Utah’s Trust System | Utah Land Trusts Advocacy Office

Utah's Trust System

When Utah was granted statehood in 1896, lands were granted in trust for the benefit and support of several of the most important public purposes and institutions in the state of Utah — primarily public education. This idea began with Thomas Jefferson even before the United States Congress ratified the Constitution.

Historical Picture of the Salt Lake valley

How it All Started

When Utah became a state in 1896, Congress granted lands with the requirement that any revenue generated from the leases or land sales associated with the grant would go into a permanent endowment to support public schools.

To ensure that lands were reserved for the benefit of public education, land parcels were allocated by dividing Utah into 36-square-mile townships, with four sections of land dedicated to Utah’s trust lands in each township.

Additionally, separate grants, known as quantity grant selections, were given to support higher education, health and human services and other state institutions.

Each institution receives an annual distribution−providing an important and growing source of funding for several of Utah’s most important public purposes.

Learn more here.

Designated Beneficiary Institutions

These lands are held in trust specifically to generate revenue to support each designated beneficiary institution. Each receives an annual distribution from their permanent fund. Distributions provide an important and growing source of funding for several of Utah’s most important public purposes.

Beneficiary Institutions

Trust land fund distributions to the University of Utah, one of Utah’s prestigious land grant higher education institutions, are used to help fund an academic environment in which the highest standards of intellectual integrity and scholarship are practiced. With 18 colleges and schools and nearly 100 departments, the University of Utah contributes to the intellectual energy of the State. Many of its colleges and programs rank very high on national and world-wide scales for their research and academic excellence.

Utah State University is a premier student-centered land-grant university with a significant presence across Utah. Trust fund distributions are vital to USU's mission of student success. These funds provide crucial resources that directly benefit students, ensuring their well-being and academic achievement. This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining affordable on-campus housing, a critical factor for many students living away from home.

School and Institutional Trust System

The School and Institutional Trust System (Trust System) as we know it today is a group of four self-funded agencies that share responsibilities for trust lands management, trust funds investment, trust fund distributions, and beneficiary protection and advocacy.

Trust Lands Administration

Trust Lands Administration manages Utah’s nearly 3.4 million surface acres and 4.5 million subsurface acres of school and institutional trust lands. The Administration generates revenue for the beneficiaries through energy development, real estate planning and surface resources. Funds are respectively deposited into each beneficiary’s permanent trust fund for investment and growth.

Energy & Mineral
Development

Real Estate Development &
Planning

Surface Resources

3.3M
SURFACE ACRES

4.5M
SUBSURFACE ACRES

Trust Fund Investment

Created in 2014, the School and Institutional Trust Fund Office (SITFO) manages and invests the permanent funds for each of Utah’s school and institutional trusts. Investment earnings are distributed to beneficiaries each year.

Permanent
Fund
Investment

3.5B
COMBINED TRUST
FUNDS BALANCE

Fund Distribution

Distributions from the permanent trusts administered by SITFO totaled over $107 million in 2023. Serving Utah’s Trust beneficiaries, annual distributions help fund public and higher education, health and human services, and state reservoirs. Learn more about the trust beneficiaries and how they use trust distributions.

Utah’s public schools receive approximately 95% of all distributions.

Protection & Advocacy

To enhance the protection and growth of the trusts, the Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office (Protection & Advocacy Office) represents and protects the beneficiaries’ interests, provides Trust System oversight, and helps the public understand and support these important endowments.

Advocate for productive and optimal generation revenue and effective distributions.

Represent beneficiary interests through political advocacy.

Facilitate public outreach and understanding of the Trust's importance and relevance.

Monitor, stay informed, account, and report.

A Trust Created

The federal government granted lands in trust to support public education and other important state institutions in perpetuity. The state, as Trustee, must manage the lands and financial assets in the most prudent and profitable manner possible consistent with the best interests of the trust beneficiaries.

What Is a Trust?

In its simplest form, a trust is a legal relationship in which one party holds property for the benefit of another, creating a three-way fiduciary relationship among a settlor, trustee, and beneficiary.

Trustee
Duties and Responsibilities

Central principles must guide Trust management: Productivity, undivided loyalty, accountability, enforceability, and perpetuity. Any person or entity acting in an official state capacity who makes trust decisions or recommendations is a trustee.

Trustees are obligated to manage Trust resources for the benefit of the beneficiary. Benefit is typically defined in terms of monetary returns. The trustee must exercise prudence, skill, and diligence in making the trust productive for the specified beneficiary.

Perpetuity became a component of the School and Institutional Trust when the Permanent School Fund was first established in the 1890s. The trustees of a perpetual trust, such as the Permanent School Fund, must reasonably balance the short- and long-term interests of the current and future trust beneficiaries. While trustees must make the trust economically productive in the present time, trustees must also protect the productivity of the trusts in the long run. The long-term objective is to produce as much revenue as possible to aid both current and future beneficiaries of the trust lands —primarily public education of K-12 students.