Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What percentage of funding is used for administrative purposes?
Over the past three years, an average of 22% of our funding has been used for overhead, with 16% for administration and 6% for fundraising. The funding used for project-related activities is 78%.
As our overall funding increases, the percentage used for administration and fundraising decreases because many administrative costs, such as housing, are basically fixed costs. We strive to ensure that an extremely high percentage of all donations are directed into project-related activities.
2. Is there a dollar value per tree?
Trees are quite valuable, though the value varies from place to place and by the types of trees planted. While trees can provide many useful products, such as fuelwood, fodder, fruits, fertilizers, oils, and construction materials, the majority of our trees are planted by people to provide for the needs of their families, rather than for direct material gain. Therefore, we do not put a dollar value on each tree.
3. How do we choose our projects?
We do not target specific projects or countries. Instead, people in developing communities come to us for help. We work hard to make it known to the people of these communities that there is help for them to save their lands and their way of life - and that it's FREE because concerned people here (like you) are aware of the critical problems they are facing and want to help.
As a project succeeds, it isn't long until other communities in that area ask to participate. These days e-mail and our website have greatly sped up this process and therefore the numbers of villages served, with the number of trees planted, is growing rapidly.
4. Are we registered with any Charity organization?
There are a number of organizations and websites that can help donors assess the quality of charities. One of the most respected is Charity Navigator, which can be found on the web at CharityNavigator.org. Trees for the Future received 3 stars out of the highest possible rating of 4 stars, which you can see here.
Additionally, there are several useful reports which are available at no cost that provide insights into our financial management and our programs. They include: Our IRS Form 990 report; Our independently audited annual financial report; The Annual Reports and Preliminary Annual Financial Reports provided to all of our members through our quarterly newsletters; the review of these reports and statements by our federated group for the annual CFC Campaign (Aid to Africa) and by the Combined Federal Campaign itself.
In a more practical way, we strive to make the location of all of our projects available to the public and many people actually visit the sites to see the results for themselves. We also have equipped our field technicians with GPS units and cameras, and have made this information available from the GPS monitoring page on our website.
5. How do I know the trees will be planted?
Our newsletter and website, available to all members and prospective members, announce the projects well in advance, as does our annual Plan of Action & Budget, which is submitted to the IRS, the State of Maryland, our Board of Directors, and is available on our website. Through these same channels, we tell our members of the results, which are based on reports from our local representatives, community leaders and the participants themselves.
Essentially, your donation helps support a share of our work for the year. At the beginning of each year we see what the needs are, and try to set a realistic budget for what we can achieve. Then, throughout the year, donations come in that allow us to carry out these projects. Nurseries are started 6 months before the rains, the trees are planted during the rainy season, and then soon the process repeats itself the following season as the projects grow and expand.
6. How do I know the trees won't be cut?
Many of the trees initially planted are, in fact, designed to be cut back periodically, as these are species that coppice (grow back vigorously after harvesting) time and again. These trees sustainably meet the needs of the participants and the net result is a rapidly and constantly growing diversity within the reforested lands. Therefore, the projects you support are not only permanent but are increasingly expanding, growing in diversity and ecological benefits, year after year.
7. How can you plant trees for only 10 cents each?
Our work focuses on agroforestry, which involves integrating trees into agriculture. These techniques are particularly appropriate for resource poor farmers in developing countries, as trees can improve the fertility of their lands (through nitrogen fixation), prevent wind and soil erosion (thereby also contributing to improved fertility), increase water penetration into underground aquifers, provide fodder for animals, create living fences, and also provide sustainable fuelwood production (yes - some of these trees are used for fuelwood, but these are trees that coppice well, so they will come back year after year when they are properly cared for, and this alleviates pressure on the existing natural resources, preventing more deforestation).
We provide seeds, training, and on-site technical assistance to communities, so that they may pursue these tree planting projects. This work takes place in developing countries, where we have a network of partners and field representatives that are working with communities across the globe.
Essentially, while working on agroforestry extension, we end up planting a lot of trees, and we are finding that people in the developed world strongly support tree planting. Therefore, we leverage this support, and use it to promote agroforestry.
That is how we can plant trees for such a low "price." We come up with the figure of 10 cents per tree by taking our annual budget, and dividing it by our estimate of the number of trees planted in a year. Using this methodology, our average cost per tree is right around 10 cents. This cost includes all of our overhead, and all fundraising expenses.
This work is highly seasonal - nurseries are during the dry season, trees are planted during the rainy season, and then they need to be protected through the first critical dry season. At the beginning of every year, we make estimates for how many trees we think we can plant in our various projects. Then, based on how much support we think we can generate, we develop a detailed plan of action and budget and we go forward with the selected projects.
Essentially, by donating to TREES, you are buying a "share" of the work we will accomplish in the coming year, at the average price of 10 cents per tree.
8. Do you plant only indigenous species?
The issue of invasive species is something we deal with in as careful a manner as possible. We primarily only use species that are already naturalized in an area or are native to the area, but as many of our projects involve working on degraded lands, one of the main criteria is finding trees that will grow quickly and will establish an environment that allows for the native flora to return.
While our goal is the rapid and continued return of indigenous diversity to these lands, the damage to the forests that once stood there makes it impossible to begin with a wide range of indigenous trees and other plants. Many of the climax species that once inhabited the forest are unable to withstand harsh, direct sunlight. They need the shade that is no longer there. Now that shade is gone, along with the cooler daytime temperatures, the humidity and soil moisture, as well as the soil humus and organisms.
In order to restore the biodiversity, we must plant multi-purpose, fast-growing trees to create conditions that allow the native species to thrive. In this process, we are quite careful to avoid using invasive species, but we do not restrict ourselves to strictly native species. We have learned over the years that by initially introducing the proper pioneer tree species, we can bring back the former conditions and that, within a very short time, we can bring about the natural regeneration of much of the past diversity that we all desire.
9. How does your program bring back diversity to degraded lands?
We initially plant multi-purpose, fast-growing trees that lower daytime soil temperatures, provide partial shade, add humus and nutrients to the soil. This creates a microclimate that allows dormant seeds and native trees to germinate and reestablish themselves, which helps to restore much of the former diversity.
However, there are tremendous pressures exerted on these lands by the families who depend on them for their very survival. Our program offers these families important, sustained, income-generating activities that succeed because they also contribute to restoring an environmental balance to the land. Planting trees, without addressing the root causes of the deforestation, will not bring about any long term positive changes.
10. Why should I donate to Trees for the Future?
You should donate to us because you care about both people and the environment and because our program brings greater benefits to the people of these threatened lands - and to the environment we share with them - than any other program out there. We plant trees for an average cost of 10 cents, and are working closely with communities around the world. We offer a grassroots model of development focused on environmental and economic sustainability, and have been doing this for over 20 years.
11. Does a third party verify/monitor your tree plantings?
We do not have any explicit relationship with a third party to monitor or verify our tree planting. However, we are continually developing better ways to monitor and evaluate our programs. This can be a complex task because we are engaged in decentralized projects with farmers in often remote and inaccessible regions. In order to assess our progress, we have our local representative, the community leaders, representatives from the concerned local organizations and, above all, the participants themselves, provide periodic reports and pictures on the progress of the projects. Through these reports, we determine how many trees are planted, how well they survived the initial year, how quickly they grew, any problems that were incurred - and how these problems were overcome.
In an effort to provide greater transparency and feedback, we are providing our local technicians with GPS units and cameras so that they can accurately convey the locations and progress of our projects. This information is freely available on our website, which allows anyone to independently verify any of our projects.
An important distinction in our work is that the trees planted in our program belong not to us but to the local community. These trees are planted in order to address the needs they consider most important. Our goals are not just to plant trees, but to empower communities to sustainably manage their natural resources over the long term. Incorporating well designed agroforestry practices into farming systems helps alleviate the pressure being exerted on existing natural resources, resulting in a system that is more sustainable and resilient over the long term.
12. What is a Global Cooling Business/ Plant-a-Tree Partnership?
We are always looking for partnerships that can help us expand the reach of Trees for the Future's global program. Our Business Partnerships are straightforward, and can be tailored to the needs of a particular business.
By participating in any of our programs, you will receive plenty of attention through:
-Being featured on our website's partnership page
-Us bringing attention to our partnerships at conferences and festivals (such as the Green Festivals in D.C. and San Francisco)
-Being mentioned in our monthly e-newsletter and on our news bulletin
-Being mentioned in our quarterly newsletter and on a customized landing page
Plant-a-Tree Partnerships: The most popular partnership we offer involves pledging to donate a fixed amount from each sale to TREES. For example, you may make a pledge to plant one tree for every product sold, which would cost you only ten cents. Partner businesses feature their TREES partnership on their website, and vice versa. You keep track of your commitments and have the option of sending us a payment monthly or quarterly, and we provide periodic reporting on how your donations have been used. Partnerships planting over 10,000 trees annually ($1,000) will be listed on our website.. Partnerships that result in the planting of over 25,000 trees annually ($2,500) can also have a customized landing page on plant-trees.org highlighting our partnership.
Global Cooling™ Businesses: These businesses have taken the steps to become carbon neutral, meaning that the amount of carbon that the business emits into the atmosphere (which results in carbon dioxide), is cancelled out by planting the number of trees necessary to annually absorb the resulting CO2 created via your day-to-day business activities.
How do we know how many trees are needed to offset you businesses' carbon output? The quick answer is that the trees we plant absorb an average of 50 lbs. of CO2 annually (per tree). All we need to know is how much CO2 your business creates. In order to calculate this we have created the Carbon Output Worksheet, a general audit that you perform in order to calculate your businesses’ annual carbon output. At $0.10 a tree, the final cost is quite reasonable, and the trees planted continue to sequester carbon for years to come. As a Global Cooling™ Business, you will be featured on our website and are free to use any of our five different Global Cooling™, Trees for the Future, and Trees for Travel logos for promotional uses. Partnerships planting over 10,000 trees annually ($1,000) will be listed on our website. Partnerships that result in the planting of over 25,000 trees annually ($2,500) can also have a customized landing page on plant-trees.org highlighting our partnership.
These partnerships are a growing and vital part of our fundraising, and are helping us to greatly expand the global reach of our program. Becoming involved is a great way to help mitigate your carbon emissions while helping communities to improve their lives!
13. What partners or associations does TFTF have that I am familiar with?
Trees for the Future has long been a member of Green America (formerly known as Coop America), the National Peace Corps Association, and the Aid to Africa Federation of the Combined Federal Campaign.
While famous individuals and large donors have shown strong support for our program, Trees for the Future is made possible by the support from individuals and small businesses throughout North America. Lists of the many small businesses that support us can be found on our website under “Partnerships.” (www.plant-trees.org/partnerships)
Awards we have been given include:
THE INTERNATIONAL AWARD, National Arbor Day Foundation, 1990
EARTH TRUSTEESHIP AWARD, The Earth Society, 1994
GREEN GLOBE Commendation Winner, 1999
14. How can I calculate my carbon dioxide emissions?
There are a number of good carbon calculators available on the web, therefore we have not created our own. A few that we think are worth looking at are:
15. What if I want to volunteer in the field with Trees for the Future?
At this time, we do not send volunteers to the field due to liability issues.
Some of our partner organizations may have opportunities for internships and volunteers. Please contact us and we will let you know if there are any available opportunities.
If you are interested in starting a new project, or know someone who is, please click here to fill out our project application form.
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