The Forever Trees Charitable Trust
It’s all about the trees thats for sure, but the question we keep coming back to is: How can we plant even more trees?
Answer: The Forever Trees Charitable Trust!
Yep, you read that right — but let’s back up for a moment so we can fill you in on how we got here.
Our first reforestation trip to Kenya and Tanzania in October was a huge success. Our small group, with lots of local helpers on each site, ended up planting far more trees than we expected, and we soon realised that with the systems we already have in place - and the amazing support from our local teams - we could have easily doubled that number. The only thing holding us back was funding for more seedlings and more local crew.
In East Africa, each native tree costs just NZ$2.50. That covers the seedling, site prep, wages for our local planting teams, and ongoing protection and maintenance. It’s incredibly cost-effective — less than a quarter of what it would cost to plant a native tree here in New Zealand. Climate change is global, so it’s all about planting the right tree in the right place and East Africa’s tropical climate means native saplings grow quickly, carbon uptake is rapid, and restored forests help stabilise soil, protect water sources, support wildlife and strengthen local livelihoods.
So we put our heads together to figure out how we could raise more funds and get more trees in the ground. The result is that we’ve separated the tree-funding out from the cost of joining a Reforestation Project. Previously, the cost of 1,000 trees was included in the trip price.
This change reduces your trip cost by around NZ$2,500 per person and gives you the flexibility to choose how many trees you’d like to sponsor. Ideally, each person would still aim for around 1,000 trees — that gets us to our goal of 10,000 trees per group — but even sponsoring 100 trees makes a meaningful difference. Even if you can’t join us in person you can still get involved and sponsor a few trees and we’ll plant them for you.
And to take it one step further, we’re now in the process of applying for Charitable Trust status as The Forever Trees Charitable Trust.
When the trust is established, we can open up more funding opportunities and ensure that every dollar intended for trees goes directly into planting them. Individuals, clubs and businesses will all be able to sponsor trees and help to offset their carbon footprint. When you sign up for a planting trip, why not ask your employer, friends, workmates or family to sponsor a few trees for you to plant?
We’re super excited about this new development, its going to take a few months to get all our ducks lined up, forms filled in and red tape to cut through, but with the outcome being more trees in the ground then it’s a big win for all.