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Planning Calendar

  • 8 Months Out

    • Organize your planning committee.
    • Identify goals for the celebration.
    • Discuss options for activities, programs and presentations.
    • Identify financial needs and fundraising possibilities.
    • Identify volunteer jobs and committees and write up descriptions.
    • Solicit committee chairs with specific job and committee descriptions.
    • Define a fundraising plan.
    • Write a press release (or article) for the newspaper, informing the community of the celebration.
    • Identify official participants, entertainment, speakers and local celebrities and request that they put the event on their calendars.
    • Visit with a local nursery to order tree seedlings or order them from the Arbor Day Foundation.
  • 2 Months Out

    • Begin soliciting donations of needed materials.
    • Meet with committee chairs to coordinate/identify efforts.
    • Begin public fundraising events.
    • Ask the newspaper to publish a small article listing committee members and chairs as well as some of the planned activities.
    • Confirm dates and times with officials, entertainment, speakers, etc.
    • Meet with schools to coordinate efforts to include students in the tree planting ceremony.
    • Meet with a city forester, tree board or horticulturist to identify the tree needs within the community and how to help meet them with the Arbor Day celebration.
    • Discuss tree needs with a nursery and place an advance order for trees you’d like to plant during the ceremony.
    • Solicit volunteers for the event.
  • 1 Months Out

    • Plan tree planting ceremonies with school and community officials.
    • Continue with fundraising events.
    • Write the program for the event.
    • Identify additional financial needs and fundraising possibilities.
    • Ask city officials to schedule a proclamation signing the week before Arbor Day.
    • Confirm the tree order and delivery schedule with nursery.
    • Arrange for someone to dig the hole and correctly plant the tree and provide follow-up care.
    • Call your local utility company to ensure that it’s safe to dig.
  • 2–3 Weeks Out

    • Schedule a committee chair meeting to make sure every committee is successfully completing assigned activities.
    • Determine the status of funds and make plans accordingly.
    • Reconfirm with outside participants.
    • Schedule a press conference and press release for the week of Arbor Day.
    • Distribute flyers and posters with the celebration’s scheduled activities.
    • Assign volunteers any last-minute job assignments.
  • Day of the Celebration

    • Plant trees.
    • Enjoy the event!
  • Post-Event Follow-Up

    • Pay bills and make arrangements for all remaining financial obligations.
    • Write thank you notes to all who participated in an official role.
    • Check on tree care committees to make sure they have what they need to follow up.
    • Hold an assessment meeting with committee chairs to determine what went well and how things could be improved next year.