For the past three years, Trees Forever has been conducting its ReLeaf fundraising campaign behind the scenes, focused on major gifts from corporate donors and government grants and allocations as the group helps the Cedar Rapids area replace the trees lost in Iowa’s devastating August 2020 derecho.
Now, the Marion-based agency, founded in 1989, is ready to expand the $37 million ReLeaf campaign to the community at large.
The new public-focused capital campaign, dubbed “Grow The Love,” will officially launch April 20 at the annual EcoFest at NewBo City Market, said Trees Forever interim CEO Deb Powers. The kickoff at EcoFest comes just before Earth Week, which runs from Earth Day April 22 through Arbor Day April 26.
But the fundraising campaign won’t be limited to large public events and celebrations, Ms. Powers said.
“We’re ready to put an army in force, through community volunteers and other subcommittee members,” Ms. Powers said. “Along with the Trees Forever staff and volunteers, we are going to paint the town green this summer, letting every Cedar Rapidian know that this is their opportunity to give to Trees Forever and the ReLeaf efforts.”
Where ReLeaf has been
ReLeaf is a public-private partnership between the nonprofit Trees Forever and the city of Cedar Rapids. Tracing its roots to late 2020, the partnership was created to help fund the replanting of the urban tree canopy in Cedar Rapids.
The partnership commissioned urban planning firm Jeff Speck & Associates and landscape architect Confluence Inc. to develop an extensive ReLeaf plan, outlining how many trees were needed in the city (Ms. Powers said that Cedar Rapids lost 720,000 trees, or 65% of the overall tree canopy, due to derecho damage) and whether the trees would be planted on public or private land, guiding the appropriate revenue streams in each case.
“It really gave the city and Trees Forever an outline of “right tree, right place, right time,” Ms. Powers said. “In layman’s terms, that really served as our guideline.”
The plan also helped determine the right types of trees to replant, Ms. Powers said.
“As far as planting native trees, you’re not going to see us planting groves of elms and groves of oak,” she said. “Because we now know that with diseases and all, trees just aren’t weatherproof like that.”
The ReLeaf report covers a wide swath of factors relating to tree replanting in a variety of settings, as described in the plan:
“The ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan was designed so that tree plantings address climate concerns, preserve neighborhood character, and balance equity across neighborhoods,” the report says. “The plan includes yard planting information and tree recommendations for residents. The ReLeaf Cedar Rapids Plan also includes planting more than 42,000 trees along Cedar Rapids streets and in city parks.”
First fundraising phase focused on major gifts
In early 2022, ReLeaf launched the initial phase of its fundraising campaign. This private, or “silent,” effort, led by campaign co-chairs John Smith of CRST International Holdings and Mary Quass of NRG Media, focused on garnering grants and large donor gifts of $50,000 and above.
That fundraising phase generated about $3.5 million, Ms. Powers said.
The city of Cedar Rapids also allocated $1 million per year for the next 10 years to the ReLeaf effort, and another $9.5 million came in the form of local and federal grants, including a $6 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service, announced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a September 2023 visit to Cedar Rapids as part of a $1.13 billion tree-planting allocation to 385 communities nationwide.
All told, the ReLeaf campaign has reached 61% of its $37 million fundraising goal thus far, Ms. Powers said.
‘Grow the Love’ focused on smaller contributions
With the “Grow the Love” campaign, Trees Forever is now shifting its fundraising focus to individual residents and smaller businesses.
“We want to make this ask to every Cedar Rapidian,” Ms. Powers said.
While contributions of any size are welcomed, Ms. Powers said Trees Forever is hoping to convince local residents to consider making gifts in smaller, repetitive installments through the “Grow the Love” campaign.
“We know it would be hard for Jane Doe to write a check for $180 out of her limited family budget,” Ms. Powers said. “But perhaps she could be convinced to sign up for a $5 withdrawal once a month for the next three years. That’s $180, and that plants a pretty good side street tree.”
Similarly, with smaller businesses, Ms. Powers said Trees Forever hopes to recruit gifts of any size.
“We’re hoping to get an average gift of $5,000 a year for three years (from small businesses),” she said. “And of course, they could divide that up into a few hundred dollars a month.”
The overall “Grow The Love” goal is to raise $2 million per year over the next ten years, Ms. Powers said.
Organizers hope to celebrate the campaign’s successful conclusion on Aug. 10 – the four-year anniversary of the derecho.
Campaign will include various contact points
The campaign will officially launch at EcoFest, Ms. Powers said.
“Because we have EcoFest, It was just the perfect opportunity to draw people to their event,” Ms. Powers said. “We didn’t want to have a separate event. We’re not in the event business. We are in the public eye business. We just need to be available for people to hear our story and to grow with us and grow this campaign.”
To that end, there will be a number of avenues to make contributions, Ms. Powers. Campaign materials distributed throughout Cedar Rapids will include a QR code that will link to an online donation page, and hundreds of Trees Forever volunteers will canvass the city door-to-door, similar to the ongoing Trees Forever “tree captain” model, seeking contributions from as many local residents as possible.
“A lot of it will be door to door, because door to door is the work we do,” Ms. Powers said. “This is a public-facing, low-budget ask. This campaign is for every Cedar Rapidian, and since our focus is in planting in nature-deprived and underserved neighborhoods, we wanted this plan to involve neighbors helping their neighborhoods grow.”
Campaign leaders also hope to post flyers in as many public locations as possible, she said, including information on various donation methods.
Derecho reinforced importance of trees to community
Campaign leaders felt the time was right to pursue this fundraising phase, Ms. Powers said, since the “PTSD” impact of the derecho has likely faded somewhat for many local residents and it’s now time to focus on replacing what was lost.
In many cases, Ms. Powers said, Eastern Iowans have come to have a new appreciation of the importance of trees in their lives – both environmentally and aesthetically.
“We want people to feel like they’re invested – and not just financially,” she said. ”I think almost everyone, in some way or another, relates to a tree, whether that was the growth of trees on Grandpa’s farm, or in my case, the 80-foot cottonwood tree that stood beside our farmhouse in the country. That tree resonated with me. I can still remember my dad getting off the tractor at the end of the day, sitting under that tree and having a glass of lemonade. That means something. Trees have great meaning to us. And now, we don’t need to tell anybody today the value of trees – look at the winds, the heat that we’re facing with climate change. Trees really matter, in so many ways.”
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Trees Forever community programs
Trees Forever has created six programs designed to involve neighborhoods and local residents in post-derecho tree recovery. Those programs, utilized by the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids teams, include:
- TreeKeepers – A volunteer education program;
- Growing Futures – A teen employment and training program;
- Neighborhood “tree captains” – Neighbors helping neighbors replant their neighborhoods;
- Tree voucher program – Educating residents about “right tree, right place, right reason” while supporting local nurseries;
- Community tree distributions – Large-scale tree distributions providing high-quality, low-cost trees to Cedar Rapids residents; and
- The Campus Canopy 10+ Program – a program designed for local businesses and nonprofits with locations needing 10 or more trees that are planted and cared for by volunteers.
Source: Trees Forever
