BILL GRAHAM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION--Grant Recipients

Trees Foundation

Trees Foundation was founded to provide technical assistance, equipment and organizational support to forest conservation efforts. Since 1991, we have helped build new organizations and empower people's efforts to protect California's North Coast region. Trees Foundation serves the network of our Affiliate groups as well as other efforts and individuals. To qualify as a Trees Affiliate, an organization must be located in the North Coast region of California and undertake forest conservation work. Trees Foundation does not charge fees for affiliation or for the trainings and direct services that we provide. We raise the funds to provide the experts and services that our local conservation groups need in order that they may achieve their highest calling: protecting and restoring the natural environment of the North Coast region.

Access to resources and skilled services greatly increases the effectiveness of grassroots work. Most activists work on shoestring budgets. Professional services such as writing, editing, graphic design and layout, organizational development consulting, and computer, GIS and technical consulting are cost-prohibitive and often not readily available in our remote rural region. Trees Foundation brings these resources together in a central location and makes them available to activists and organizations, reducing redundancy and organizational expense.

Trees Foundation has transitioned from our key role in efforts such as the establishment of the Sinkyone Intertribal Wilderness Park and the Headwaters Forest campaign to one of providing much-needed direct service to the grassroots organizations on the North Coast. Outreach materials and organizational displays produced by our design team enable people to effectively present their ideas for care and protection of the North Coast. Trees' fundraising advice and oversight has led to an expansion of support for acquisition and protection efforts in our region. Now entering its third year as a major program, our fiscal sponsorship work has greatly expanded. Technical support has kept equipment working, while our GIS work has added scientific credence to presentations and planning efforts on the North Coast. Finally, our Donor-Advised Program has enabled Trees Foundation to bring significant support to grassroots efforts on the North Coast in its first year. These programs and the special projects that we take on when possible enable many efforts to effectively achieve forest protection. In short, Trees Foundation provides a "non-profit incubator" to increase organizational capacity and empower groups to grow into full-fledged non-profits.

Our solidarity as a team, our sharing of the Trees Foundation vision, and our dedicated service to grassroots activism on the North Coast are bringing results. Trees Foundation is continuing to grow and deepen, and to expand services that help our network of grassroots activists to to define, protect and celebrate the spirit of place here on the North Coast.

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Trees Foundation
P.O. Box 2202
Redway, CA 95560
707 923-4377

http://www.treesfoundation.org