Future Conservation Leaders Fellowship
Combining education, enthusiasm and human resource needs.
Overview
CCT’s Future Conservation Leaders Fellowship program places emerging conservation professionals with qualified conservation organizations for a two-year term. The program matches great young talent with leading organizations that can meaningfully advance their work with the addition of a highly qualified staff member.
“As a result of the excellent training I received, within the first six months of my fellowship I was already able to take more of a lead role on projects, and by the end of the fellowship, I assisted with the closings of 20 easements, protecting 5,000 acres of land.” – Brian Ocepek, Land Protection Specialist; Former Fellow with Colorado Open Lands
The Opportunity
The CCT Fellowship program affords donors the unique opportunity to affect real change, both in the life of a young professional, and in Colorado landscapes. In this classic “win-win” scenario, Fellows get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit the ground running in their land conservation career, and the host organization gets a highly motivated, educated staff member. When the Fellow and the host organization come together, they can significantly advance the pace and effectiveness of land conservation in our state. The success stories are many and the benefits are invaluable to all involved.
Sponsoring a Fellow
A $45,000 gift will employ one Fellow for a full year and cover all related expenses. By sponsoring a Fellow, donors not only fund a year’s worth of valuable conservation work, but also invest in the next generation of conservation and business leaders while ensuring the future protection of Colorado’s treasured places.
Hosting a Fellow
Colorado Conservation Trust invites applications from organizations that would like to host a fellow for a two-year appointment. CCT evaluates hosts based upon their ability to offer a high-quality mentorship experience for fellows, their capacity needs, and their overlap with CCT’s other investment strategies. Organizations interested in hosting a fellow should contact Patrick Holmes, conservation program coordinator for more information. (pholmes@coct.org)
Moving Forward into 2011
The CCT Fellowship still is relatively young, and over the six years since its inception, several generous donors have funded the Fellowship Program in its entirety. During this period of design and development, it was important to have supporters/sponsors that would understand the program was growing and being refined. It now has become demonstrably successful, and CCT and the land trust community understand its great value. The program has become a permanent fixture to the conservation community, and CCT is delivering a program that is tested and true. To that end, CCT is committed to creating an endowment that permanently will support the program. CCT’s goal moving forward is to identify a group of major donors that will want to support individual Fellows for the two-year duration of each program cycle.
Becoming a Fellow
Colorado Conservation Trust actively recruits recent graduates from leading graduate schools of conservation, natural resources, law, and business for fellowship positions. Fellows are tasked with a diverse suite of projects and responsibilities ranging from acquisitions, due diligence, and grant writing, to stewardship, conservation planning, and organizational management. In addition to specific work for the land trust or open space program, the Fellowship Program includes a unique professional development curriculum that offers fellows numerous opportunities to network with nationally prominent land trust professionals, to attend conferences and trainings, to participate in community outreach efforts, and to learn about current issues facing conservation and the non-profit sector. Prospective applicants should contact coctinfo@coct.org for more information on available opportunities.
Click here to view available Fellowship opportunities.
Click here to view a map of Fellows placements!
Click here to view a chart of where current and past Fellows have worked across the state!