June 2, 2009 – Recently, The Land Trust of Danbury was presented with an award in the category of “Exemplary Fundraising or Outreach Project” by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) at their annual conference. The award recognizes successful fundraising or outreach efforts that employ creative or unique approaches to new or expanded audiences and was one of only four awards presented to conservationists operating throughout the entire state of Connecticut.
The CLCC’s award noted that during the middle of 2008, The Land Trust of Danbury received grants from The Women’s Club of Danbury/New Fairfield, the Pepsi Bottling Group and the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation that dramatically transformed the momentum of the organization. The largest grant, $21,000 from the PCLB Foundation, was awarded to help grow and strengthen the organization. In accordance, the Board of Directors established key objectives for the grant and hired a part-time Executive Director to help ensure they will be met. The new Director, Sharon Danosky, then led a Board retreat that charted the future direction of the Trust producing a Five Year Strategic Plan. The Plan reorganizes the Trust’s committee structure and establishes work plans for each of its five committees. In presenting the award, the CLCC noted that the process of establishing the Strategic Plan required exceptional effort and initiative on the part of The Land Trust. As a result, the organization has made substantial progress toward building capacity while moving overall governance and operational performance to much higher levels.