TreeRM

Canopy

Palo Alto, California, United States · Nonprofit · Local · since 1996

Midpeninsula urban forestry nonprofit planting and caring for trees in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Mountain View

WebsiteVolunteer with themDonate to themTheir events calendar
Urban forestry (primary) Tree adoption & giveaways Tree care & maintenance Education & advocacy

About

Canopy was created in 1996 to support Palo Alto's urban forestry programs and became an independent 501(c)(3) in 2002. It plants and cares for trees in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Belle Haven and North Fair Oaks through programs including Branching Out (with CAL FIRE), the South Palo Alto Tree Initiative and Mountain View school plantings, and runs Teen Urban Foresters, the Community Forestry School and K-12 lessons. In 2025 it reported planting 420 trees and caring for more than 450 with over 1,300 volunteers.

What they run

Branching Out Urban forestry

Tree plantings and care at neighborhoods, parks and schools in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven and North Fair Oaks, in partnership with CAL FIRE and local cities.

South Palo Alto Tree Initiative Urban forestry2016–present

Tree plantings and tree-care advocacy to increase canopy coverage in south Palo Alto, launched in 2016 with the City of Palo Alto.

Mountain View Tree Plantings and Eco-schoolyards Urban forestry

Tree plantings and eco-schoolyards in Mountain View in partnership with Living Classroom and the Mountain View Whisman School District.

Young Tree Care Tree care & maintenance

Community Forester volunteers prune, mulch and survey Canopy-planted young trees in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto.

Community Forestry School Education & advocacy2019–present

Free nine-week urban forestry course for Bay Area residents; about 150 students have completed it since 2019.

The numbers

Trees planted, by year
53920244202025
MetricYearValueProgramConfidenceSource
Funds raised (USD)20252,567,539Organization-wideSelf-reportedsourceProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Form 990 for fiscal year ending June 2025: total revenue $2,567,539 (expenses $2,146,181)
Trees distributed2025251Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Planting Impact report: 251 fruit trees distributed to residents in 'Fiscal Year 2025'
Trees planted2024539Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2024 'Planting Hope' impact report, By the Numbers 2023-2024: 'Together, we planted 539 trees and cared for 1,051 trees across our five partner communities' (FY2024, July 1 2023 - June 30 2024)
Trees planted2025420Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Planting Impact report (redirects to Adobe Express page): 'Together, we planted 420 trees and cared for 450+ trees across Palo Alto, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and North Fair Oaks'
Volunteers engaged20251,300Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Planting Impact report: '1,300 + volunteers dug in at 115 tree planting and tree care events, volunteering for 5,800+ hours'

How they report

Transparency
59 / 100 · Partly documented
What earned it
  • 10/20 Publishes annual tree figures: 2 years of annual figures on record (5 points each, up to 4 years)
  • 15/15 Figures are recent: Latest annual figure is for 2025
  • 10/10 Every figure has a public source: 5 of 5 figures link to a source
  • 15/15 Publishes financials or cost per tree: Revenue or cost-per-tree figure on record
  • 0/15 Reports survival or monitoring: No survival or monitoring figure
  • 0/10 Independently verified figure: All figures are the organization's own
  • 4/10 Breaks figures down by program: Programs named, figures not broken out
  • 5/5 Reports volunteers or events: Volunteer figures on record
Latest annual figure
671 trees in 2025 (+24% on the year before)
Trees per volunteer
0.5 in 2025
Dollars raised per tree
$3,826 in 2025
Compare
Put Canopy next to others · method

Upcoming events