Greetings Friends & SILT supporters,
First, thank you again for your (moral or financial) support of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust and our personal efforts to advance its mission. With 2020 seeming like a blur that both never happened and that went on forever, it was somewhat startling for us this last June 2, 2021 to realize that it had been 4 years since we donated our farm to SILT — and that I will be completing my 4th year on the SILT Board in December!
In 2019 we held our first Decorah SILTFest at Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. It was a gratifying success, with over 100 attendees and several thousand dollars raised! We had planned, with hope after an impossible 2020, to again have an in-person SILTFest on Sep 9, 2021 at The Landing Market. This no longer seems wise with the Delta variant rearing its head and our area in the High transmission category.
We don’t want to risk that for you. So, sadly, this year’s in-person SILTFest is cancelled.
But SILT’s mission and needs continue.
So this is my substitute “presentation”. I’ll be brief, but straightforward.
SILT’s mission is to protect land from development and Industrial Ag in order to provide an affordable alternative for people who want to supply us with healthy table food produced in a way that respects the environment, but who don’t have inherited access to land to do so. This difficult and near global problem points out the importance of an alternative like SILT for Iowa and for our locality. We cannot wish change into existence. It takes action.
SILT continues to protect Iowa land to grow healthy, clean, table food. We have initiated a new initiative called “Circle Our Cities“, a multi-year program to get SILT-protected farms around our population centers. Please read and watch about Circle Our Cities here.
SILT is now partnering with Linn County to protect the farmland that is part of Iowa’s first Agri-hood — the new Dows Farm housing development on the edge of Cedar Rapids with a sustainable food farm at the heart. Another exciting opportunity and first-in-Iowa innovation.
Decorah, as you know, has a long history of local food support and is also, thanks to you, a strong SILT supporter area. We want to continue to enhance what we already have.
Check out what’s going on at SILT.org. To see current SILT properties (donated farms and easements) go to https://silt.org/silt-farms.
The Board has taken the big (for us) steps of hiring a full-time Operations Manager and moving toward a full-time Executive Director. The fact is that protecting land in perpetuity (link) takes full-time staff over the long haul. This means competitive salaries and a continual need for funding and faithful supporters. Grants and external funders like “projects”. And we have them (like Adopt-an-Acre and Circle Our Cities). We are grateful for your personal support of our projects.
But external funding organizations don’t fund the essential day-to-day needs. That is up to individual supporters. Your support not only funds the basics, but underpins grants — as with any non-profit.
My ask of you:
- Please support SILT here. Any amount helps. Numbers do count. (If you can join/donate without incurring fees, please do so — i.e. checks are free or you could chip in for the processor fee)
- If you are able, increase your previous support. Can $25 become $50, $50 become $100?
- Did you get a COVID Relief check that simply joined your savings? Consider if you need that $1200.
- Consider becoming a major donor if you have the means. (Our biggest major donors are on the coasts — they understand that Iowa Ag affects them and are willing to bet that we recognize that. Let’s prove them right!)
- Consider automatic monthly donation (sustaining membership). This provides us consistent cash flow and removes the need for you to think about it constantly.
- Consider a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA if you are over 70 1/2. This is a tax-free way of donating directly from your IRA. Contact us for more info. (Sue & I use this method for SILT and some other organizations and can vouch for it!)
It is my honor as well as my responsibility as a SILT Board member to offer you the opportunity to be a part of SILT’s mission. Let’s keep Decorah and NE Iowa as a shining SILT star. This is my personal appeal. Expect an official SILT email shortly with more information about our alternative SILTFest 2021 appeal.
A reminder: Donating to non-profits is a way of indirectly doing what we cannot do directly ourselves. The non-profit becomes the mechanism for helping us make society better.
Thank you, and please help SILT achieve your goal to protect farms for good, clean, local foods.
Lyle Luzum
SILT Board Member