2023-06-12T08:54:07-07:00 2022-09-30 030354347 Grippin Donlan & Pinkham PLC 3 Baldwin Avenue South Burlington VT 05403 990 2021-10-01 030307155 Friends of Stowe Conservation Inc DBA Stowe Land Trust STOW 8022537221 PO Box 284 Stowe VT 05672 Kristen Sharpless Executive Director 2023-06-12 true Amy Stewart 999009999 David C Grippin CPA P00040840 8028462000 X 2 AAL1 IAL1 FAL1 2021 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Amy Stewart PO Box 284 Stowe VT 05672 1607946 false X www.stowelandtrust.org X 1987 VT The Stowe Land Trust is dedicated to the conservation of scenic, recreational, and productive farm and forest lands for the benefit of the greater Stowe community. 22 22 4 75 0 1048631 1256917 0 130521 87195 29367 29995 1208519 1374107 0 0 208937 268470 0 78136 129215 1349562 338152 1618032 870367 -243925 5402281 4787827 44152 57597 5358129 4730230 The Stowe Land Trust is dedicated to the conservation of scenic, recreational, and productive farm and forest lands for the benefit of the greater Stowe community. false false 1390576 Stewardship ProgramIn FY19, the Canadian Friends of Stowe Land Trust granted $20,000 to Stowe Land Trust to support public access and recreation improvements at Brownsville-Story Ridge Forest. In FY22, SLT paid $3,014 to Stowe Trails Partnership out of this grant for trail improvements, including bridge replacement and the construction of a new connector trail on the conserved property. The remaining balance of $14,660 will be spent on upcoming recreation projects at Brownsville Forest in partnership with the State of Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation. In FY22, Stowe Land Trust recruited volunteers to deconstruct the old Howard Carroll Memorial bridge at Wiessner Woods. SLT contracted with Timber and Stone, LLC to rebuild the bridge and used general operating funds to pay for the project which totaled $6,912.Other non-routine stewardship tasks undertaken by Stowe Land Trust during FY22 and paid for using general operating funds included ten hours of volunteer group labor removing invasive barberry plants from Cady Hill Forest and 16 volunteer group hours pruning ski trails at Kirchner Woods. SLT installed trail counters at two Ambassador Properties, Wiessner Woods and Kirchner Woods, at a total cost of $500. The land trust also spent $1,737 on providing trail maps and guides produced by a local printer for Ambassador Properties DuMont Meadow, Wiessner Woods, Kirchner Woods, and the Mill Trail Property. Education & Outreach ProgramAfter two years of reduced and modified programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stowe Land Trust returned to a regular season of public programing in FY22, hosting 29 outreach, education, and volunteer programs for the community. These programs connected nearly 700 participants with the benefits of conserved land and conservation practices, and were undertaken with a variety of community partners, including the Stowe Conservation Commission, Stowe Trails Partnership, the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Current Center for Contemporary Art, Stowe Elementary School, Mountain River School, and many more local schools, businesses, and organizations. In addition to public educational and recreational programs, SLT worked with its dedicated corps of volunteers on the ongoing care and stewardship of its protected properties. These efforts included hosting volunteer workdays with groups like the Laraway School, Stowe Rotary, and Stowe Community Church.SLT also expanded its longstanding partnership with the Vermont Housing and Conservation Boards AmeriCorps Program in FY22 to host a full term (11-month) service member for fiscal year 2023. This growth reflects a significant evolution from SLTs previous AmeriCorps partnerships, which were centered on direct field naturalist programs. The 2022-2023 service member will focus on building deep programmatic partnerships with local public schools and started in early FY23. In FY22, Stowe Land Trust completed updating our visual and verbal brand identity, which included an evolution of our logo, to help further our goal of engaging a broader and more diverse audience. SLT worked with Place Creative, a Burlington-based branding firm, on this multi-year project. The remaining balance of $5,056 from a grant awarded to SLT in FY17 from the Land Trust Alliance assisted in completing the project. Land Protection Projects Over the span of FY21 and FY22, Stowe Land Trust partnered with farmer, Ken Ricketson, and the Vermont Land Trust to conserve one of Stowes few remaining farms: the 217-acre Ricketson Farm. In FY22 Stowe Land Trust raised the remaining $680,185 needed to cover the $2.5 million acquisition, project, and stewardship endowment costs. $1,150,000 was disbursed to Vermont Land Trust for the acquisition of a conservation easement on March 17, 2022. $22,500 was allocated to Stowe Land Trusts Temporarily Restricted Easement Stewardship Fund for Stewardship Endowment purposes. $23,209 is to be spent in FY23 on FY22 financial audit costs and strategic planning work. The remaining project balance of $20,026 was allocated to the Temporarily Restricted Land Acquisition Fund to be used for future land protection projects. Stowe Land Trust continued to work on strategic planning and landowner outreach with the Shutesville Hill Wildlife Corridor initiative in FY22. The Nature Conservancy released $2,000 to Stowe Land Trust from their funds received through a High Meadows Fund Grant for Stowe Land Trust staff time spent coordinating conservation efforts within the internationally important wildlife corridor.GeneralStowe Land Trust received $1,600 from the Land Trust Alliance for fundraising and communication consulting and leadership coaching work with Judy Anderson Consulting, $1,181 of which was spent in FY22, with the remaining balance of $418 spent in early FY23 1390576 true true false false false false true false false true true false false false false true true false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 6 0 true 4 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 22 22 false false false false true true false true true false false true true true true true true true true false X Kristen Sharpless 8022537221 6 Sunset Street Stowe VT 05672 Kristen Sharpless Executive Dir. 40.00 0.00 X 87578 0 0 Clifford Borden Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Frank Foti Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Doren Dolan Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Catherine Drake Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Amy Farley Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jesse Goldfine Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Kerry Sedutto Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Beth Bradford Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Meg Kauffman Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jason Slocum Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Walter Looney Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jess Laporte Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Darsey Moon Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Thomas B Sweet Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Ryan Percy Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jason McLean Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Amy Stewart Treasurer 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Sam Gaines Vice Chair 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Dave Wilkens Chairman 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Anna Black Secretary 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 87578 0 false false false 0 331346 9314 6000 910257 1256917 0 64788 64788 0 0 0 231572 209165 22407 22407 22407 37085 9314 13454 23631 11725 4931 6794 6794 5859 6289 -430 -430 0 1374107 22407 71152 0 0 0 0 87578 38465 34462 14651 0 146075 64158 57481 24436 0 18210 8000 7163 3047 16607 7294 6535 2778 0 0 20150 8850 7929 3371 0 0 0 27633 21837 769 5027 54839 44784 3496 6559 4496 1975 1769 752 7938 3486 3124 1328 0 25340 11130 9971 4239 6513 2860 2563 1090 0 0 0 0 4731 4731 12179 5349 4793 2037 Easement acquisition 1150000 1150000 Event 8346 3466 4880 Training 8039 3531 3163 1345 Dues and Subscriptions 6293 2764 2476 1053 13065 7896 3626 1543 1618032 1390576 149320 78136 151142 67716 885772 250809 70000 35000 0 0 0 0 0 7755 8405 2252285 31508 2215582 2220777 2072030 2205120 0 0 0 0 5402281 4787827 44152 57597 44152 57597 X 1612636 1507834 3745493 3222396 5358129 4730230 5402281 4787827 -243925 -383974 X false true X true false X 588036 6705201 403440 1048631 1253917 9999225 0 0 588036 6705201 403440 1048631 1253917 9999225 0 9999225 44552 133747 69271 53524 64788 365882 0 12883 13392 823 11571 17584 56253 10421360 0.95950 0.96040 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED X X X 34 42 1 true 44 28672 false 1169380 391494 -250853 1310021 943555 171944 53881 1169380 721803 229838 -8086 943555 620353 83826 17624 721803 553676 57000 9677 620353 0.60100 0.02430 0.37470 false false false 2125040 2125040 85733 17011 68722 2049 2049 39463 12448 27015 2220777 X 1009878 -383974 -383974 1393852 -19745 -19745 1374107 1637777 19745 19745 1618032 1618032 Part II, Line 5: Summarized Policy Monitoring is the regular and systematic gathering of information about a conserved property to detect changes and to ensure the property is being used in accordance with the legal restrictions placed on it. SLT monitors land that it owns in fee as well as those on which it holds legal rights through a conservation easement or other legal covenant. All SLT conserved properties are monitored at least once annually in person on the ground.Stowe Land Trust is responsible for enforcing all of its conservation easements through identification and rectification of violations. Regular communication with landowners and diligent annual monitoring can result in minimizing violations and help to resolve enforcement issues in a timely manner. Part II, Line 9: Organization Reporting of conservation easements. The Stowe Land Trust acquires easements and development rights on property through purchase and donation. Within the conservancy movement, a divergence of practice exists as to the values at which easements and development rights are appropriately recorded. The smaller, locally based conservancy organizations tend toward not capitalizing such acquisitions. The Stowe Land Trust has adopted this policy of not capitalizing as assets the acquisition of easements and development rights, but rather discloses them in the footnotes to the financial statements. Part V, Line 4: Intended uses of the endowment fund. The endowment funds are held for long-term growth with the intent to generate on-going income or reserves. The goals of the investment policy are to have sufficient cash resources to meet current spending needs and maintain a positive return on assets held for longer term goals. Part X : FIN48 Footnote The Land Trust is a not-for-profit organization that is exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and classified by the Internal Revenue Service as other than a private foundation. The Land Trust is subject to a tax on income from any unrelated business income.The Land Trust has analyzed tax positions taken on its tax returns and believes that all tax positions will be sustained upon examination and does not anticipate any adjustments that would result in a material adverse affect on the Land Trust's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Accordingly, the Land Trust has not recorded any reserves, or related accruals for interest and penalties for uncertain income tax positions at September 30, 2022. Part XII, Line 2d: Other expenses and losses per audited F/S Direct event expenses $13456 Merchandise cost $6289 false Golf Fundraiser 46399 9314 37085 13454 46399 9314 37085 13454 13454 23631 Form 990, Part VI, Line 6: Explanation of Classes of Members or Shareholder Any person, family or business organization shall be entitled to membership in the corporation upon the payment of annual dues. There shall be, at a minimum, three classes of membership: (I) Individual; (II) Family, which shall consist of individuals who are related by blood or marriage and who are living in the same household and at the time of payment of dues are identified in writing to the corporation as being members of a contributor's family; (III) Business, which shall consist of a business entity, whether a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association or other entity organized for either a profit or a non-profit purpose. The corporation shall keep a record of the names and addresses of all the member of the corporation. Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process Form 990 is reviewed by executive director and all board members prior to filing with the IRS. Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts To ensure that the SLT operates in a manner consistent with its charitable purposes and that it does not engage in activities that could jeopardize its status as an organization exempt from federal income tax, periodic reviews of compliance with this policy and disclosure requirements shall be reviewed by the executive committee and approved by the board of directors. Form 990, Part VI, Line 15a: Compensation Review & Approval Process - CEO, Top Management The Stowe Land Trust's process for determining compensation for the executive director includes a review and approval by independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision. Form 990, Part VI, Line 15b: Compensation Review and Approval Process for Officers and Key Employees Stowe Land Trust's process for determining compensation for key employees includes a review and approval by independent persons and comparability data. Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available The Stowe Land Trust makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.