TreeRM

Friends of the Urban Forest

San Francisco, California, United States · Nonprofit · Local · since 1981

San Francisco nonprofit that has planted nearly 60,000 street trees with neighbors since 1981

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Urban forestry (primary) Tree care & maintenance Education & advocacy

About

Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) is a San Francisco 501(c)(3) founded in 1981 after the city cut urban forestry funding; its first planting put about 50 trees in Noe Valley. It runs neighborhood Community Tree Planting days and a Tree Care and Watering program, converts sidewalk concrete into native-plant Sidewalk Gardens, and trains young people through the Green Crew and New Roots workforce programs. FUF says it has planted nearly 60,000 trees, about half of San Francisco's street trees, and planted 1,506 new street trees in FY2025, its largest annual total in over a decade.

Programs they run

Street Tree Planting Program Urban forestry1981–present

Volunteer-powered Community Tree Planting days that add street trees block by block, prioritizing neighborhoods with the lowest tree canopy.

Tree Care and Watering Program Tree care & maintenance

Pruning, inspection, hardware maintenance and weekly watering of young street trees until they can thrive on their own.

Workforce Development (Green Crew and New Roots) Education & advocacy

Paid training programs in which young people plant and care for trees while learning arboriculture and nursery skills; New Roots launched in 2023.

Sidewalk Gardening Program Urban forestry2010–present

Removes sidewalk concrete and installs mostly native drought-tolerant gardens around street trees; formally launched in 2010.

Trees by type of work

ActivityTreesYears
🏙️ Urban forestry1,5062025
📣 Education & advocacy6192025

This table counts only the figures the organization attached to a named program. Totals reported for the whole organization are in the table below.

The figures

MetricYearValueProgramConfidenceSource
Funds raised (USD)20255,232,032Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Impact Report, p.12 Financials: total income $5,232,031.76 (grants 73%, donations 25%); expenses $5,391,171.48
Trees plantedto date202660,000Organization-wideSelf-reportedsourceHomepage: 'We've planted nearly 60,000 TREES', 'half of San Francisco's street trees' (accessed Nov 2026); Our Story page notes the 50,000th tree was planted in 2015
Volunteers engaged20251,846Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Impact Report, p.9: 'In FY2025, 1,846 volunteers contributed 6,806 hours to planting, caring for, and celebrating San Francisco's urban forest'
Trees planted20251,506Street Tree Planting ProgramSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Impact Report, p.4: 'In FY2025, Friends of the Urban Forest planted 1,506 new street trees across San Francisco' (fiscal year ending June 30, 2025)
Trees planted2025619Workforce Development (Green Crew and New Roots)Self-reportedsource2025 Annual Impact Report, p.6: 'TREES PLANTED BY WFD: 619' (Green Crew 547 + New Roots 72); likely included within the 1,506 street trees

How they report

Transparency
60 / 100 · Well documented
How the score was earned
  • 5/20 Publishes annual tree figures: 1 year 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 on record
  • 0/10 Independently verified figure: All figures are the organization's own
  • 10/10 Breaks figures down by program: Figures attached to named programs
  • 5/5 Reports volunteers or events: Volunteer figures on record
Latest annual figure
2,125 trees in 2025
Trees per volunteer
1.2 in 2025
Dollars raised per tree
$2,462 in 2025
Compare
Compare Friends of the Urban Forest with other organizations · how we calculate

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