Trees Forever
Marion, Iowa, United States · Nonprofit · Regional · since 1989
Iowa-based nonprofit planting and caring for trees with volunteers across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin since 1989
About
Trees Forever is a Marion, Iowa nonprofit founded in 1989 whose mission is to plant and care for trees and the environment by empowering people, building community and promoting stewardship. It funds and guides community planting projects (91 communities and 170 projects in 2025) through utility-sponsored and Illinois Community Canopy grants, leads the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids derecho recovery partnership and the One Million Trees Central Iowa initiative, employs high-school students to plant and water public trees through Growing Futures, and trains volunteers through its TreeKeepers course. It reports more than 3.4 million trees and shrubs planted across the Midwest.
What they run
Grant funding and staff assistance for community-led plantings, including Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy grants of up to $5,000 per community in Iowa and Wisconsin and the Illinois Community Canopy planting, inventory and removal grants ($555,431 awarded to 32 Illinois communities in 2025).
Public-private partnership with the City of Cedar Rapids to replant the urban canopy on public and private land after the August 2020 derecho.
Collaborative effort across ten Central Iowa counties to plant, preserve and protect one million trees by 2032 through planting, preservation and policy, with a public tracker relaunched in May 2025.
Paid youth employment program hiring high-school students (ages 14 to 18) in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids to plant, water and maintain public trees in spring, summer and fall sessions.
Class series combining online presentations and hands-on field days that trains volunteers in tree planting and care and encourages them to lead local tree efforts.
Field days and technical assistance helping Midwest landowners add trees and shrubs to working farmland.
Trees by type of work
| Activity | Trees | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 🏙️ Urban forestry | 42,716 | 2025 |
| ✂️ Tree care & maintenance | 859 | 2025 |
Only figures attached to a named program count here. Organization-wide totals sit in the table below.
The numbers
| Metric | Year | Value | Program | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Survival rate (%) | 2025 | 91 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceIRS Form 990 for 2025, Part III mission statement: 'trees planted in participating communities have a survival rate of 91%' |
| Trees distributed | 2025 | 2,508 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceIRS Form 990 for calendar year 2025, Part III 4a: 'three large-scale tree distributions were held' with '2,508 affordable, landscape sized trees planted on private lands in the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines metropolitan areas'; same filing: 'partnered with 91 communities to complete 170 projects in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin' |
| Trees plantedto date | 2026 | 3,400,000 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceAbout page (accessed Nov 2026): 'more than 3.4 million trees and shrubs' planted across the Midwest since 1989 |
| Volunteers engaged | 2025 | 7,000 | Organization-wide | Self-reported | sourceIRS Form 990 for 2025, Part III mission statement: staff 'assists and engages an average of 7,000 volunteers, community leaders and landowners across Iowa and Illinois with thousands of planting projects each year' (stated as an annual average, not a 2025 count) |
| Trees plantedto date | 2025 | 42,716 | One Million Trees Central Iowa | Self-reported | sourceGreater Des Moines Partnership story, Aug 20 2025, citing the One Million Trees Central Iowa tracker: 'more than 42,716 trees planted or preserved' with 'more than 4,200 people involved' (includes preserved as well as planted trees; the tracker on treesforever.org renders its counters by script and showed 4% of goal) |
| Trees planted | 2025 | 859 | Growing Futures | Self-reported | sourceIRS Form 990 for 2025, Part III 4a: 'a total of 77 students were hired with 53 students returning for consecutive seasons. They planted 859 trees, watered 92,836 times' |
How they report
What earned it
- 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: 6 of 6 figures link to a source
- 0/15 Publishes financials or cost per tree: No financial figure recorded
- 15/15 Reports survival or monitoring: Survival rate 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
- 2,508 trees in 2025
- Trees per volunteer
- 0.4 in 2025
- Survival
- 91% (2025, reported)
- Compare
- Put Trees Forever next to others · method
Upcoming events
- Illinois Community Canopy Informational SessionRegisterTue, Nov 10, 2026, 12:00 PM CST · Training / workshop · Marion
- Illinois Community Canopy Informational SessionRegisterTue, Nov 10, 2026, 12:00 PM CST · Training / workshop · Marion
- Illinois Community Canopy Informational SessionRegisterTue, Nov 10, 2026, 12:00 PM CST · Training / workshop · Online
- Tree City USARegisterTue, Dec 1, 2026, 12:00 PM CST · Training / workshop · Marion
- Tree City USARegisterTue, Dec 1, 2026, 12:00 PM CST · Training / workshop · Online