TreeRM

Trees Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee, United States · Nonprofit · Local · since 2016

Knoxville nonprofit planting trees, training Volunteer Foresters and giving away trees to grow the city's canopy

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

About

Trees Knoxville is a 501(c)(3) founded in 2016 to preserve and expand the urban tree canopy on public and private land in Knoxville and Knox County, Tennessee. It runs volunteer Community Tree Plantings at parks, schools, greenways and bus stops, free Tree Adoption giveaways for residents, Canopies for Campuses plantings at Knox County Schools, and a free four-week Volunteer Forester training course each fall and spring. It helped produce Knoxville's Urban Forest Master Plan (adopted by the city in December 2024) and received a $1.7 million USDA Forest Service Inflation Reduction Act grant in 2024; in 2025 it planted 895 trees and gave away 450.

What they run

Community Tree Planting Urban forestry

Volunteer-driven, professionally guided plantings with local governments, faith organizations, businesses and neighborhood groups at parks, campuses, greenways, streetscapes and bus stops.

Tree Adoptions Tree adoption & giveaways

Free trees for Knoxville residents to plant on their own property, with species selection and care guidance; the organization says it distributes over 500 trees a year.

Volunteer Forester Program Education & advocacy

Free four-session training each fall and spring in planting, pruning, mulching, watering, tree-risk and invasive species identification; graduates lead planting events.

Canopies for Campuses Urban forestry

Free trees and hands-on planting days for students, parents and teachers at Knox County Schools.

Trees by type of work

ActivityTreesYears
🎁 Tree adoption & giveaways8452024–2025

Only figures attached to a named program count here. Organization-wide totals sit in the table below.

The numbers

Trees planted, by year
35020248952025
MetricYearValueProgramConfidenceSource
Trees planted2024350Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2024 Annual Report: 'During the 2024 planting season, just over 350 trees were planted across 10 events'; Form 990-EZ 2024 Part III: 'Trees Knoxville planted 350 trees at schools, parks, bus stops, and along streets'
Trees planted2025895Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Report, Impact Report page: 'In 2025, 895 trees were planted, 361 by volunteers across 17 events'; 51 of the 895 went to four Knox County Schools
Volunteers engaged2024392Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2024 Annual Report: '350 trees were planted across 10 events with the help of 392 volunteers. That's over 900 hours'; Form 990-EZ 2024: '392 volunteers were engaged in the tree planting events'
Volunteers engaged2025564Organization-wideSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Report: '361 [trees] planted by 564 volunteers across 17 events, contributing more than 1,692 hours of service'
Trees distributed2024395Tree AdoptionsSelf-reportedsourceForm 990-EZ 2024 Part III (appended to the 2024 Annual Report): '395 trees were given away'; the report's own infographic says 'We provided 350 saplings to Knoxville residents through free tree giveaways'
Trees distributed2025450Tree AdoptionsSelf-reportedsource2025 Annual Report: 'We provided 450 saplings to Knoxville residents through free tree giveaways' ('450 TREES ADOPTED')

How they report

Transparency
50 / 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: 6 of 6 figures link to a source
  • 0/15 Publishes financials or cost per tree: No financial figure recorded
  • 0/15 Reports survival or monitoring: No survival or monitoring figure
  • 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
895 trees in 2025 (+156% on the year before)
Trees per volunteer
1.6 in 2025
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