August 2024

Arborists and Urban Foresters' Engagement with Non-profit Organizations

Alexander Martin, University of Toronto

Lukas Olson, University of British Columbia

Many environmental non-profits or NGOs rely on arborists and urban foresters to support their programming through donating money, providing technical support, or sitting on boards and committees. To better understand what drives or dissuades urban greening professionals from supporting NGOs, we conducted an online survey of Canadian and American arborists and urban foresters. With the help of organizations like TREE Fund, we distributed the survey through listservs, social media groups, and magazines, receiving 1,047 responses.

The perceived benefits of volunteering and donating varied. Arborists and urban foresters volunteer and donate to help the future of their industries, improve or maintain positive public relations for their company or institution, and influence industry research and education. These benefits far outweighed financial incentives like tax benefits. 

The economy and work hours can limit both donations and volunteering. While some individuals wished to contribute their time or resources, they often faced constraints because of their own busy schedules and/or limited incomes. Others felt NGOs were inadequate advertising opportunities for their companies or that insurance requirements restricted their involvement.

Arborists and urban foresters actively and preferentially participate in local community events that are environmentally or socially beneficial. This is especially true when the program is distinctive and allows them to enhance their own skills. Those donating looked for organizations that are transparent about their finances and objectives and were critical of research-funding organizations that lacked research dissemination or applicable research.



You can find the full results of our study in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. Thank you to the TREE Fund for supporting this research through sharing our survey. 

Lead Donors

We are deeply grateful to the following people and organizations whose accumulated contributions to TREE Fund in 2024 surpassed $2,500 or more as of July:

Hallie Dozier, Ph.D.

Jeffrey S. Hamilton

Steve Reynolds

See the full list of lead donors who make our vital tree research and education work possible on our website.

Thank you to those that supported us at ISA100!

TREE Fund’s CEO & President, Paul Putman and Grants and Development Manager, Heath Hupke were at this year’s ISA Conference in Atlanta and were very grateful to everyone that they were able to meet and talk to during the week. It is always great to get out and see people face-to-face!

TREE Fund held a silent auction during our time at the conference and, thanks to your support, were able to raise over $5100 dollars for TREE Fund and the Hyland R. Johns Grant Program.

TREE Fund Liaison Spotlight

Every ISA chapter recruits a volunteer to serve as their TREE Fund Liaison. These volunteers spend extra time attending meetings, spreading the word about TREE Fund happenings, events, and news, and often being the point person for TREE Fund fundraisers at their local chapters.

We'd like to highlight these wonderful volunteers and let you know a little more about them.

Pacific Northwest Chapter Liaison: Peter van Oss

Senior Associate, Teragan & Associates, Inc.

18 years as a TREE Fund Liaison.

Q: Why do you enjoy being an arborist?

A: It’s more like a hobby and I never really go to work.

Q: Why did you choose to be the liaison for your chapter?

A: Being involved with peers in the industry and to spread the word to our future potential arborists.

Q: Why do you feel the need to communicate TREE Fund’s mission and events to chapter members?

A: Our industry is one of the youngest professions and we have only scratched the surface when it comes to understanding how people can live with trees. Trees are incredibly important in our microclimates and advanced research will allow us to implement cutting edge technology to ensure conservancy and proper planning for our future generations.

Q: What would you like to learn more about in your field or what research would you like to see done?  

A: How much soil can be removed from a root soil plate before the tree becomes unstable. 

Q: Why is new research important to you?

A:  Advancing our knowledge of trees may allow for us to get a better understanding of how we can properly plan for a sustainable future. 

Tour des Trees Riders Want Your Support!

Our Tour des Trees ride will be hitting the roads of New England in just a couple of short weeks and our riders are hard at work finalizing their last efforts to hit their fundraising goals. They can use your help and we want to thank you for helping them!

Any donation made to a rider or team between August 23 and September 2 will enter the donor for a chance to win prizes courtesy of Haix. One donor will receive our 1st Prize of a $100 Haix Gift Certificate and two donors will receive 2nd Prizes of a Haix shirt and athletic socks.

Support your favorite donor, chapter, or team today at www.tourdestrees.org and thank you for your support!

Fall Grant Cycle Applications Accepted until October 1

TREE Fund’s fall 2024 grant application cycle is now open.

Six grant programs are now accepting applications. The fall cycle application period runs from August 1 to October 1 with Letters of Inquiry due by September 15. Full descriptions for each of these grant programs and the application process are available on TREE Fund’s website, https://www.treefund.org.

The John Z. Duling Grant Program provides start up or seed funding to support innovative research and technology transfer projects and awards up to $25,000.

The Jack Kimmel International Grant Program provides funding for arboriculture research by applicants working primarily outside the United States and awards up to $10,000.

The Safe Arborist Techniques Fund Grant Program supports original research that creates a safer work environment for people working in the tree care industry and the general public they serve and awards up to $15,000.

The Bob Skiera Memorial Fund Building Bridges Initiative Grant Program, with assistance from the John White Memorial Fund, supports projects which help arborists and urban foresters communicate the value of trees and urban forests on a global basis through technology transfer and engagement with developers, builders, civil engineers, city planners, elected officials, and other policy makers and awards up to $30,000.

The Tree and Soil Research Fund Grant Program supports projects with research of interest to the landscape architecture community with a special focus in the area of trees and soils that support them and awards up to $10,000.

The Hyland R. Johns Grant Program supports research that directly affects the work of industry professionals and awards up to $25,000.

Free Webinar Series

Back again this year, TREE Fund is proud to partner with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System to bring you free education offerings.

Next Webinar

October 8, 2024. Noon CT.

Presenter: Dr. Robert Fahey

Presentation: Monitoring and Modeling Changes in Street Tree Communities Over Time

Registration will be available two weeks prior to the webinar. See our Webinar page for more information. https://treefund.org/webinars

TREE Fund’s 1-hour webinars are free and offer 1.0 CEU credit for live broadcasts from the International Society of Arboriculture and the Society of American Foresters. Registration and information will become available on our website approximately two weeks before each webinar date.

Upcoming Webinars (registration opens about two weeks prior)

• November 5, 2024. Dr. Greg Dahl. Tree Caused Outages – What we know and what we have learned.
• December 17, 2024. Dr. Rebecca Abney and Ms. Holly Campbell. Biochar for Tree Growth and Water Quality: Exploring Potential in Urban and Disturbed Soils

Missed a webinar? Watch it anytime on our website.

CEU Credit for Recorded Webinar

TREE Fund offers ISA CEU credits for one recorded webinar: "Loading of a Tie-in Point While Climbing." If you missed this webinar, you can now watch the recording and earn ISA CEU credits by completing a 20 question quiz with 80% accuracy. Learn more on our website.

TREE Fund

Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund

1755 Park St. Suite #200, Naperville, IL 60563

(630) 369-8300

treefund@treefund.org

www.treefund.org

TREE Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to support scientific discovery and dissemination of new knowledge in the fields of arboriculture and urban forestry.

TREE Fund recently earned our 2024 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency! Check out our nonprofit profile to keep up to date with our impact. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/shared/17bf1c65-c913-4096-8695-11f0dc3fa73f.

Keep this link handy, we want to make sure you always have the information you need to support our work with trust and confidence. 

TREE Fund has also earned the 4 out of 4 Star rating from Charity Navigator for 2024.