Land Trust Alliance Education Grant | F17AS00337

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00337

The Land Trust Alliance Education Grant (Funding Opportunity Number F17AS00337) is a discretionary U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) award designed to support education and technical assistance for the land trust community and its partners. The total award amount is $30,000, with an award ceiling of $30,000 and one expected award. It is a single-source grant intended specifically for the Land Trust Alliance, meaning the funding is not structured as a broad competitive opportunity. The FWS role is limited, and the agency will not be substantially involved in carrying out the project.

The purpose of the grant is to strengthen land conservation outcomes by funding the Land Trust Alliance's education programming for land trusts, federal agency partners, and other stakeholders involved in conserving land and habitat. The Alliance frames its education goals around four core objectives: strengthening the land conservation community through training; building and sustaining a peer network where practitioners can exchange ideas and problem-solve together; recognizing conservation wins while helping the field respond to emerging challenges; and reinvigorating and supporting a dedicated national community of land conservation professionals. A related emphasis is partner engagement, including coordination with federal agencies, so that land trusts better understand how to work effectively across programs, initiatives, and funding sources that support conservation.

Planned 2017 activities center on delivering a wide range of training and information-sharing opportunities to a large audience, including approximately 1,000 land trusts and their federal partners. The Alliance proposes to do this through major convenings and recurring learning formats such as Rally, the National Land Conservation Conference; roughly 30 webinars; the Symposium on Advanced Legal Topics in Land Conservation; regional training events; and ongoing online instruction through its Learning Center, which was slated for replacement and upgrade in 2017. Within Rally, the Alliance also plans to host the annual Federal Leaders Luncheon and again present the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Land Protection Award, reinforcing collaboration between the land trust community and federal conservation leaders.

A significant portion of the work supported by this grant involves developing and distributing updated professional guidance and legal resources that land trusts rely on to operate responsibly and defensibly. This includes creating new and updated content tied to Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical benchmarks that guide effective land trust operations. These Standards were revised in February 2017 to reflect changes in the legal and operational environment for U.S. land conservation, representing the first major update in about a decade. The Alliance plans to help land trusts implement changes across all 12 Standards and their 146 elements by producing practical supporting materials and guidance.

The grant also supports updates to the Alliance's Land Conservation Case Law Summaries and related tools housed in its legal clearinghouse, the Conservation Defense Clearinghouse. These resources track court decisions and legal developments involving conservation lands, conservation easements, and land trusts nationwide. The Case Law Summaries are updated about every four months by an experienced conservation and tax attorney, and are positioned as a key reference for attorneys and advanced practitioners who need to monitor trends, understand legal risks, and build sound strategies when facing complex issues or legal challenges. The clearinghouse more broadly compiles case information along with practical tips, law review articles, statutes, tax code references, and sample documents to support effective conservation defense.

In addition to trainings and publications, the Alliance commits to providing timely responses to information requests from the field on a wide range of land conservation topics. The summary notes that in 2016 the Alliance responded to more than 1,600 inquiries via its public website and online Learning Center, covering issues such as landowner conservation options, connecting with member land trusts for acquisitions, transactional due diligence, baseline documentation, and conservation defense. The Alliance also maintains moderated online forums, described as communities of practice, where subject matter experts help practitioners troubleshoot problems, share guidance, and exchange information quickly.

Administratively, the award falls under the Service Training and Technical Assistance (Generic Training) CFDA 15.649, categorized under Natural Resources. The cited statutory authorities include the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661 and 742 et seq.), the Fish and Wildlife Improvement Act of 1978 as amended (16 U.S.C. 753), and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544). The eligible applicant category listed is 501(c)(3) nonprofits (excluding institutions of higher education), though the opportunity as described is single-source to the Land Trust Alliance. The opportunity record shows a creation date of July 25, 2017, and an original closing date of August 1, 2017.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Land Trust Alliance Education Grant" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.649.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 25, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 01, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $30,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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