Bob Skiera Memorial Fund Building Bridges Initiative and John P. White Grant Program

The Bob Skiera Memorial Fund Building Bridges Initiative and John P. White Grant Program is administered by the Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund, known as TREE Fund. The program honors Bob Skiera, an urban forestry pioneer who promoted communication about the needs and benefits of urban forests and fostered cooperation between urban foresters and other planning and management professionals, as well as John White, a Florida arborist and urban forest influencer who emphasized relationships within the tree community. The Bob Skiera Memorial Fund was established jointly by TREE Fund, the Skiera Family, Wisconsin Arborist Association, and the International Society of Arboriculture. The Building Bridges Initiative provides financial support for work that helps arborists and urban foresters communicate the value of trees and urban forests through engagement, collaborative research, and other projects. The initiative specifically encourages connections with professionals such as public works officials, risk assessment professionals, civil engineers, wildlife researchers, soil scientists, and others. TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines and accepts both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The maximum award value is 30000. The source states that 25000 is provided annually by the Bob Skiera Memorial Fund and 5000 is provided annually by the John White Memorial Fund. TREE Fund does not fund grants to individuals, projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments, tree planting programs, studies focused on traditional forestry and timber production, agroforestry, or ecology and conservation of forested and other natural areas, or product testing conducted primarily for the benefit of the company manufacturing the product. No matching or cost share requirement is stated in the provided source. The application process begins with a required Letter of Intent. The 2026 Letter of Intent period opens August 1, 2026, and TREE Fund accepts Letters of Intent only between August 1 and September 1, 2026. Applicants must complete the application through the TREE Fund online portal. The Letter of Intent must clearly identify the Principal Investigator and the Institution that will be contracted for the work if the application is approved. TREE Fund evaluates whether the Letter of Intent concept meets its application criteria and has a reasonable possibility of success in light of the research priorities for the year. TREE Fund states that its determinations regarding whether a Letter of Intent meets the application criteria are final and not negotiable. Only applicants whose Letters of Intent are approved advance to the full submission stage. TREE Fund plans to notify applicants of proposals advancing to full submissions on September 15, 2026, and will open the full application to approved applicants beginning on that date. Full submissions are due October 15, 2026. Selected grant recipients are expected to be notified in mid-to-late December 2026. Separate application requirements are referenced through the TREE Fund website, but their detailed contents are not included in the provided source. The source also provides an instructional grants video and access to the online application portal. TREE Fund intends for findings from funded research to become freely and widely available to parties that may benefit from the work while recognizing the importance and scheduling requirements of academic and professional journal publication. Grant recipients should inform TREE Fund when funded research findings are published or presented at conferences and should recognize TREE Fund support in articles and presentations related to the project. Recipients are strongly encouraged to publish findings in relevant professional journals. The source documents awards in each year from 2021 through 2025, and the program receives annual funding from the two memorial funds, supporting treatment of the opportunity as recurring. Based on the current August 2026 application opening pattern, the next anticipated cycle is August 2027.

Frame the proposal around communicating the value of trees and urban forests through engagement and collaborative research with professionals outside traditional arboriculture. Ensure the LOI clearly identifies the Principal Investigator and contracting Institution. Avoid project types TREE Fund explicitly excludes. An LOI must meet all application criteria and have a reasonable possibility of success given the year's research priorities to advance to full submission.