Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation Awards $25,000 to Heart of the Lakes
Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy is pleased to announce the award of $25,000 from the Fred A. and Barbra M. Erb Family Foundation, which will support our ACE program.
December 20, 2010
By Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy
Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy is pleased to announce the award of $25,000 from the Fred A. and Barbra M. Erb Family Foundation.
The grant will support the Advancing Conservancy Excellence (ACE) program, a partnership with the Land Trust Alliance that helps transform Michigan’s land conservancies into high-performing, and sustainable organizations by providing training and other direct services. “We are very grateful for the generous support of the Erb Family Foundation,” said Rachel Kuntzsch, Executive Director of Heart of the Lakes. “The grant will help ACE build capacity of both land conservancies and watershed organizations while making the land and water connection--working toward cooperative protection of lands that contribute to healthy waters, especially in Southeast Michigan.”
Heart of the Lakes and the Land Trust Alliance launched the ACE program in 2008 to provide land conservancies with technical training, strategic partnerships and collaboration facilitation, organizational assessments, advancement grants, and mentoring, technical assistance and consultation. The Erb Family Foundation grant will enable ACE to extend organizational development training to watershed councils and river protection organizations as well as strengthen communications and collaboration with local land conservancies.
John M Erb, President of the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation says of the program “In just a few short years, Heart of the Lakes has helped raise conservation planning and action throughout the state to the next level through effective training, guidance, coordination and advocacy. That, coupled with growing recognition that Michigan’s unique natural assets can give us a competitive edge in the national and global economies, adds to the timeliness and impact of Heart of the Lakes’ work.”
The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation’s gift helps support Heart of the Lakes’ current Frey Foundation challenge grant, which matches one half of the value of new donations. Erb says, “We hope that others will join with us in helping this stellar organization leverage the opportunity presented by the Frey Foundation challenge grant to continue and expand their good work.”
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