Philanthropic Partner Approaches To Land Conservation - 2

The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, a family foundation in existence for over 60 years with approximately $200,000,000 in assets, is involved in landscape scale land conservation efforts in two very different regions, greater Chicagoland and the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  In the Chicago region, which has a population of almost 10 million residents, the Foundation has played a role in developing and supporting a region-wide conservation vision to protect 1.8 million acres across 14 counties on the southern rim of Lake Michigan stretching from Southeast Wisconsin through Northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana to the tip of Southwest Michigan.  In coastal South Carolina, the Foundation has sponsored an informal  collaboration of land trusts and advocacy groups which has contributed to the protection of over a million acres of land across eight counties.

To leverage its philanthropic capacity, the Foundation engages in a variety of land conservation strategies including operational support for NGOs, convenings, participating in collaborations including grantees, corporate partners and government agencies, and helping to finance conservation purchases.  David Farren, the executive director, will discuss successes and challenges working with diverse partners to help achieve landscape scale outcomes in a various settings ranging from a large metropolitan region, to small cities and towns, to traditional rural communities.  The role of foundations as convenors, strategists and "neutral brokers," in addition to providing financial resources, will be discussed in the context of various efforts and initiatives in the two regions.