Stewardship Fund

What is it?

The Stewardship Fund is a Utah Open Lands (UOL) bank account for monies specifically designated for use by Utah Open Lands to monitor and steward properties protected by conservation easements.

Why is it needed?

With every donated conservation easement, UOL accepts the responsibility to monitor and enforce that easement forever. The perpetual costs associated with monitoring each easement are a significant and necessary liability to UOL, necessary because this is our responsibility as dictated through our mission. Consequently, the liability is not only expected but welcomed and the associated financial responsibilities are taken very seriously.

How does the fund work?

The purpose of the Stewardship Fund is twofold: to provide monies to monitor lands protected by conservation easements and to provide financial security against lawsuits, if any should ever occur. Stewardship endowments from every conservation easement donation are pooled together into one account. Currently, the interest earned on this account is reinvested to build the principal. Our goal is to build a fund that can pay out enough interest sufficient to cover the projected annual monitoring expenses for each easement. The corpus will continue to be held in reserve to be used only in legal defense of our easements. We hope to never have to use the corpus and intend to mininüze the risk of any lawsuits through careful and consistent monitoring and good landowner relations. UOL's annual operating fund currently covers its stewardship expenditures in order to build up the fund as quickly as possible.

How are the funds raised?

It is our policy to ask easement donors to consider a gift to Utah Open Lands' stewardship fund to ensure the monitoring and enforcement of the donated easement. As mentioned above, currently all of the interest earned on the fund is reinvested to build the principal. In addition, UOL fundraises specifically for the stewardship fund annually from individuals, foundations, and others.

How are stewardship costs calculated?

Since UOL has only a 9-year history with easements and their associated costs and since we are still primarily working with the original donors, our method of calculating stewardship costs, and therefore the endowment needed to cover those costs, is somewhat theoretical and based on some assumptions. The calculations are based on estimates of the amount of time we have spent over the last nine years on monitoring and enforcing easements.

According to the Jackson Hole Land Trust, one of the premier land trusts in the country, most of the stewardship costs incurred in holding an easement arise from the "first easement in any single ownership. Although subsequent easements donated by the same landowner do add additional costs, these costs are much lower than those created by a first easement with a new property owner. The primary reason for the reduced costs of subsequent easements under the same ownership is because a land trust needs only to correspond with one owner rather than separate individuals for each easement.

Factors considered when calculating a stewardship endowment fund:

It has been UOL's and other land trust's experience that reserved future homesites add significantly to the amount of stewardship staff time required for a property. Homesites existing at the time an easement is conveyed also increase the staff's or volunteer's time on the property. Easements with no reserved or previously existing homesites require significantly less stewardship time and money

It is UOL's goal that annual stewardship costs will eventually be covered by the interest earned on the stewardship endowment. We estimate that an annual rate of 6% will be adequate to cover the annual stewardship costs and to supplement the fund annually to keep up with inflation (3% to cover stewardship costs and 3% to be reinvested annually). Land trust have found that the size of a protected parcel does not significantly influence the annual stewardship costs. Consequently, our calculations do not differentiate among specific acreage of a property. All stewardship costs, with the exception of a few fixed costs, are calculated at a rate of either $13 or $25 per hour, depending on whether a staff member, intern, or volunteer is doing the site visit and monitoring. The endowment, calculated using 6% annual interest, is the gift request made to a landowner considering a conservation easement donation.

Is a stewardship gift required by Utah Open Lands?

The requested endowment amount is by no means a requirement of a conservation easement gift. However, it is strongly encouraged as a means of ensuring that an easement, and consequently the land, is protected in perpetuity. Some easement donors want to help by giving the entire amount up front while others choose to make a pledge to pay the requested amount over several years.

Can anyone make a contribution to UOL's stewardship fund?

Certainly! In addition to easement donors, there are many people who feel strongly about stewarding and protecting a land trust's conservation easements, and many, if asked appropriately, might be willing to make a gift to the stewardship fund. Since Utah Open Lands is recognized by the I.R.S. as a 501 (C) 3 charitable, non-profit organization, all donations are tax deductible.