# Trees Forever

> Iowa-based nonprofit planting and caring for trees with volunteers across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin since 1989

Source: https://treerm.org/org/trees-forever · Updated 2026-11-08 · Data license: CC BY 4.0 (https://treerm.org/about#license)

## Facts

- Type: Nonprofit
- Scope: Regional
- Headquarters: Marion, Iowa, United States
- Founded: 1989
- Website: https://treesforever.org
- Volunteer sign-up: https://treesforever.org/volunteer/
- Donate: https://treesforever.org/donate/
- Events calendar: https://treesforever.org/events/
- Countries where they plant: United States
- Activity types: Urban forestry (primary), Agroforestry, Tree care & maintenance, Education & advocacy, Disaster & fire recovery
- Trees on record: 3,400,000 (larger of latest cumulative figure and sum of annual figures; trees planted or distributed)

## 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.

## Programs

- **Community tree planting grants** — Urban forestry: 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). https://treesforever.org/fund/
- **ReLeaf Cedar Rapids** — Disaster & fire recovery (2020–present): Public-private partnership with the City of Cedar Rapids to replant the urban canopy on public and private land after the August 2020 derecho. https://treesforever.org/releaf/
- **One Million Trees Central Iowa** — Urban forestry (2022–present): 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. https://treesforever.org/onemilliontrees/
- **Growing Futures** — Tree care & maintenance: 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. https://treesforever.org/growingfutures/
- **Trees Forever TreeKeepers** — Education & advocacy: 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. https://treesforever.org/treekeepers/
- **Accelerating Agroforestry** — Agroforestry: Field days and technical assistance helping Midwest landowners add trees and shrubs to working farmland. https://treesforever.org/acceleratingagroforestry/

## Metrics

> Note: Trees Forever's cumulative total is stated as 'more than 3.4 million trees and shrubs' on its About page but as 'more than 3 million trees' in its 2025 year-end news release and October 2026 Polk County announcement. The 2025 figures of 2,508 distributed trees and 859 Growing Futures trees come from the Form 990 and are not an organization-wide 2025 planting total, which Trees Forever does not publish (it reports 91 communities, 170 projects and 6,700 engagements instead). The 42,716 One Million Trees figure counts trees planted or preserved by all participants, not only Trees Forever.

| Metric | Year | Value | Cumulative | Program | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---:|---|---|---|---|
| Survival rate (%) | 2025 | 91 | no (that year) | organization-wide | Self-reported | [source](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202601419349301205/IRS990) IRS Form 990 for 2025, Part III mission statement: 'trees planted in participating communities have a survival rate of 91%' |
| Trees distributed | 2025 | 2,508 | no (that year) | organization-wide | Self-reported | [source](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202601419349301205/IRS990) IRS 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 planted | 2026 | 3,400,000 | yes (to date) | organization-wide | Self-reported | [source](https://treesforever.org/about/) About page (accessed Nov 2026): 'more than 3.4 million trees and shrubs' planted across the Midwest since 1989 |
| Volunteers engaged | 2025 | 7,000 | no (that year) | organization-wide | Self-reported | [source](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202601419349301205/IRS990) IRS 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 planted | 2025 | 42,716 | yes (to date) | One Million Trees Central Iowa | Self-reported | [source](https://www.dsmpartnership.com/stories/happening-soon-trees-forevers-first-ever-tree-distribution-in-dsm) Greater 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 | no (that year) | Growing Futures | Self-reported | [source](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202601419349301205/IRS990) IRS 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' |

Confidence: self-reported is the organization's own published figure; independently verified means a third party confirmed it; estimated means TreeRM derived it and the note says how.

## Upcoming events

- 2026-11-10 — Illinois Community Canopy Informational Session (Training / workshop), Marion — register: https://treesforever.org/event/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-4/ — https://treerm.org/events/trees-forever/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-2026-11-10-2.md
- 2026-11-10 — Illinois Community Canopy Informational Session (Training / workshop), Marion — register: https://treesforever.org/event/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-4/ — https://treerm.org/events/trees-forever/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-2026-11-10-3.md
- 2026-11-10 — Illinois Community Canopy Informational Session (Training / workshop), Marion — register: https://treesforever.org/event/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-4/ — https://treerm.org/events/trees-forever/illinois-community-canopy-informational-session-2026-11-10.md
- 2026-12-01 — Tree City USA (Training / workshop), Marion — register: https://treesforever.org/event/tree-city-usa-14/ — https://treerm.org/events/trees-forever/tree-city-usa-2026-12-01-2.md
- 2026-12-01 — Tree City USA (Training / workshop), Marion — register: https://treesforever.org/event/tree-city-usa-14/ — https://treerm.org/events/trees-forever/tree-city-usa-2026-12-01.md

## Links

- x: https://x.com/Trees_Forever
- instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trees_forever/
- facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treesforever/
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1057253/

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