Case Study

Building Collaborative Capacity for Conservation

Grand Victoria Foundation

In 2008, land conservation in Illinois was recognized as a system in need of greater alignment to bring greater efficiency, cohesion, and impact. The Grand Victoria Foundation engaged Foresight to help empower a working group of statewide conservation leaders to identify and more deeply understand root causes of limited progress and surface opportunities for greater collaboration and collective progress.

Foresight worked with Foundation leadership, related consultants, and the working group, to draft monthly meeting agendas, build systems thinking capacity, co-create an Illinois land conservation systems analysis and facilitate communications needs. Through the nearly year-long process, Foresight helped establish the requisite foundational knowledge, perspective, and trust among a diverse group of stakeholders for the establishment of the Vital Lands Illinois collaborative. For more than a decade, the group has continued to strive to create a more effective and aligned land conservation system throughout the state.