Friends of the Urban Forest

Our overall objective is to transform San Francisco’s urban forest by increasing tree canopy through community planting, removing the maximum possible amount of impermeable surface through sidewalk landscaping, and continuing our educational and community engagement programs to create new stewards of the urban forest. Our current specific objectives are:

Secure robust new funding for growing the urban forest
StreetTreeSF, San Francisco's municipal tree maintenance program, only funds the care of trees after they have become established (three years post-planting). Therefore we seek to secure dedicated public funding for tree planting, while we continue to build our own philanthropic capacity.

Mobilize public demand and support for growing the urban forest
We remain committed to community-based urban forestry, training and educating tree stewards, and furthering the profession of urban forestry. Changes in our planting model due to the passage of the Healthy Trees and Safe Sidewalks ballot measure (Proposition E) in 2016 require changes in FUF’s community engagement model; we must commit to ongoing experimentation and innovation with our outreach and engagement activities. Partnerships with government officials, community organizations, and community members will be critical to our success.

Build the systems and infrastructure needed for growing the urban forest
With the advent of StreetTreeSF, multiple large government grants, and increasing annual tree planting goals, FUF must scale up administrative systems and infrastructure to improve its efficiency and accuracy in data collection, project management, and grant reporting. FUF has excelled at implementing best practices for tree planting. Recent improvements (i.e. mulching and watering on planting day) continue to improve the quality of our work. We must also ensure that efficiency, safety, and staff well-being are re-evaluated and updated as needed. To meet both our internal needs and the requirements of funders, the city's Bureau of Urban Forestry, contractors, and large government grants such as StreetTreeSF, FUF must be able to collect, analyze, manage, and share data.

Continue to advance the practice of urban forestry
In past strategic plans we have developed new and innovative programming in sidewalk landscaping and education, and our commitment to those programs continues.

To secure robust new funding for growing the urban forest, our strategies are:

In collaboration with the Mayor’s office and District Supervisors, explore all possible sources for tree planting funding that will provide annual funding dedicated to tree planting beyond 2022.

Build robust and sustainable organizational annual philanthropic capacity for our organization through diversified revenue streams: foundations; corporations; major donors and individual gifts.

Build ongoing relationships with tech/corporate community in San Francisco to capitalize on place based giving and attract specialized funding.

Build an organization-wide culture of philanthropy and integrate fund development into all FUF events and programs.

Assure a steady stream of new funders by converting volunteers into members who then become renewable donors.

Involve the Board in all aspects of the Development process.

Launch a 40th Anniversary campaign initiative.

Launch a “Legacy Society” as a platform for estate and planned gifts.

To mobilize public demand and support for growing the urban forest, our strategies are:

Refine existing community engagement and education tools to build public support for the benefits of trees and StreetTreeSF.

Refine existing and develop new community engagement and education tools to train the next generation of volunteer urban forest stewards.

Develop a network of community groups, neighborhood organizations, district supervisors, schools, and other civic institutions to build awareness and increase support for urban forestry.

Develop, deploy, and evaluate a variety of materials, messaging and community engagement tactics.

Continue to work closely with Supervisors to build awareness of the importance of street tree planting in their districts and the need for funding for tree planting.

Increase our interactions with civic agencies, commissions, and councils.

To build the systems and infrastructure needed for growing the urban forest, our strategies are:

Audit FUF’s existing tools and systems for project management, mapping, reporting, invoicing, and the collection, management, and analysis of data, and review the corresponding tools and systems used by other urban forestry organizations and Cal Fire grant recipients.

Implement improvements in tools and systems identified by the audit/review process.

In collaboration with BUF, develop a system to improve the communication and reporting of tree planting data between FUF and BUF and contractors.

Assess FUF’s organizational strengths and weaknesses.

Based on the assessment of FUF’s organizational strengths and weaknesses, improve and promote employee wellness, safety, job satisfaction, and employee retention.

Evaluate the need for, and secure the use of, land for our tree nursery.

Evaluate the need for, and secure the use of, storage facilities and/or a satellite office.

Evaluate the feasibility of a partnership to reduce urban tree wood waste.

Friends of the Urban Forest has proved that it is well respected and loved in San Francisco; we are increasingly seen as a leader on the national and international level. We have shown that we are innovators in community-based urban forestry and community building. We have proved to be successful advocates and partners with the City in driving public funding and investment in San Francisco’s urban forest. We are participating in national and international dialogue about urban forestry and the role urban forestry plays in the health of a modern city, and as an important strategy in combating climate change. Operationally, we have invested in our human and physical infrastructure in order to be able to plant 2,000 trees per year—more than at any other time in over a decade—and as of 2019 we had more than $2.2 million in liquid assets.

Friends of the Urban Forest was founded 40 years ago after the City cut the budget for planting street trees. Since then FUF’s major focus has been on planting and caring for urban street trees. Ten years ago we began planting sidewalk gardens, expanding our reach to build what we call the “understory” of our urban forest.

For more than 20 years FUF has sought new ways to engage all of San Francisco’s communities, starting with the creation of the youth tree care program now known as Green Teens. Several years ago we launched a workforce development program in partnership with San Francisco General Hospital’s Wraparound Project to employ victims of violent crime for six month periods; this is now our Green Crew program, which provides permanent, part-time employment and training in urban forestry for young adults with minimal work history.

In our 2010 Strategic Plan, our three major goals were: to fundamentally change San Francisco’s public policy around street trees, to maximize our greening efforts, and to build our financial and operational infrastructure.

In line with these goals, FUF was an integral partner in writing the 2014 San Francisco Urban Forest Plan, which called for planting 6,000 trees per year over 20 years to fully stock our streets. FUF’s role under the plan is to plant 2,000 of those trees annually.

In 2016 we were wildly successful in our advocacy work with the passage of the Healthy Trees and Safe Sidewalks ballot initiative (Proposition E). With support of almost 80% of the electorate we helped usher in a renewed commitment to the care of street trees with permanent public funding.

And in the last few years we have determined that FUF needs to be a leader in growing the “whole urban forest.” One of the ways we can achieve this holistic goal would be to increase trees in parks and backyards and on other private property. In 2018 at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco the central importance of urban forests in fighting climate change was highlighted and FUF was featured as a national leader in this strategy.

Building on our successes, we are poised to increase our contribution to San Francisco’s urban forest. We will continue our advocacy efforts to achieve our highest priority: creation of a dedicated funding source for planting so we can grow our street tree population, while expanding our vision to drive growth of the urban forest in other public and private property. Given the harsh reality of the climate crisis and its potential local impact, a fully-stocked urban forest is vital for the health and well-being of our city. And by cultivating stewards of the environment through urban forestry, we can contribute to the health and well-being of the planet.