Network Membership
Build connections with peers from across the state
Are you part of a nonprofit or community group who is dedicated to sustaining and celebrating a vibrant tree canopy and cultivating environmental justice in your community? Are you involved in tree planting, tree care, maintaining greenspaces, or talking to the community about the importance of a healthy urban forest? Join the California ReLeaf Network to connect with people and organizations who do similar work throughout the state!
Network member organizations vary from small groups of dedicated community volunteers, to long standing urban forest nonprofits with many staff and years of experience. Just like the vast diversity of the California geography, the range of activities Network Member Organizations are involved in is wide.
When you join the Network, you are joining a decades-long camaraderie of organizations who have been improving their communities through trees since 1991.
2017 Network Retreat
Membership Eligibility Requirements
Groups must meet the following criteria to be eligible for membership:
- Be a California based nonprofit or community group whose goals include the planting, caring, and/or protection of urban trees and/or community education or engagement about urban forestry.
- Be committed to long-term environmental stewardship and a healthy urban canopy
- Recruit and involve the public in its programs.
- Be committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse Network community
- Have a mission statement, organizational goals, and have completed at least one urban forestry/urban greening-related community project.
- Have a website or other contact information that can be made available to the public.
Canopy, Palo Alto
Network Member Benefits:
The biggest benefit of the ReLeaf Network is being part of an alliance of organizations to learn from one another and bolster the urban forest movement statewide. This means direct connection to the ReLeaf Network members for peer-to-peer learning and mentoring, as well as:
Annual Network Retreat & Travel Stipends – Learn more about our 2025 Network Retreat on May 21st in Oakland!
Learn Over Lunch (LOL) – Learn Over Lunch is a peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunity for Network Members. Learn more and register to attend one of our upcoming sessions.
Network Tree Inventory Program – Learn how Network Member Organizations can apply to receive a FREE organizational user account to PlanIT Geo’s Tree Inventory software under California ReLeaf’s umbrella account.
Network Listing Page and Find a Network Member Near You Search Tool – As a Network Member organization, you will be listed on our directory page, including a link to your website. In addition, you will also be featured on our Find a Network Member Near Me search tool.
Network Job Board – Network Members can submit job opportunities using our online Jobs Board Form. ReLeaf will share your position on our Jobs Board, our e-newsletter, and social channels.
ReLeaf Network Listserv – Network Member organizational contacts have access to our Network Email Group, which acts like a Listserv – giving your organization the ability to communicate directly with our 80+ Network Member groups. You can ask questions, share resources, or celebrate good news. Please contact ReLeaf staff to learn more about how to gain access to this resource.
Advocacy at the State Capitol – Your voice at the Capitol will be heard through ReLeaf’s active partnerships with state agencies and environmental justice and natural resource coalitions. ReLeaf’s advocacy work has influenced hundreds of millions for Urban Forest and Urban Greening grant funding. Network members also receive insights/updates from Sacramento on state urban forestry funding for nonprofits, including inside info on new urban forest funding opportunities. We update our public and private grant funding page regularly.
ReLeaf Network e-newsletter – As a Network Member, you will have access to information specific to ReLeaf Network members, including ReLeaf staff working to provide timely updates as well as field questions from Network Members and provide resources. In addition, regular network-specific emails with cutting-edge information on new funding opportunities, legislative alerts, and key urban forestry topics.
Amplification of your Organization – Have a project, event, or job you want us to share? Please reach out to ReLeaf staff. We will work with you to share resources on our website, social media, and via California ReLeaf’s other online platforms.
Network Membership FAQ
Who is eligible to join the Network?
- Nonprofit or community groups whose goals include the planting, caring, and/or protection of urban trees and/or community education or engagement about urban forestry.
- Be committed to long-term environmental stewardship and a healthy urban canopy
- Recruit and involve the public in its programs.
- Be committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse Network community
- Have a mission statement, organizational goals, and have completed at least one urban forestry/urban greening-related community project.
- Have a website or other contact information that can be made available to the public.
What are the expectations of Network members?
-
- Participate in Network programs and operate in a spirit of cooperation with the Network: sharing information, providing assistance, and inviting other groups to join.
- Renew membership annually (in January)
- Submit the annual survey of activities and accomplishments (each summer)
- Keep California ReLeaf apprised of changes to organizational and contact information.
- Continue to maintain eligibility (see above).
What is the Network Listserv/Email Group?
The Network email group is a platform for California ReLeaf Network members to communicate directly with other members, operating like a Listserv. You can email this group to ask questions, share jobs postings, pass along resources, or celebrate good news! In May 2021, the Network voted on guidelines for this email group. Based on that feedback, here are our community guidelines:
-
Topics: You can email this group to ask questions, share jobs postings, pass along resources, or celebrate good news!
-
Frequency: We are a tight-knit group, but there are a lot of us. Please limit your own use of this group to 1-2 times per month so as to not overwhelm one another’s inboxes.
-
Reply-all: Replying-all to the group should also be limited to infrequent, widely-informational or celebratory occasions. Using the group to engage in debates or one-on-one conversations will not be tolerated — please switch to individual emails for continued dialogue.
Tip: If you’re initiating a new thread to the group and do not want people to reply-all, put the google group email address in the BCC field of your email.
To register, email mdukett@californiareleaf.org and Megan will add you. To remove yourself from the group, follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of any email you receive. To email the full list, simply send an email to releaf-network@googlegroups.co
What are Learn Over Lunches?
Learn Over Lunch (LOL) is a program in which Network members share an experience, program, research, or problem they are facing and then discuss it with fellow Network members. They are designed to be informal, confidential spaces where members can speak freely and learn together.
The goal of Learn Over Lunch, first and foremost, is connection. We gather to build bonds across the Network, help member organizations get to know one another, and hear what each organization is up to. Given this opportunity to meet in an LOL breakout room, or hear an organization speak, a Network member might have a better idea of who they can reach out to about particular topics or issues, and remember that they are not alone in the work they are doing. The second goal of the LOL sessions is education and learning. People come to learn about tools, systems, and strategies that other groups are using, and can walk away with some useful information.
To see updates about our Learn Over Lunches, check your email – we send announcements to our Network email list.
What if my organization can't afford dues?
What happens if our membership lapsed?
Why do we have to renew every year?
“I think that we all can experience the ‘silo effect’ when we work in our own community. It is empowering to be in direct contact with an umbrella organization like California ReLeaf that can expand our consciousness about California politics and the larger picture about what is happening and how we play in to that and how as a group (and as many groups!) we can make a difference.”–Jen Scott