Elizabeth Cisar is the former director of the land protection program at Grand Victoria Foundation. ICL worked with the Foundation to help engage every land protection organization in llinois to develop an entirely new grant making program to enable permanent protection of land.

But a grant program alone wouldn’t get the job done. “We heard that groups needed space and support to come together in fundamentally different ways to shape how conservation happens,” said Elizabeth Cisar. “We need a system that provides support, services, public engagement and connectivity – soup to nuts conservation.”

To support this comprehensive approach, called Vital Lands Illinois, ICL designed an array of ways to engage 45 groups from this geographically diverse state – including “Co-Vision” an online engagement forum, two state-wide summits, and facilitation of many smaller dialogues. The grant program was up and running within a year with grant criteria that were developed by the whole community. Support of the organizations’
development of shared vision for the future of conservation in Illinois is ongoing.