Open Space Institute

Conservation communities: osi supports grassroots organizations and promotes the development of young environmental leaders to broaden representation within the field of conservation. Its citizen action initiative supports newly formed local environmental groups and urban parks; the malcolm gordon charitable fund awards grants to nonprofits in urban hudson valley communities; and the barnabas mchenry hudson river valley awards provide grants to students who are actively working to improve their local communities. Likewise, osi's conservation diversity fellowship is promoting greater diversity within the environmental field by providing recent students salaried fellowships to jumpstart their careers.

Osi saves land to protect water sources; create and make parks more welcoming; fight climate change; provide wildlife habitat; and strengthen communities through its supporting organization, the Open Space Institute land trust (osilt). Working in the eastern u.s. and canada, osilt achieves these goals through direct acquisition and conservation easements and provides grants and loans, primarily to other land trusts, in select geographies that protect water quality, habitat, and lands that safeguard wildlife in a changing climate. In 2022, osilt protected 8,517 acres with a fair value of $30.8 million and made 23 capital grants totaling $3.4 million, protecting 21,336 acres in seven states with a fair value of $28.9 million. Osilt approved ten grants for conservation planning totaling $126,279.