SCC is improving the way it does business. We’ve heard from conservation districts and other partners that SCC has opportunities to improve its processes and programs.
We are working on a variety of projects with the end goal of providing the best possible service to conservation districts, while increasing efficiency, transparency, and accountability.
This is about much more than adopting a new technology to replace an outdated one. This is about ensuring that SCC has the capacity to deliver on the increased number of conservation resources entrusted to it.
Our monthly roundtable meetings are an important way for conservation districts and SCC to share information and stay connected. In an effort to make sure these meetings are better serving the communication needs of conservation districts, we’ve developed a tool to source topics for the roundtables.
Use the tool below to add your topic idea to an upcoming roundtable, which can include subjects for focused discussion. Use the “thumbs up” feature to up-vote other topic ideas. Topics with the most votes will be incorporated into upcoming meetings. We will reach out to topic submitters to plan out any conversational sessions.
Please enter topics you’d like to discuss at upcoming meetings into the form below, taking time to list any questions you may have about the topic as well. You can do this in the same field as you list the topic. You can also “upvote” other people’s topic suggestions by using the “thumbs up” feature.
Please note that to be considered for the next roundtable meeting, your topic must be submitted at least five business days before the meeting.
The Grants Manual needs updating to increase its usability and create greater harmonization with our grant program guidelines. SCC has convened a group of finance professionals, District Managers, and key SCC staff to identify and work through feedback about the current Manual.
In December 2025, we sent out a compiled list of feedback SCC has received about the Grants Manual to all conservation districts. Once the feedback represented in this list is complete, the Ombuds Working Group will begin the process of prioritizing the work of addressing the comments. The comments may be addressed by changes to the Grants Manual, through training opportunities, or changes to other SCC processes.
Ten years ago, SCC administered about $35 million in grant funding from two fund sources to conservation districts and other partners. Today, we administer about $100 million from eight fund sources, and our systems and processes have not kept pace with growth. We scaled up our capacity to deliver essential grant dollars quickly to conservation districts but did not transform our processes to reflect the greater complexity of our funding and programs.
SCC is working to improve our grant program administration and is partnering with conservation districts to make sure our new processes center on district experience.
