FAQ ×

Official social accounts:

Instagram: @teamtrees, Twitter: @teamtreesofficl, Reddit: r/teamtrees, Facebook: facebook.com/teamtreesofficial

How did #TeamTrees® get started?

#TeamTrees started in May 2019 when the internet challenged MrBeast to plant 20 million trees to celebrate hitting the 20M subscriber milestone on YouTube. At his audience’s suggestion, MrBeast teamed up with fellow YouTuber Mark Rober, and for 5 months they developed the campaign and organized their influencer friends and colleagues in order to have a fighting chance at achieving their insane goal: 20 million trees by 2020. #TeamTrees launched publicly on October 25th, announcing itself with a wave of #TeamTrees videos.

Who makes up #TeamTrees?

Whether you donated to plant one tree, or one million trees, or simply helped to spread the word, you became part of #TeamTrees. With more than 800,000 unique donors, #TeamTrees raised more than $21M before January 1, 2020. Support hasn’t stopped either and #TeamTrees keeps growing. Why not plant a tree right now?

Who exactly is the Arbor Day Foundation and why did you choose them over other tree planting NGOs?

We quickly realized that to plant trees in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way we would need to partner with the professionals. After speaking with a number of people in the environmental space, the Arbor Day Foundation stood out as being the best. They are one of the largest and longest-running tree planting NGOs, with nearly 50 years of experience, and they have the same Charity Navigator rating as the American Red Cross.

Does my donation go directly to the Arbor Day Foundation?

Yes. Donations through either TeamTrees.org, the YouTube donate button, Arbor Day’s #TeamTrees Facebook fundraiser, or the #TeamTrees tiltify fundraiser are sent directly to the Arbor Day Foundation to fund tree-planting. One dollar plants one tree.

What does my donation actually go towards?

For every dollar you donate, one tree will be planted in a forest of high need around the globe. It's that simple!

Is this donation tax-deductible?

Since the Arbor Day Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, there’s a good chance your monetary donation is tax deductible, but we recommend that you consult a tax professional, who’s familiar with your specific situation, to be sure. The Foundation’s Federal Tax ID number (also known as an EIN, Employer Identification Number) is 23-7169265. As a reminder, your donation confirmation will be sent to the email provided at the time of completing your donation.

Are donations in my native currency?

All donations to #TeamTrees are processed in United States Dollar (USD).

Where are the trees being planted?

Due to the sheer volume of trees planted (more than 21 million), they will be planted in a variety of forests on public and private lands in areas of great need. Many of these forests will be public forestlands managed by government agencies. The goal is to plant trees on every continent not named Antarctica! Click here to see the latest list of confirmed #TeamTrees planting projects around the world.

Who will plant the trees?

The Arbor Day Foundation works closely with professional forestry partners such as the U.S. Forest Service, and other government and nongovernmental agencies, to ensure that tree-planting best practices are followed.

When will the trees be planted?

Trees will be planted throughout the year starting in January of 2020 and completed no later than December 2022. We treat your donation with the greatest respect, so we’re working with Arbor Day Foundation to ensure high survivability rates for all the trees planted as part of #TeamTrees. Sure, you could plant trees faster, but you’d be risking the integrity of this vision.

What species are going to be planted?

The Arbor Day Foundation always emphasizes planting native species where local conditions and forest plans allow. Their motto is to plant the right trees, in the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons.

Why are you planting trees instead of preserving ones that already exist?

It is vitally important to protect, manage, and restore forests globally. We are focused on restoration because, according to the National Academy of Sciences, forest restoration has the most global climate mitigation potential compared to all other natural climate solutions.1 Restoring lands through tree planting is the Arbor Day Foundation’s area of expertise and something they’ve been doing for nearly five decades. There’s no silver bullet for fixing climate change, just silver buckshot, so we should actively pursue many different approaches including both preservation and restoration.

Can planting trees solve climate change?

No, not on its own. Trees are a proven natural climate solution but we need to stick to the science and attack the problem from many angles at once. #TeamTrees is planting 20 million trees in order to 1) be part of the solution, 2) send a strong signal that this massive community cares about the planet we all call home, and 3) show that planting trees is a simple solution that everyone can get behind.

This is great! How can I get involved with #TeamTrees?

Apart from donating, there are a number of ways to help. The best way to support this initiative is to tell other people about it — we want everyone to plant trees! When you see #TeamTrees videos or social media content out in the world, do all of us a favor and like/upvote/RT/share/comment. Be generous with your attention and help the message remain strong.

I’m not signing up for junk mail am I?

No. And we will never sell your data. Many people are requesting updates on our progress, so we will send those (sparingly) if you tell us you want them when you make your donation or sign up for the email list here.

Did you send me an email? I don’t see it.

Try running a search for [email protected] or [email protected] If you’re using Gmail, it’s possible our messages are being sorted into the Promotions tab. If that’s the case, drag-and-drop a #TeamTrees email from the message list over to the Primary tab, or right-click the email and select Move to Tab > Primary. If that doesn’t work, or you’re not using Gmail, please check your spam filter in case we got mislabeled. Be sure to click ‘Not Spam’ to help build our reputation.

Where can I find my #TeamTrees donation and message?

You can use the donor search function to find your donation and message. As a reminder, TeamTrees.org is a positive, solution-oriented campaign, and the website is visited by a lot of kids. We reserve the right to remove donation messages that contain links, spam, or otherwise abusive content.

How do I get in touch with #TeamTrees?

For media inquiries, contact [email protected]. For everything else, email [email protected].

1https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2017/10/11/1710465114.full.pdf