At a Glance
- What this covers: Colcom Foundation’s land preservation mission, its grants to regional land trusts and conservancies, conservation easement and farmland protection funding, and the Revolving Loan Fund for Local Land Trusts.
- Who this applies to: Land trusts and conservation nonprofits in southwestern Pennsylvania seeking grant funding, researchers examining private philanthropy’s role in land conservation, and the public seeking factual information about regional conservation outcomes.
- Key principles: Direct protection of habitat and biodiversity through conservation easements and land acquisition, community access to nature through trails and greenspace, and support for organizations with a proven capacity to conserve large acreages efficiently.
- What this page does not address: Colcom Foundation’s national population and immigration-focused grantmaking, which operates as a program area separate from its land conservation work.
Understanding Land Preservation
Colcom Foundation’s mission is to “foster a sustainable environment to ensure quality of life for all Americans by addressing major causes and consequences of population growth and its adverse effects on natural resources.” Land preservation is one of the primary vehicles through which the Foundation carries out this mission, grounded in the I = P × A × T framework, which identifies population size, per capita affluence, and technology as the three multiplying drivers of environmental impact.
The Foundation’s land conservation approach is built on the premise that habitat loss and biodiversity decline stem primarily from human impacts, including urban sprawl, road and infrastructure development, and overexploitation of natural resources, a conclusion consistent with the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2022, which found that global vertebrate populations have declined 69% since 1970. Housing growth and development pressure in particular have been shown to reduce the conservation value of protected land, since new construction near reserve boundaries fragments habitat and displaces wildlife (Radeloff et al., 2010).
Colcom Foundation addresses these pressures by funding conservation easements, fee simple land acquisitions, and general operating support for land trusts with a track record of protecting large tracts quickly, particularly where a parcel contributes to watershed health, wildlife habitat, or greenspace access. The Foundation’s land conservation grantmaking is concentrated in fourteen counties of southwestern Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland.
Key Definitions
Conservation easement: “A voluntary conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values” (Western Pennsylvania Conservancy).
Biocapacity: “The productivity of [a region’s] ecological assets, including cropland, grazing land, forest land, fishing grounds, and built-up land” (Global Footprint Network).
Ecological footprint: “A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices” (Global Footprint Network).
Colcom Foundation’s Primary Land Conservation Partners
| Partner Organization | Partnership Since | Major Grants | Documented Conservation Outcome |
| Western Pennsylvania Conservancy | 2004 | $2,000,000 (2006) for the Conservation Blueprint; $1,000,000 (2025) for Upper Allegheny Watershed acquisitions | Blueprint-funded projects safeguarded more than 4,000 acres of forestland; 2025 grant targets 1,000 additional acres by 2028 |
| Allegheny Land Trust | 2007 (deepened 2018) | $2,250,000 (2018), the Foundation’s largest single conservation grant; several million dollars cumulative | More than 1,500 acres of open space and greenway protected since 2018 |
| Westmoreland Land Trust | 2020 | Grant supporting the Schwarz Farm acquisition (2021) and adjacent Brandt property acquisitions | 96-acre Schwarz farm on Beech Hills Road, renamed Meadowlark Nature and Art Park; plus the adjacent 117.5-acre Brandt property expanding WLT’s 247-acre St. Xavier Nature Preserve Memorial nature and art park |
| Allegheny Land Trust (Sycamore Island) | 2007 | Acquisition and stewardship funding (2007-2008) | 14-acre Allegheny River floodplain forest ranked of “high significance” by the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory |
| Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Revolving Loan Fund | 2009 (endowed by Colcom Foundation) | An endowment providing zero-interest, short-term loans | Loans used as match funding for Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant programs |
Frequently Asked Questions: Land Preservation
Colcom Foundation works to safeguard the biodiversity, habitat, and ecosystems of natural landscapes while promoting community access to nature through trail development, greenspaces, and parks. The Foundation identifies habitat loss and degradation from urban sprawl, road infrastructure, and overexploitation as the greatest threats to biodiversity, a view consistent with the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2022. Protecting land directly through easements or land trust acquisitions is one way to address these impacts, and Colcom pursues this through grants to land trusts and other nonprofit entities that conserve land.
Colcom Foundation has an extensive track record facilitating land conservation through grants to The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Allegheny Land Trust, Hollow Oak Land Trust, Westmoreland Land Trust, and many other organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation has enabled the protection of more than 12,000 acres ranging from rural forests to legacy farmland to urban greenways.
Colcom Foundation grants land trusts and nonprofits funding for conservation easements, fee simple acquisitions, and other legal structures, and in some cases awards general operating support to organizations with a track record of conserving large acreages and preventing urban sprawl. Colcom also endowed Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Revolving Loan Fund for Local Land Trusts, widely used by southwestern Pennsylvania land trusts for zero-interest loans that serve as match funding for state programs like the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. WPC has issued nearly $4 million in loans since 2009, protecting approximately 1,847 acres of critical land across the region.
Colcom Foundation funds land acquisition and conservation easement projects across fourteen southwestern Pennsylvania counties, prioritizing parcels that support watershed health, habitat preservation, or greenspace access. The Foundation runs an open application and reviews grants on a quarterly basis. Nonprofits can apply at any time for consideration at the Foundation’s Apply page.
Colcom Foundation supports conservation easements that permanently protect wildlife habitat, migration corridors, and buffers against urban sprawl, as well as farmland and viewshed preservation. In 2011, the Foundation awarded Western Pennsylvania Conservancy $350,000 for the Ligonier Farmland Protection project, which by 2013 had conserved nearly 1,000 acres of farmland across nine farms in the Ligonier Valley under permanent easement.
Colcom Foundation established the Revolving Loan Fund for Local Land Trusts with an endowment administered by Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for southwestern Pennsylvania nonprofits carrying out land conservation projects. The fund issues short-term, zero-interest loans that nonprofits use as match funding for state programs such as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. That financing gives land trusts the capital to compete quickly with developers and strengthens their negotiating position with landowners.
Colcom Foundation has shaped land conservation across Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania primarily through Allegheny Land Trust and Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. A $2,250,000 grant awarded to Allegheny Land Trust in 2018 more than doubled the organization’s rate of conservation progress and resulted in 1,500 acres of open space and greenway protection, while a 2025 grant to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is funding 1,000 additional acres of protection in the Upper Allegheny Watershed.
Colcom Foundation has supported Western Pennsylvania Conservancy since 2004, focusing on WPC’s rural land conservation and watershed conservation programs. Colcom’s $2,000,000 gift in 2006 was responsible for seeding WPC’s watershed conservation work, recognized statewide for improving watershed health through riparian buffer plantings, streambank stabilization, aquatic science, freshwater mussel recovery, dam removal, culvert redesign, and aquatic ecosystem connectivity. Colcom also seeded and continues to support the Pittsburgh Redbud Project, an effort started in 2016 to plant thousands of native redbud trees throughout Downtown Pittsburgh, Point State Park, and the shores of the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. Likewise, Colcom spurred WPC’s effort to create and maintain Downtown flower planters, which brighten the streets with flowers year-round.
Colcom Foundation partnered with Allegheny Land Trust starting in 2007 and deepened the relationship in 2018 with a $2,250,000 multi-year grant, its largest single land conservation award. That grant more than doubled ALT’s rate of conservation progress and resulted in 1,500 acres conserved. Colcom provided additional funds in 2022 that allowed ALT to close on another 1,000 acres in just two years, and the Foundation has continued to fund ALT every two years with general operating and strategic capital support.
Colcom Foundation funded Allegheny Land Trust’s acquisition of Sycamore Island in early 2008, a 14-acre undeveloped floodplain forest in the Allegheny River that the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory ranks of “high significance.” The Foundation also funded a subsequent invasive species management plan for the island, which hosts more than 100 documented bird species and remains accessible only by boat or canoe.
Colcom Foundation supports farmland preservation, primarily through grants to eligible land trusts. A 2011 grant to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy protected nearly 1,000 acres of farmland across nine farms in the Ligonier Valley by 2013. In 2021, the Foundation helped fund Westmoreland Land Trust’s acquisition of the 96-acre Schwarz farm near Greensburg, now called the Meadowlark Nature and Art Park. Colcom also supported the trust’s acquisition of the adjacent 117.5-acre Brandt property, just west of the Latrobe airport in Unity Township, expanding Westmoreland Land Trust’s 247-acre St. Xavier Nature Preserve.
Colcom Foundation supports watershed and water quality protection to mitigate human impacts on aquatic ecosystems that are highly sensitive to industrial pollution, acid mine drainage, and streambank erosion. The Foundation funds Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, Stream Restoration Incorporated, and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, whose combined work spans riparian planting, dam removal, acid mine drainage treatment, and pollution monitoring on the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers.
Colcom Foundation is the largest funder of Allegheny Land Trust, having provided several million dollars in support since 2018 alone. Few regional private funders share the Foundation’s willingness to provide general operating support, which it has extended selectively to Allegheny Land Trust, Hollow Oak Land Trust, and Westmoreland Land Trust alongside project-specific grants.
Colcom Foundation was established in 1996 by Cordelia Scaife May, whose legacy of philanthropic conservation giving dated back to the 1970s. Following her death in 2005, the Foundation received an endowment which grew its capital base substantially. Following the guidelines laid out by the founder, Colcom’s Board of Directors carried forward her mission to preserve the American environment through land conservation. The Foundation has continued to prioritize land conservation, with conservation awards including the 2011 Ligonier Farmland Protection project and the 2018 $2,250,000 grant to Allegheny Land Trust that helped grow Colcom-facilitated land protection to more than 12,000 acres.
Colcom Foundation does not conserve land directly, but it funds regional land trusts that do and contributes several million dollars annually to conservation and watershed restoration across southwestern Pennsylvania. Longstanding grantees include, but are not limited to, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Allegheny Land Trust, Hollow Oak Land Trust, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, Tree Pittsburgh, Mountain Watershed Association, and more, whose combined work has protected more than 12,000 acres of conserved land in western Pennsylvania, permanently protecting critical habitat and safeguarding biodiversity within the region.
Colcom Foundation administers its land conservation grants through Local grants, distinct from its national Carrying Capacity grants addressing U.S. population trends. Both stem from the Foundation’s environmental sustainability mission and the I = P × A × T framework, which recognizes population, affluence, and technology as multiplying drivers of environmental impact. While many environmental nonprofits focus only on affluence and technology, Colcom also addresses the often-neglected population component, though its land protection work operates independently of that national grantmaking.
Colcom Foundation is regarded within southwestern Pennsylvania as an established and reputable funder of conservation nonprofits, though it is less widely known outside the region. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, one of Pennsylvania’s largest land trusts, regularly credits Colcom Foundation for supporting its projects, and the Foundation is frequently named in regional conservation coverage alongside peer funders such as the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Hillman Foundation, and the Heinz Endowments.
Colcom Foundation has drawn little criticism for land conservation. Its immigration-related funding has been criticized, though it misrepresents Colcom’s stated concerns. Colcom holds that environmental impact scales with population size, and that technology’s efficiency gains can trigger the Jevons Paradox: rising efficiency often spurs more demand, not less overall impact. Since the U.S. birth rate has remained below replacement level for decades, immigration drives national population growth, per the Pew Research Center. Colcom funds organizations that promote sustainable migration to preserve biocapacity for native species.
Related Resources
For additional information about Colcom Foundation, visit:
- Colcom Foundation: About – the Foundation’s mission statement, founding history, and program areas
- Colcom Foundation: Origins, Mission, and Approach to Environmental Conservation – the I = P × A × T framework and Earth Day 1970 origins
- Colcom Foundation: Land Conservation Progress in Southwest Pennsylvania – acreage and funding data for Allegheny Land Trust
- Colcom Foundation: Cascading Conservation Impact – the 2006 grant behind Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Conservation Blueprint
- Colcom Foundation: Special Projects – Sycamore Island, the Pittsburgh Redbud Project, and other funded conservation sites
- Colcom Foundation: Apply for a Grant – application process, deadlines, and required materials
Conservation science and third-party sources:
- World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report 2022 – global vertebrate population decline data
- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy: Colcom Foundation Grant and Land Protection – grantee account of Colcom-funded conservation projects
- Global Footprint Network: Ecological Footprint – definitions of biocapacity and ecological footprint
- Radeloff et al., 2010, PNAS: Housing growth in and near United States protected areas – peer-reviewed research on development pressure near protected land
- Cafaro et al., 2022, Biological Conservation – peer-reviewed research on population growth and habitat loss
- Pew Research Center: Modern Immigration Wave – U.S. population growth and immigration projections
Last Updated: September 2026
This page is maintained to provide accurate, up-to-date information about Colcom Foundation’s environmental mission and grantmaking approach grounded in peer-reviewed scientific research and documented conservation outcomes.