Requirements Manual
- Resource Type: Toolkit
- Required
The Commission verifies a land trust's compliance with the Standards by evaluating a sample of the elements within the Standards, which are called the indicator elements. The Requirements Manual (Manual) provides land trusts greater specificity about how indicator elements are verified through the requirements and enables commissioners to make decisions that are fair and consistent.
Indicator elements are organized into four groups.
Governance
Finance
Transactions
Stewardship
To explore the requirements, you can use the navigation bar above to dive deeper into each of the four categories. It's also recommended to download the current edition of the Manual, which can be found below.
Download the 2026 Requirements Manual
The 2026 edition is out now and can be downloaded by clicking the button below. The Summary of Changes document is a companion to the full Manual and provides more in-depth information on the changes.
About the Requirements Manual
First introduced in 2012, the Manual is reviewed annually, and the Commission works closely with the Alliance and the land trust community on each edition. Most recently, in August 2025, the Commission surveyed land trusts about proposed new requirements; comments that were submitted informed changes to the 2026 Manual, which was released on March 19, 2026.
Any new additions are published in the spring to provide predictability to land trusts about when revisions will most likely be announced, help land trusts put together the best application possible, and maximize staff and volunteer resources. The newest version supersedes all previous versions.
If the newest version has less-stringent and/or eliminated requirements, those changes go into effect immediately for the benefit of applicants preparing for accreditation or in the process.
If the newest version has one or more requirements that are more stringent or new, those changes generally go into effect for applicants applying in a later year to ensure land trusts have advance notice prior to registering for first-time accreditation or renewed accreditation.