farmland Information Center (an AFT library of material related to agricultural land preservation). This Wisconsin-focused resource will include:

• Sample campaign documents for building support for PACE programs
• Cost of Community Service studies
• PACE ordinances (and possibly TDR ordinances)
• Project selection criteria and eligibility requirements
• Sample applications
• Sample easements
• Sample process checklists
• Sample agreement to proceed letters
• Sample outreach materials
• Installment purchase agreements

This resource is under construction. If you have suggestions about sample documents or policies you'd find helpful, please share those ideas with Pam Foster Felt - pam [at] gatheringwaters.org.

 back to table of contents

The Land Trust Alliance is seeking commitments from land trusts interested in participating in a captive insurance program for conservation easement defense.

Gathering Waters Conservancy is supportive of this new program. We feel it has been adequately researched and vetted. We encourage Wisconsin land trusts to participate.

A note from Leslie Ratley-Beach, Land Trust Alliance's Conservation Defense Director follows:

"Every land trust wants their easements to stand the test of time, and we all know that federal law requires us to have sufficient resources to defend them. But most land trusts do not have an endowment large enough to withstand a protracted lawsuit, and this economy makes it more difficult than ever to raise a legal defense fund.

For a long time, land trusts have asked if the Alliance could find an affordable way to cover the high legal costs of defending conservation easements. I think we have come up with a creative solution: a conservation defense insurance program that would be owned and managed by the land trust community. I am grateful to the hundreds of land trusts who have helped design this program so that it meets their needs. We need to get commitments to cover at least 12,000 conservation easements or fee-land parcels for this new service to be financially feasible.

I believe that this new insurance program is the most cost-effective way for land trusts to fulfill their legal obligations and ensure the permanence of their conservation work. I understand that many land trusts may be reluctant to take on new costs in the midst of this recession, so we will not begin the program until after the economy improves in 2012 or 2013. But we need their commitments now so that we can begin raising the funds required to capitalize the program."


You can read the Terms and Conditions and the Commitment Letter  on LTA's web page.


Questions about the program can be directed to Leslie Ratley-Beach lrbeach[at]lta.org

 

In addition to the captive insurance program, LTA has also set up a Conservation Defense Center which includes a legal defense fund, connections to potential pro bono litigation assistance, a legal clearinghouse and training services. 

The program is available to provide advice, technical assistance, knowledge of past cases and, in some cases, financial backing.

Among other resources, the Conservation Defense Center includes a database of attorneys with conservation transaction experience. To be listed, a practicing attorney must be an Alliance member (if you are on the Board of Directors of an LTA member land trust, you are a member. Contact Leslie Ratley-Beach if you want assistance visiting this new site. lrbeach [at] lta.org.)

If your land trust is currently facing a legal challenge, please let Gathering Waters know and we can help connect you to the resources available through the Conservation Defense Center and otherwise. Contact Mike Strigel - Mike [at] gatheringwaters.org

 

Want to Throw a Party? We do! Gathering Waters recently held a joint event with the Natural Heritage Land Trust and is interested in co-hosting similar events with land trusts statewide.

It is Gathering Waters mission to raise the profile, appreciation and awareness of land trusts' work in Wisconsin. What better way to do that than to invite people outside to experience the places you protect?

For several years Gathering Waters has offered land trusts the opportunity to advertise their field trips and work days on our Parade of Preserves website. In 2010, we will be expanding our Parade, so to speak, to include a few "featured" field trips each year. We will be offering land trusts the opportunity to partner with us to co-host small-scale donor cultivation events for our members and yours. Each field trip will include a guided tour of a special property and a picnic. A trip might include an opportunity to meet the landowner, paddle, hike or do a bird count.

The goal of these events is to introduce our members to their local land trusts and to introduce land trust members to Gathering Waters. Our aim is to help conservation supporters understand your work in context of Wisconsin's remarkable land trust movement, and the value of both our organizations.  Conservationists enjoying a beautiful place in the company of interesting land trust folk can't help but have fun and some quality conversation. These trips help donors make those positive, personal associations with your land trust and Gathering Waters.

We tried out this model recently by co-hosting a paddling and picnic event with the Natural Heritage Land Trust with very satisfying success. On a glorious June day, about 20 people paddled beside protected bluffs, hiked and talked about their interest in land conservation.

If you have a piece of property that you would like to showcase to a new audience and you would like help doing it, let us know! Here's what we're proposing:

YOUR Land Trust

• identifies one of your land trust's most special properties. Perhaps one that protects a remarkable resource, has an interesting story to tell or was protected by charismatic landowners who can speak about the value of land trusts' work.
• invites a targeted group of donors, potential donors, and other VIPs to attend a guided tour and picnic.
• helps coordinate some of the local logistics of the event, including the guided tour of the property.

Gathering Waters will

• invite a targeted group of our donors, potential donors and VIPs that live in your area.
• advertise the field trip as a featured Parade of Preserves trip through a variety of our outreach vehicles: our website, a special mailing to our members and in our newsletter, Crosscurrents, which reaches over 6,000 conservation-minded household across the state.
• work with your land trust to coordinate the event, including making arrangements for the picnic and providing templates for the invitation and other promotional materials.

We'd like to show our members why land trusts are so important, and share with yours our mission to make land trusts stronger. If you are interested in co-hosting a field trip with Gathering Waters Conservancy in 2010, please contact Sara DeKok, Member Relations Director, at sara [at] gatheringwaters or 608.251.9131 x 10.