Arizona · Nonprofit
Trees Matter
Trees Matter (Arizona) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $448,004 to it, the largest being NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION ($270,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $988k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $448k
- Net assets
- $480k
What Trees Matter does
Mission
The need for trees in the Valley of the Sun has never been greater. Our communities depend on them not only for health and safety infrastructure but also for critical socioeconomic benefits and environmental heat mitigation. Through the education, distribution, and planting of the right trees in the right place, Trees Matter fosters and inspires an increased, more equitable tree canopy in the Valley of The Sun. A resilient future is possible for all generations, we just have to plant it.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Our Shade Tree Program provides shade tree education and distribution for local utility companies, Salt River Project, SRP and Mesa Electric, in Arizona. Working with SRP, we help implement a valley wide program that teaches thousands of residents how to plant trees strategically to reduce their air conditioning use while adding trees to the landscape. Residents are provided education on tree placement, planting, maintenance and are given 5 gallon trees to take home and plant. This year with SRP we distributed approximately five thousand trees and educated over two thousand residents. We launched the City of Mesa Electric program in Spring 2024 and are continuing to grow that program with hundreds of trees given out to utility customers in the last year.
$386,410 spent$501,452 earned by the program54% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$237,710 spent33% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$90,006 spent$71,378 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $714,126.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $238k to $402k (+69%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2025 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of Trees Matter’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Aimee Esposito
Executive Director
Board chair
Michael Pfister
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $15k → $64k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Trees Matter’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Trees Matter leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Trees Matter.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 77% · 2020 100% · 2021 55% · 2022 60% · 2023 71% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of Trees Matter's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
Trees Matter draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Arizona, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Trees Matter runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,606 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,606 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Trees Matter
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Trees Matter: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Trees Matter?
- Trees Matter (Arizona) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $448,004 to it, the largest being NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION ($270,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Trees Matter have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $448,004 in grants to Trees Matter, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Trees Matter?
- NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $270,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Trees Matter find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Trees Matter →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing