Resources For Land Trusts
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The IRS has prepared a draft of guidelines designed to help charity boards promote good governance practices by the charities they serve.
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Form 8283 must be filed by individuals, partnerships, and corporations file to report information about noncash charitable contributions when the amount of their deduction for all noncash gifts is mor...
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Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, is used by tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations to provide the IRS with the informati...
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Last reviewed by MLTC: 9/27/2025
Guidance regarding appraisal requirements for noncash charitable contributions.
Website can be found here: Instructions for Form 8283 (12/2024) | Internal Revenue Serv...
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In a speech delivered at an educational conference in April, Lois Lerner, Director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), reported the preliminary findings from ...
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Record keeping is essential for protecting your conserved lands. Understand the importance of good record keeping, how to identify your critical records and how to plan for getting them organized and ...
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Land conservation as an investment that pays many dividends, including economic ones. How land conservation affects government revenues and expenses, business and employment.
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Last reviewed by MLTC: 12/11/2025.
These resources explain the main ways private landowners can conserve their land, including donations, conservation restrictions, charitable sales, and other approac...
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Last Reviewed by MLTC: 12/11/2025
This resource provides clear definitions of the land conservation terms, agencies, programs, and legal frameworks most commonly used in Massachusetts. Conservation p...
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Non-Native Invasive Earthworms in the Midwest and Eastern United States: A Primer covers the distribution and ecological grouping of invasive earthworms, their effects on the physical and chemical pro...
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How to keep your land trust legal and responsible, starting out and planning for the future.
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The Land Trust Alliance works to secure public policies on a national scale that support land trusts' efforts and their conservation goals. See discussions of Tax Policy, Land Conservation Funding, Lo...
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Thank the Superhero in Our Midst: An OpEd in the Cape Cod Times describes the many benefits of conserved land for all.
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This 2-part presentation was given at the 2016 Mass Land Conservation Conference
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Ethical and Technical Guidelines for the Responsible Operation of a Land Trust. Revised in 2017.
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Last Reviewed by MLTC: 01/07/2026.
This publication provides an overview of how municipalities and conservation organizations have used Chapter 61, 61A, and 61B in land use planning and conservation d...
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This report uses data and methodologies to study the impact of the decline of forest cover and the increase of agriculture or urban land cover in a drinking water source drainage areas (2008)
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This Legislative Primer will serve to demystify the steps that lead to the passage of new laws and funding measures.
Strong conservation laws and programs are adopted largely as a result of broad publ...
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Last Reviewed by MLTC: 12/11/2025
A free legal referral service connecting farmers, food entrepreneurs, and food system organizations with attorneys for assistance on land access, business, and transa...
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Meet 8 organizations leading the way for a more just and whole environmental movement building climate resilience in and for their LGBTQ+ communities and beyond. Link to the article here: https://wil...
