Tools for raising funds to obtain, protect, preserve or rehabilitate structures and land of historic or cultural importance include the following:

Revolving funds are self-replenishing loan pools. The money in the pools comes mostly from donations and is used to restore buildings. The fund revolves when the restored building is sold. With a revolving fund, a non-profit organization can either acquire a deteriorating building, restore it, and sell it or make low-interest loans available to those who need to restore their historic buildings.

New Hampshire RSA 447:45, RSA 447:46 and RSA 447:47 specify Conservation Preservation and Agriculture Conservation Restrictions, commonly known as easements. An easement is a property right that can be bought or sold. It allows a property owner to put limitations on a property when an easement is sold or for another person/organization to set limitations on the property owner when an easement is purchased or donated. Easements can be for either conservation or preservation.

A preservation easement is an agreement between the owner of an historic property and a government agency or preservation organization and gives the latter the right to review any proposed changes to the property. In return for giving an easement, property owners are eligible under the Tax Treatment and Extension Act of 1980 to make a deduction from their taxes. If the easement is donated as a lifetime gift to an organization, property owners can receive a deduction for up to 50% of their adjusted gross incomes. The cost of securing easements may be significantly lower than buying properties outright in order to protect them because easements can be acquired by donation.

Preservation easement donations are of two major types: exterior or interior. Exterior easements are donation by the property owner of an easement for the building's facade. This can include air rights, exterior maintenance or alterations, etc. An interior easement can restrict changes to all or part of the interior, but they are rarely used because they are difficult to acquire and enforce.

A conservation easement can give protection to open spaces, scenic areas, waterways, wildlife, and farmland. Conservation easements are often superior to zoning and local historic districts in preserving historic structures in rural areas, both because they preserve appropriate setting for the buildings and because they restrict development that may lead to demolition of older buildings.

A covenant is a contractual agreement in which the owner of a building agrees to maintain its historic and architectural character. It may be written as an affirmative or negative provision. An affirmative provision requires the owner of an historic structure to ensure its continued upkeep. A negative provision, or restrictive covenant, requires the owner to abstain from making changes to the building that would compromise its historic or architectural integrity. The right to enforce a covenant is normally granted to a preservation agency.

The legal difference between easements and covenants is that easements are an interest in real estate, whereas covenants are only a contractual obligation and are not usually binding for future owners. However, covenants can sometimes be made binding on future property owners, not just the owner with which the contract was made. In this case, the distinction between an easement and covenant is blurred in terms of which one provides better protection to historic resources.

New Hampshire RSA 447:45-47 allow a property owner to place restrictions on the deed to the property, assuming a charitable or preservation organization is willing to accept and monitor the restrictions. Deed restrictions are especially appropriate for owners with homes they can no longer afford and that they would like to see future owners preserve. If property owners donate preservation restrictions in perpetuity to a public body or non-profit organization, they may be eligible for a charitable deduction from federal income tax.

New Hampshire RSA 674:21 gives communities authority to adopt a variety of innovative land use controls that can support the preservation of community character and, consequently, historic resources. For example, the use of clustering allows development to be located away from sensitive areas, agricultural land, or historic areas. The concept of the transfer of development rights is another strategy that can help a community retain its historic character.

Standards, such as building codes, that are intended to protect the public's health and safety may cause complications to the use or rehabilitation of a historic building. As a result, some communities have elected to amend local building codes to exempt historic buildings from certain requirements, other than life-safety provisions. The exemption allows historic buildings to continue to be used safely without imposing requirements that an older building cannot meet without significant loss of integrity. Chapter 32 of the Basic Building Code of Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) specifically addresses the need for sympathetic treatment of historic structures and allows historic buildings to be exempted from the Code in some cases.