Impacting Policy. Improving Lives.

LAND ECONOMICS FOUNDATION:

The Land Economics Foundation (LEF) is a not-for-profit charitable foundation that provides grants to advance the application of land economics to the mutual goals of Lambda Alpha International (LAI) and the Foundation:

Connecting professionals. Sharing knowledge. Advancing best practices.

Since 1965 the LEF has supported a range of research, case study and community efforts applying land economics to human problems for a better future.

Purpose

The purpose of our charitable foundation is to create and administer a research and education investment fund:

To support the study of land economics and the highest ideals of scholarship and integrity in fields where practiced: professional, business, governmental and academic;
To expand the knowledge and understanding of the principles of land economics and support the application of such principles to both public policy and private endeavor;
To expand the world’s knowledge and understanding of the principles of land economics.
To provide grants for research, community, and chapter projects relating to land economics that are approved by the Board of Trustees; and
To perform or facilitate such other projects and activities as will carry out the mutual goals of LAI and LEF and the purposes enumerated above.

History

The Land Economics Foundation (LEF) was established by LAI as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in the 1960s to support research in land economics. Initially, its funding was limited, but in 1992, LEF embarked on a fundraising campaign called Project ’96 to raise its corpus to $250,000. While the campaign didn’t meet its goal, LEF continued to grow its financial base through contributions from LAI members.

From 1997 to 2004, LEF made limited awards, mainly in the form of scholarships. In 2005, LEF formalized its grant application and expanded its focus to include real estate research projects through collaboration with other non-profit entities. Since then, LEF has funded multiple projects, including book publications, making its findings accessible to real estate associations and educational institutions.