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<< Back: Governance of The Nature Conservancy
Statement from The Nature Conservancy
Release of Senate Finance Committee Staff Report
Governance of The Nature Conservancy
- About Us: Governance of The Nature Conservancy
Governance, accountability and transparency require ongoing diligence and review. The Nature Conservancy has made continuous improvement in these areas an organizational priority and they will remain so in the years ahead. - About Us: Nature Conservancy Financial Reporting
Annual reports and financial reports give us the opportunity to report to you – the people who support us and make our work possible – on our recent achievements. - Governance: Accountability and Transparency
The Nature Conservancy holds itself accountable to its members, the public and all creatures that have a stake in the preservation of the world’s natural resources. - One-year progress report: Nature Conservancy efforts to strengthen governance, accountability and transparency
Ira Millstein, head of the Conservancy's independent Governance Advisory Panel, has produced a report assessing the changes the Conservancy has made to strengthen its governance structure and internal policies and practices.
Conservation Easements
- How We Work: Conservation Easements
Conservation easements are a powerful, effective tool for conserving private lands in the United States. - Press Release: Nature Conservancy Releases Legislative Proposals to Strengthen Conservation Easements
April 6, 2005
The Nature Conservancy today released a set of legislative proposals designed to strengthen the laws and regulations governing conservation easements and help end abuses of this critically important conservation tool. - South Carolina Conservation Easements Audit
(March 21, 2005: PDF, 247 KB, new window) - How We Work: Anatomy of a Nature Conservancy Conservation Project
To achieve its mission, The Nature Conservancy has developed a strategic, science-based approach to its conservation work, called Conservation by Design, which helps it identify and work to protect the highest-priority places on Earth.
- On June 7, 2005 the Senate Finance Committee released a Staff report on The Nature Conservancy.
- Over the past two years, the Conservancy has made substantial and far-reaching changes so that we now meet higher standards of ethical, legal and professional conduct and organizational efficiency.
- The Conservancy remains confident that all of our work is in compliance with the law and in furtherance of our mission.
- We will examine the Committee’s Staff report to determine if there are further changes we should consider.
- Continual improvement is – and will remain – an organizational priority.
Arlington, VA—June 7, 2005—Today, the Senate Finance Committee released a Staff report marking the conclusion of its two-year review of The Nature Conservancy.
The Conservancy did not wait for the Finance Committee Staff to complete its report before undertaking our own comprehensive self-evaluation. That evaluation was conducted in 2003 and 2004 with the assistance of a panel of independent experts. That panel was led by corporate governance expert Ira M. Millstein.
The changes in the Conservancy’s governance, policies, procedures and practices were substantial and largely implemented more than a year ago. They strengthened our governance, increased our accountability to our mission and made our actions more transparent to the public. As a result, the Conservancy today meets higher standards of ethical, legal and professional conduct and organizational efficiency than we did two years ago.
In a one-year progress report, written by Mr. Millstein, about the Conservancy’s implementation of the governance, accountability and transparency recommendations of his panel, he praised the changes the Conservancy has made and our dedication to further improvement. A copy of that report is available on the Conservancy’s Web site.
The Conservancy remains confident that all of our work is, and has been, in compliance with the law and in furtherance of our mission. Not everything we tried succeeded, and on occasion we made mistakes, but all of our work was done in good faith and was undertaken to accomplish significant conservation goals.
We will examine the Committee’s Staff report to determine if there are further changes we should consider.
Although, as the Staff report notes, we have made great strides to strengthen our governance, accountability and transparency, we realize that continuous improvement in these areas requires perpetual diligence and review. Such improvement is – and will remain – an organizational priority.
With the Staff report complete, we are eager to work with the Committee on its forthcoming legislative proposals on charity governance and on changes to the tax code affecting land conservation, as well as on the comprehensive series of conservation easement legislative proposals the Conservancy submitted to the Committee in January of 2004 and again in April of this year.
Learn more about the Senate Finance Committee Report on The Nature Conservancy:
- Nature Conservancy Statement on the Release of Senate Finance Committee Staff Report
- Review of Senate Finance Committee Staff Report on The Nature Conservancy
- Nature Conservancy Written Testimony: Senate Finance Committee Hearing: Tax Code, Land Conservation
- Nature Conservancy Oral Testimony: Senate Finance Committee Hearing: Tax Code, Land Conservation
