The Trust for Public Land

CONTACT:

101 Montgomery Street Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94104
415-495-4014
www.tpl.org

Craig MacDonnell, Director, Massachusetts Program

DESCRIPTION:

TPL is a national organization, founded in 1972 by a Nature Conservancy lawyer to conserve land for public health and well-being. Its distinctive niche in conservation is its focus on land for human benefit— properties of cultural as well as ecological value. The Massachusetts program was founded in 1985, in connection with protecting the 500-acre Maudslay State Park in Newburyport. Since then TPL has worked with communities and local partners to complete over 100 MA projects, protecting over 11,000 acres, from inner-city to wilderness areas. TPL’s business model is lean and effective—purchasing and protecting land, then transferring it to others for permanent management— with huge leveraging capability. TPL has helped create, fund, and now hosts, the Community Preservation Coalition, which has supported 127 MA communities in passing the Community Preservation Act, through which $500 million has been raised. TPL also provides communities with technical expertise (policy, legal and fiscal analyses, financial assistance, GIS mapping, coalition building, community outreach, and public surveys). In FY 2007, with a budget of $1.8 million and six project staff, TPL is processing 10 projects valued at over $20 million. TPL has no endowment, and no dues; almost every dollar is raised from charitable donations. Let yours be leveraged as well!

(2007: NATURE: Environment: Land, Air, Water, Climate)