RIVER CREEK

Whatever their impetus, passionate environmental donors of means are more welcome than ever before, say leaders of some of the nation’s largest land conservation groups. Individual participation can make a critical difference to these organizations when they attempt to raise funds to protect or acquire environmentally significant property when it becomes available on the open market. Large infusions of money also allow national land trusts to buy property for smaller local land trusts or government entities that do not have ready cash on hand. In 2002, Big Sur Land Trust in Monterey County purchased nearly 10,000 acres of a 12-mile corridor stretching from Carmel Valley to the Ventana Wilderness for $37 million—a deal that was possible with help from both state bond money and the Nature Conservancy.

Local land trusts are very "grass roots," explains Bill Leahy, executive director of Big Sur Land Trust. "We are putting [land deals] together on a shoestring, and rely heavily on public funding and conservation easements to put the deals together."

"By complex, I mean gifts that have a variety of facets . . . We take all those pieces together and roll it up so we can get to something that balances the needs of the organization with the needs of the donor."

Still, conservation benefactors remain a relatively elite group, with donor interest in land preservation lagging far behind large-scale contributions to universities, medical centers, churches and the like. According to Giving USA, a national nonprofit that collects and publishes philanthropy data, just 3.1 percent of all charitable donations in 2004 went to environmental causes.

While historically notable philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller acquired and donated swatches of land for preservation, "giving green" to save and preserve land is a relatively new concept, Small says, adding that leaders in the land conservation movement are still struggling to determine the best way to raise acquisition capital. At the same time, donor expectations are changing. "It used to be a very arm’s-length, almost passive relationship between the donor and recipient. Now, we’re seeing more encouragement and interest in results-oriented, investment capital," says Larry Selzer, president of the Conservation Fund. "That poses challenges, but it also provides great opportunities."

PAT AND Berniece Patterson are contributing money over a five-year period to preserve part of a rainforest near their family vacation home in Annaly Bay, St. Croix.

Other creative donation opportunities include gift annuities or the donation of residential or commercial real estate that can be sold to benefit a conservation group. Finally, a remainder trust enables donors to continue to use their property until their death, at which time the balance of the trust’s value transfers to a conservation group named as beneficiary. The myriad of options provides donors with flexibility, and with an opportunity to precisely fund a cause they are passionate about—and retain control over where their money is flowing. On St. Croix, for example, the Pattersons worked with local officials and the Nature Conservancy to make an impact on a part of the world they treasured. "They were able to point us to something we could visualize," Patterson says. "That was important to us."

Capital Steps
Because the concept of conservation philanthropy remains unfamiliar to many people, Small explains, the financial scaffolding surrounding such donations has traditionally remained somewhat unsophisticated. But as environmental issues across the U.S. become pressing, and more pristine land and water fall prey to development, the finances of environmental philanthropy have become more complex out of necessity.

JESSE FINK, cofounder of Priceline.com, has donated more than 120 acres and $1 million to conservation groups.

Over the past three years, Jesse Fink, a cofounder of Priceline.com, based in Connecticut, has donated roughly 120 acres in Colorado and on Long Island to conservation groups. He also has made cash donations of more than $1 million to the Nature Conservancy and the Student Conservation Association. At the same time, Fink’s own company, Marshall Street Management, and its investment arm, MSM Capital Partners, have funneled millions of dollars into return-driven investments in the environmental sector. That led to the creation of MissionPoint Capital Partners, a company open to outside investors. "In conservation, the biggest issue that I see is when it’s time to show up for the deal, the money’s not there," Fink says. With his wife, Betsy, Fink has created a family foundation for environmental giving; they hope to ultimately make land conservation more fiscally sustainable. "I think the next generation [of environmental philanthropy] will involve donors taking part of their municipal bond portfolio or their hedge fund and figuring out how to invest it in a bond to preserve open space."