2018-03-22T11:44:42-07:00 2017-09-30 Grippin Donlan & Pinkham PLC 3 Baldwin Avenue South Burlington VT 05403 990 2016-10-01 030307155 Friends of Stowe Conservation Inc DBA Stowe Land Trust STOW 8022537221 PO Box 284 Stowe VT 05672 Walter Frame Treasurer/V Chr 2017-03-15 true David C Grippin CPA P00040840 8028462000 X 2016 2021-01-29 14:40:06Z Walter Frame PO BOX 284 Stowe VT 05672 611952 false 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 3 302 0 487601 511951 0 38975 30281 18188 17080 544764 559312 0 0 179988 195510 0 69542 371415 130732 551403 326242 -6639 233070 3075805 3353887 14654 29272 3061151 3324615 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 184718 Summer Naturalist2017 brought a successful fifth year for SLTs Summer Naturalist Program. Our staff worked with nearly 600 people and provided over 100 hours of programming for youth, families, and volunteers. We completed 3 full days of stewardship projects with Stowe Mountain Adventure campers, a natural plant dye program with the new Market Garden School, and the Stowe Elementary Schools fourth grade field trip to the Mill Trail as part of their Stowe History unit. DuMont Meadow Ecological Restoration SLT received a grant from the Davis Conservation Fund for ecological restoration work at DuMont Meadow in FY16 and FY17 - addressing the non-native bush honeysuckle infestation, restoring the riparian zone, and brush hogging the meadow. The project demonstrates non-chemical invasive plant control methods, engages volunteers, and gets the word out about invasive plants. In May, volunteers planted 550 native trees and shrubs along the river, and an additional 400 invasive bush honeysuckle plants were removed by the end of June. We also installed a trailhead kiosk and informational signs along Alexs Trail. Funds from the Oakland Foundation and Patagonia were used to cover staff time to complete the work in FY17.Mill Trail Property Improvements Bowie and Helen Duncan donated $10,000 to be used for improvements to the Mill Trail property and/or cabin. These funds will be spent on projects in FY18.New Trail CountersSLT purchased two new trail counters and associated software to help us to better understand levels and patterns of trail use on our conserved lands. The trail counters were installed near the Wiessner and Kirchner Woods trailheads in the spring. Purchase of the units was made possible by a gift from SLT member and volunteer Land Steward, Phil Branton.Vail Epic Promise Volunteer Work DayApproximately 70 Stowe Mountain Resort employees and family members came together to help out with stewardship projects at Cady Hill Forest in September. This was the first annual company-wide volunteer day in Stowe, and we were happy to be the recipient of their volunteer efforts along with the Stowe Trails Partnership and Town of Stowe. We are looking forward to working with this group again next year. Vail Resorts provided funds to SLT to cover materials, supplies, and staff time costs associated with the work day.Land Protection Projects None completed in FY17. Strategic Organization Projects SLT completed a number of strategic projects in 2017 thanks to funding from the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) and Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB). With $1,800 remaining 2015 LTA Excellence funds, SLT launched a Legacy Society to coincide with our 30th anniversary and developed an informational brochure that was mailed to 350 of SLTs donors. SLT hired nationally recognized fundraising consultant, Andy Robinson, to lead three fundraising training sessions with board and staff thanks to $2,000 in 2016 LTA Leadership funds. These training sessions were crucial to bringing SLTs new fundraising plan to fruition. VHCB provided a $2,500 technical assistant grant to help cover the costs of QuickBooks consulting. This consulting provided training to SLTs Operations Manager so that restricted funds could be more efficiently tracked in QuickBooks. 184718 true true false false false false true false false true true false false false true 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 false false false false true 5 0 true 3 true false false false false false false false false 0 false false false 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 false true true true false X Caitrin Maloney 8022537221 6 Sunset Street Stowe VT 05672 Clifford Borden Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Doren Dolan Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Catherine Drake Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Biddle Duke Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Sam Gaines Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jesse Goldfine Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Michael Haynes Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 David Hosmer Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Tom Jackman Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jed Lipsky Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Mila Lonetto Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Walt Looney Director 3.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Bunny Merrill Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Darsey Moon Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Brian Mullin Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Ryan Percy Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Dave Wilkens Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Roger Witten Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Nancy Krakower Director 1.50 0.00 X 0 0 0 Chess Brownell Chairman 4.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Walter Frame Treasurer/V Chr 3.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Meg Kauffman Secretary 3.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Caitrin Maloney Executive Dir. 40.00 0.00 X 63720 0 0 63720 0 false false false 0 250887 4895 6000 250169 11298 511951 0 28807 28807 0 0 0 42227 40753 1474 1474 1474 15492 4126 11366 9775 4320 5455 5455 3700 3441 259 259 0 559312 1474 34521 0 0 0 0 67500 33750 20250 13500 0 105276 59928 25623 19725 0 10687 5794 2838 2055 12047 6532 3198 2317 0 10199 918 113 9168 13510 7325 3587 2598 0 0 0 4987 1606 484 2897 14266 8045 33 6188 8182 4182 2546 1454 3394 1840 901 653 0 20381 11051 5411 3919 3892 2110 1033 749 0 0 0 0 3482 3482 8970 4863 2382 1725 Stewardship 12085 12085 Event 8624 8624 Easement acquisition 5266 5266 Training 3303 1791 877 635 10191 5526 2706 1959 326242 184718 71982 69542 50 50330 161633 273048 0 0 0 0 0 0 5744 8670 2236129 8453 2218618 2227676 686760 794163 0 0 0 3000 0 3075805 3353887 13987 19001 667 10271 14654 29272 X 598963 805116 290648 347959 2171540 2171540 3061151 3324615 3075805 3353887 233070 30394 X false true X true false X 1985270 327396 338299 487601 511953 3650519 0 0 1985270 327396 338299 487601 511953 3650519 0 3650519 27476 18354 31282 35251 28807 141170 0 2046 7827 12473 10190 13475 46011 3837700 0.95120 0.86990 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED X X X 31 32 1 true 28 23179 false 444250 74521 34905 553676 345852 71459 26939 444250 628009 111615 -27609 712015 469240 146369 16400 4000 628009 349856 125859 5214 11689 469240 0.86460 0.08400 0.05140 false false false 2125040 2125040 85733 6266 79467 2049 68 1981 23307 2119 21188 2227676 Credit card payable 6855 Payroll liabilities 3416 10271 X 597273 30394 7567 37961 559312 559312 333809 7567 7567 326242 326242 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, 2017. Part XI, Line 2d: Other revenue amounts included in F/S but not included on form 990 Direct event expense $4126 Cost of inventory sold $3441 Part XII, Line 2d: Other expenses and losses per audited F/S Direct event expenses $4126 Cost of inventory sold $3441 false Golf Fundraiser 15492 15492 4126 15492 15492 4126 4126 11366 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.