New York's $2.7 Million Land Trust Grants Close January 11, 2027. Last Round's Awards Arrived Nine Months Late.
November 12, 2026 · 6 min read
Granted Research Team · Editorial policy
The last round of New York's Conservation Partnership Program asked for applications by January 5, 2026, and said awards would be announced "in the spring of 2026." The awards were announced on October 1, 2026.
Five weeks later, on November 6, the Department of Environmental Conservation opened the next round. It offers $2.7 million for nonprofit land trusts, and applications are due 5 p.m. Eastern on Monday, January 11, 2027. The program is paid for by the state's Environmental Protection Fund and run by the Land Trust Alliance in coordination with DEC. It is one of the few dependable state funding sources for land trust operations: staff, stewardship, transaction costs, and organizational capacity. Most conservation money pays only for land itself.
It is also small and slow. The pot has been $2.7 million in each of the last two rounds, and the gap between deadline and award has run most of a year. Land trusts that do well here plan for both.
Five Categories, and What They Paid Last Round
The November release lists the same five categories as the 2025-26 round. The figures below come from the 2025-26 Request for Applications, since the 2027 RFA had not been posted publicly when this was written. Confirm the caps against the new RFA before you build a budget.
| Category | Cap (2025-26 RFA) | Match | Awarded Oct. 2026 | Grants | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stewardship & Resource Management | $100,000 | 25%, up to half in-kind | $780,164 | 16 | ~$48,800 |
| Transaction | $75,000 | 25% cash | $676,585 | 14 | ~$48,300 |
| Capacity & Excellence | $50,000 | 25%, up to half in-kind | $490,351 | 15 | ~$32,700 |
| Conservation Catalyst | $100,000 | 25%, up to half in-kind | $480,900 | 8 | ~$60,100 |
| Professional Development | $100,000 | 25% cash | $272,000 | 3 | ~$90,700 |
Category totals are from FingerLakes1's breakdown of DEC's October 1 award list. They add up to exactly $2.7 million across 56 grants to 45 land trusts. Individual awards ranged from $6,861 to $100,000.
Three patterns are worth noting.
Professional Development is the hardest category to win and the most valuable. Only three grants were made, and they averaged close to the $100,000 cap. The money pays for permanent staff positions (full-time, part-time, or seasonal); contractors and term positions are excluded. The RFA expects funded positions to "be sustained by the land trust beyond the grant period," which is two years (27 months) or three years (39 months). Genesee Valley Conservancy used its $100,000 award for a full-time communications director. FingerLakes1 reports it is the organization's first dedicated communications position in 35 years. A proposal in this category should include a credible plan for funding the position after the grant ends.
Stewardship and Transaction grants make up more than half the money. Together they account for $1.46 million of the $2.7 million. Stewardship grants favor "shovel ready" public-access projects, such as trails, parking, signage, and universal access. On the Resource Management side, the RFA says reviewers are "especially interested" in projects addressing carbon storage, climate adaptation, drinking water, and habitat for species of greatest conservation need. Genesee Land Trust's $100,000 for Island Cottage Woods in Greece is a typical example.
Capacity & Excellence has the lowest cap but the most grants. Fifteen awards averaged about $32,700. Every application in this category "must refer specifically to the Land Trust Standards and Practices," and accreditation preparation is an explicit purpose. For small land trusts, this is usually the right first application.
Eligibility Rules That Disqualify Applicants
The 2025-26 RFA set four threshold requirements:
- 501(c)(3) status, with a primary mission of conserving or stewarding private lands. Organizations focused only on advocacy, education, or public-land stewardship (for example, friends groups for state parks) are not eligible.
- A board resolution formally adopting the Land Trust Alliance's Land Trust Standards and Practices (revised 2017), submitted to the Alliance before the application. This is the requirement most likely to catch a first-time applicant. If your board meets monthly, the December meeting may be your last chance to pass it.
- A New York service area or project site.
- Alliance membership and accreditation are not required. However, the RFA says accreditation status, "including an applicant's demonstrated intention to prepare for accreditation," is "an important factor" in scoring. In the October round, 38 of 45 grantees were accredited, about 84 percent. An unaccredited land trust should explain where it stands in the accreditation process.
The match is at least 25% of the total project budget, and cash match must come from non-state funds. A state grant can't be used to match this one. Transaction grants add another condition: at least half of the cash match must go into a stewardship fund, legal defense fund, or board-designated reserve. Transaction grants also cover only indirect acquisition costs, such as legal fees, surveys, appraisals, baseline documentation, and staff time. They never pay for the land or easement itself. The RFA gives preference to deals already closed at the time of application.
Across all categories, grants may not pay for general operating support, accreditation fees, insurance, taxes, endowments, buildings, or heavy equipment.
Planning for a Slow Award
Last round's timeline is the most useful planning information in this program. Under the 2025-26 RFA, most grant periods started January 1, 2026: 18 months for Capacity & Excellence and Stewardship, and 27 months for Catalyst. Awards were not announced until October. So grantees learned they had won with roughly nine of their 18 months already gone. The RFA also states that "any expenses incurred prior to the execution of a grant agreement will be made at the risk of the grantee," and that funding is "contingent upon the availability and receipt of state funds by the Alliance." Payment requires documentation that the match is in hand. Interim reports for the 18-month grants were due April 30, 2027.
For the 2027 round, three planning rules follow:
- Size projects so they can be finished in a compressed period. If the new RFA again backdates the grant period, an 18-month stewardship project could have to be completed in less than a year after award. Choose work that can be done quickly once funded.
- Have the match committed before you apply. Funds are released only after the match is verified, so a soft pledge can delay your first payment by months.
- Use the Transaction look-back. Last round's Transaction period included a two-year look-back for costs already incurred before closing. A land trust that closed an easement in 2025 or 2026 may be able to recover legal and survey costs it has already paid.
The Money Around the Program
The program's total has stayed flat while the fund behind it has grown. DEC notes that the 2026-27 enacted budget keeps the Environmental Protection Fund at $425 million, plus $25 million from the Sustainable Future Program, for a record $450 million. The land trust program's $2.7 million is less than 1 percent of that. Since 2002 it has made 1,325 grants totaling more than $36.7 million to 100 land trusts, and DEC credits it with helping conserve 56,229 acres.
"New York's land trusts are important partners in protecting the natural resources that sustain our communities," DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in the November release. Katrina Howey, the Alliance's New York program manager, put the program's purpose more directly: "Strengthening land trust programs and investing in their capacity allows them to be stronger partners." Last round's RFA named her and Jamie Brown as the staff contacts, and it "strongly encouraged" applicants to attend a roundtable and discuss project ideas with Alliance staff before applying. Last round also had a letter of interest or pre-proposal step for some categories, with Professional Development exempt. Check the 2027 RFA on the Alliance's program page for any pre-proposal deadline that comes before January 11.
With about two months before the deadline, and a holiday-season board calendar in between, the land trusts most likely to win are those that have adopted the Standards and Practices, committed their match, and spoken with Alliance staff by mid-December. To make the proposal-writing faster, Granted can help you turn a stewardship plan or staffing case into a polished application well before January 11.