Join Us—Your Support Matters
Giving is personal and intentional. All gifts support our work and are vital to furthering the Land Trust’s mission—every gift makes an impact.
Your unrestricted donations have the power to help us act quickly and respond in the moment to protect, conserve, restore, and sometimes mitigate damage to land that is integral to the health and sustainability of our community and County.
All gifts to the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County are 100% tax deductible.
Every person who gives a gift on an annual basis becomes a grassroots supporter of the Land Trust. Grassroot gifts support everything from school visits to ecological preserves, to increasing our ability to acquire new land, to helping us monitor the state of precious natural resources in the County. Grassroots supporters become a part of the Land Trust mission.
New supporters will receive a welcome packet, newsletters, and invitations to member events such as our Lunch and Learns, Treks, and volunteer opportunities.
Gift memberships are the perfect way to introduce someone to the Land Trust. The donations received from new memberships support the Land Trust’s work while giving the recipient opportunities to learn about, enjoy, and feel a part of local land conservation.
Gift membership recipients receive a welcome packet and card letting them know who gave the gift and invitations to the Land Trust’s programs.
Steward Donors’ gifts help to monitor the 55 easements the Land Trust oversees every year. Each of these easements provides a benefit to our community from protecting an endangered animal or plant, to helping a family farm remain in business, to protecting an important watershed.
Along with a welcome packet, our Steward Donors receive recognition for their gifts and are invited to leadership member events. They receive Land Trust communications and invitations to conservation properties, preserves, and small in-person events.
Our Conservationist donors’ commitment to the Land Trust ensures that the nearly 32,000 acres of land currently preserved by the Land Trust is a number that will continue to grow. Our Conservationists’ gifts help the Land Trust in underwriting the due diligence, study, strategy, and associated costs that go into each new piece of land we protect. Gifts at the Conservationist level also contribute to The County Conservationist Blueprint, a publicly accessible document that helps multiple conservation organizations collaborate and work together on important conservation projects and initiatives in the County.
Our Conservationist members receive special recognition, volunteer opportunities, are invited to all member and leadership events, and receive Land Trust communications. In addition to these benefits, they are included in small gatherings such as focus groups, previews of properties, and invitation-only outings.
When the average cost of an acre of land in Santa Barbara County is at least five digits, it is easy to see how our Trailblazer donors enable the Land Trust to act quickly when opportunities arise. Importantly, gifts in the Trailblazer category or above serve as catalysts for other sources of income including public agencies and major family foundations to help us accomplish large scale conservation.
Trailblazer members are recognized as leadership donors and are invited to all member and leadership events. They receive Land Trust communications and occasional access to conservation properties and small in-person events. They are included in small gatherings such as focus groups, previews of properties, and invitation only outings.
Change Makers are Land Trust donors who make conservation in Santa Barbara County a personal priority. There is nothing more tangible than a piece of land, and our change makers’ gifts allow us to make that tangible progress in conserving land in Santa Barbara County a reality. Additionally, gifts at the Change Maker level ensure that The Land Trust can do its part in meeting strategic conservation goals such as those spelled out in the 30×30 California Initiative to address climate change in California.
Change Maker donors receive leadership recognition, all communications, and access to all events, outings, and exclusive in-person events.
Luminary donors comprise an exclusive group of supporters who commit $100,000 or more annually to make magic happen. This group of our most generous annual donors is the Land Trust’s brain trust who not only understand but act in response to make conservation happen now in Santa Barbara County.
Our Luminary donors light the way forward for conservation in all its forms: mitigation, restoration, and acquisition of more protected land. Their gifts benefit all who live in Santa Barbara County now and in the future. This group of leadership donors’ gifts can be transformational in terms of helping The Land Trust close deals on the properties that will become the protected agricultural lands, public preserves, recreation areas, and easements that protect flora, fauna, watersheds or will serve as a fire buffer to protect populated areas. Luminary donors are also leaders who build better futures and possibilities for both children and adults through education about our environment and access to nature.
Luminary donors receive The Land Trust’s highest recognition for their commitment to land conservation, all communications, invitations to all events, and special access outings to current and pending conservation projects.
