We asked land trusts in the pilot program to share their thoughts on the experience of applying for accreditation. Here's some of what they had to say.

• I have been asked a lot about my experience. I have had questions from a lot of local and national land trust friends. I told all of them “It is rigorous and thorough – as it should be.” It was not difficult for the sake of being difficult, everything had a point. It made us proud of our land trust – and showed us ways in which we can improve.

• I think that the accreditation application process caused us to scrutinize our organization in a very healthy manner, and we learned a lot about our organization, and about what [the Land Trust Alliance], Congress, and the IRS are looking for in terms of credibility.

• We would want other organizations to know that this process – time consuming though it is – is absolutely worth the time and effort it requires to complete! We identified the ways in which we've improved our work; we've identified areas that still need attention, and we've had a measurable means to show our Board how we operate, aside from the usual metrics of "bucks and acres."

• The process was interesting and enlightening from an organization standpoint. We definitely feel proud about the areas where we know we have good standards and practices and have now identified areas that need to addressed or tightened a bit more. The urgency of the accreditation process assists with that – in the course of normal business it is hard to find time to do routine procedures stuff with all the business at hand but accreditation forces the staff and the board to focus on it.

• Applying for accreditation led to many significant improvements in our policies and helped to streamline our processes.

• Everybody knows the accreditation process involves a lot of work, and that may cause some hesitation about applying. Virtually every hour we put into our application is also helping us make Westchester Land Trust a better and hopefully more successful organization. We learned a lot about our land trust, ‘tweaked’ our program in a few places, and the dividends are already starting to become apparent. If we had it all over to do again, we would definitely do so.

• It showed that we were in good shape, but highlighted areas of improvement. I feel so much better about our effectiveness since we've gone through the process.

• [W]e were able to see issues with certain aspects of our program. It also helped us accelerate some of our planned policy implementation. It also helped us realize what we were doing well, especially in terms of documentation and record keeping, for a relatively large organization.

• We determined some ways in which we are not as good in actual practice as we are in policy, and we know what we need to do to correct this.

• Good exercise to go back through the files, especially minutes of meetings. We have gained a better understanding of our organizational history. We will also be developing new procedures that will streamline our records management system, making key information more accessible.

• Preparing for accreditation encouraged us to document our process which has made us more efficient in our new land protection projects. The centralized location of our policies also helps train new employees and board members. We appreciate knowing that all of our land trust standards and practices adhere to a national standard.

• The process was affirming, confidence-building, and a necessary and appreciated "internal audit."

• The process made us realize the need to document our practices and refer frequently to policies. It was truly helpful to re-examine our procedures, record keeping etc. It also gave us an opportunity to realize how well organized the [land trust] is!

• The process was helpful in gaining an historical prospective of our organization. It focused us on our records management system and we have established new procedures to make information more accessible.

• [W]e revised and updated quite a few policies and increased our staff and board's overall awareness of our policies and procedures.

• We reviewed all our old policies, updated a few and even wrote down others that had been sort of "oral tradition." It will help make us a tighter organization.