Regards,

Tammara Van Ryn
Executive Director

Registration for 2010 and 2011 Open

Please join us in welcoming our newest commissioner, Molly Doran. Molly has served as the Executive Director of Skagit Land Trust, an accredited land trust in Washington, since 2002. Prior to working in land conservation, Molly spent over 20 years managing schools and teaching outdoor education in North and South America and Africa for the National Outdoor Leadership School. She holds a masters degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences with an emphasis in managing and consulting from the Leadership Institute of Seattle, Bastyr University. A Canadian, she graduated from the University of Waterloo with an emphasis in Environmental Studies. She and her husband raise their two sons in Bow, Washington. Learn more about all our commissioners.

12 Months – 12 Standards – 12 Tips: Standard 6

Each month we bring you an application tip relating to one of the 12 standards from Land Trust Standards and Practices. This month's tip is related to standard 6: Financial and Asset Management.

Why is it important?
Practice 6D relates to financial reviews and audits. Obtaining an independent evaluation of a land trust's financials is an important way to ensure that users of the statements (e.g. board, staff, members) are presented with a fair picture of the finances, and are protected from any outright misrepresentation by the organization. In addition, as a land trust's budget grows, board and staff members may not always have the expertise required to prepare accurate financial statements.

Earlier this year, the Commission published requirements for the level of external financial evaluation needed for applicants for accreditation. But the Commission doesn't simply look at the level of review and stop there. Information provided in an organization's financial statements is helpful in determining compliance with a number of practices. The Commission evaluates a variety of areas to get a comprehensive picture of a land trust's performance and financial management.

How is it documented?
The Commission's Guidance Document on practice 6D includes some questions to consider when compiling and reviewing your land trust's financial statements and the application for accreditation specifies the documents the Commission will review. Some of the things the Commission looks to see evidence of in the statements include the following.

• Financial reports in the Form 990 reconcile with the financial statement.
• Funds are classified with appropriate restrictions and are consistent with what is provided in the Schedule of Dedicated and Restricted Funds, an attachment required at pre-application. (For example, "endowments" are appropriately tracked as permanently restricted funds.)
• Fund restrictions are also consistent with information provided to donors in solicitations and contribution acknowledgments.
• Any recommendations from an auditor relative to financial procedures are being addressed by the organization.
• If the land trust holds conservation easements, this information is in some way reflected in the financial statement [note the Commission does not recommend a particular method, but simply looks to see that easements are in some way recognized in the statement (e.g., a note at the end of an audit, listed as $1, $0 or FMV, etc.)].

For more on this and other elements of standard 6 visit The Learning Center, an online resource available from the Land Trust Alliance, in particular the Standards and Practices Curriculum Course Financial Management of Land Trusts, the Standards and Practices Guidebook, and the 2004 Land Trust Standards and Practices. Please also see the Commission's Guidance Document on practice 6D.