Resource Library
Connecticut’s land trusts face many shared challenges, including expanding stewardship workloads, board succession, fundraising pressures, and the need for specialized expertise. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of collaborative options to help organizations navigate an increasingly complex conservation landscape, share capacity, strengthen operational structures, and remain rooted in their local communities. Intended for planning and discussion purposes, this resource outlines a clear progression of partnerships without constituting legal or tax advice.
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The Collaboration Spectrum: Explores partnership options categorized by increasing levels of formality, integration, and shared governance—specifically detailing information sharing, contractual collaboration, joint ventures, corporate affiliations, and full mergers or acquisitions.
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Joint Venture & Affiliation Tiers: Provides deep structural breakdowns of variations like nonprofit-nonprofit joint ventures, multi-partner service hubs, umbrella trusts, one-way support organizations, and subsidiaries.
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Regional Case Studies: Highlights real-world applications of these models in action, including Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs), the Cape Cod Compact, the merger of Norwalk Land Trust and Aspetuck Land Trust, and the creation of the Northwoods Land Conservancy.
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Five Core Design Principles: Offers actionable guidance for setting up successful partnerships, advising organizations to start with goals over structure, build trust and communication, define decision rights clearly, match governance to risk, and plan for future organizational changes.
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CLCC Assistance Pathways: Outlines how the Connecticut Land Conservation Council can actively support land trusts as they think through partnership goals, learn from peer examples, frame operational questions, and prepare for legal and financial planning with counsel.
On July 1, CLCC hosted a webinar for land trusts to introduce this guide.