Guided Assessments and Accreditation Preparation

I use the Land Trust Alliance’s Assessing Your Organization format to conduct guided organizational assessments with land trusts and completed Alliance training for guided assessments and other organizational development.  My business is listed on the roster of qualified consultants. 

"Donna's final report is very clear with specific and prioritized items that we need to address before we apply for accreditation."

I provide technical assistance to land trusts preparing for accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, including developing policies/procedures and helping plan and implement the application process. I am adept at working with Boards of Directors and staff members and can facilitate meetings in various contexts. My decade-long service as a founding land trust board member provided excellent land trust experience.  (Read One Organization's Experience with "Assessing Your Organization" by Patti Hostetler of the Douglas Land Conservancy) 

“The Texas Land Conservancy benefited greatly from the organizational assessment process using an outside consultant. While we were aware of some of the issues that our consultant, Donna Erickson, presented, she was able to flesh out a very thorough and insightful critique of our organization that we would have been unable to do ourselves had we chosen to do a self-evaluation.  Donna is very knowledgeable about the assessment process and was able to help us prioritize and organize her recommendations into a working action plan…Donna “got us” right away, and was able to be critical, diplomatic, and truly thoughtful in her analysis and in her subsequent policy work with us.”  

— Mark Steinbach, PhD, Executive Director, Texas Land Conservancy

Current and Recent Assessment Clients (Most of these organizations have contracted with me beyond the assessment to help them implement its findings and prepare for accreditation):

• Bainbridge Island Land Trust, Bainbridge Island, WA
• Bitter Root Land Trust:  Hamilton, Montana
• Blue Mountain Land Trust: Walla Walla, Washington
• Clark Fork – Pend Oreille Conservancy, Sandpoint, Idaho
• Crested Butte Land Trust, Crested Butte, Colorado
• Douglas Land Conservancy, Castle Rock, Colorado
• Five Valleys Land Trust:  Missoula, Montana
• Flathead Land Trust: Kalispell, Montana
• Great Land Trust, Anchorage, Alaska
• Hill Country Conservancy, Austin, Texas
• Inland Northwest Land Trust, Spokane, Washington
• Interior Alaska Land Trust, Fairbanks, Alaska
• Kachemak Heritage Land Trust, Homer, Alaska
• Land Trust of Napa County, Napa, California
• Malpai Borderlands Group:  Douglas, Arizona
• Mountain Area Land Trust, Evergreen, Colorado
• Nushagak-Mulchatna Wood-Tikchik Land Trust, Dillingham, Alaska
• Okanogan Valley Land Council: Tonasket, Washington
• Palouse Land Trust, Moscow, ID
• Prickly Pear Land Trust: Helena, Montana
• Sierra Foothill Conservancy, Prather, California
• Sonoma Land Trust, Santa Rosa, California
• Southeast Alaska Land Trust, Juneau, Alaska
• Texas Agricultural Land Trust, San Antonio, TX
• Texas Land Conservancy:  Austin, Texas
• The Vital Ground Foundation:  Missoula, Montana
• Utah Open Lands, Salt Lake City, UT
• Whatcom Land Trust: Bellingham, Washington