A tree planting fundraiser is a fundraising campaign or event that raises money and invites community members to plant trees. Since planting trees is a simple concept, there’s plenty of room to branch out with your fundraiser!

Commonly, organizations run tree planting fundraisers in one of three ways. Read about each one to see which would work best for your tree planting fundraiser.

1. Sell saplings for individual tree planting

If you want to inspire supporters to plant trees on their own, you can run your tree planting fundraiser as a product fundraiser. Similar to a cookie dough or t-shirt fundraiser, your school or organization would sell tree saplings in exchange for donations. 

This fundraising method comes with a few key benefits:

• Kids can plant trees at their homes, learn to take care of them, and watch them grow over the years.
• More people can participate if you sell over a period of weeks or months.
• Individuals can plant trees all throughout the community instead of just one location.

To run a successful product fundraiser, you’ll need an online web store that makes it easy to sell your saplings. Research product fundraising partners that can help you set up this page and boost sales.

2. Host a tree planting day event

Another option is to bring your community together for a single day of tree planting. To raise funds at this event, sell tickets ahead of time for a set price. 

Before choosing this option, make sure you can answer these important planning questions:

• Do you have a location where you can feasibly plant a large amount of trees?
• Do you have permission to plant trees on that land?
• Can you gather enough tree planting supplies for the number of attendees?
• Are some of your staff members or volunteers experienced in tree planting and willing to teach others?
• What are your plans for inclement weather?

Make sure to promote your tree planting day event well in advance and include links to your event registration page in all of your marketing materials.

3. Make it a peer-to-peer fundraiser

Finally, you can combine the best of both options by turning your tree planting into a peer-to-peer fundraiser. Here’s how it would work:

1. Set a fundraising goal and a corresponding number of trees to plant if you reach that goal. For example, if you raise $2,000, you’ll plant 200 trees.
2. Ask students or supporters to volunteer to raise funds on your school or organization’s behalf.
3. Set each volunteer up with their own personal campaign page and some fundraising tips.
4. Volunteers collect donations from their friends and families in support of your tree planting fundraiser.
5. To close out the fundraiser, host a tree planting event and plant trees based on the amount of funds raised.

Using this method, you won’t need to sell tickets to your tree planting event. You can invite anyone who wants to participate!