Have you ever been stumped on what to get the forest enthusiast in your life for their birthday or for an important milestone or celebration in their life? Do you feel like your employee recognition programs at work fail to have a lasting impact or inspire you to think about how you contribute to something larger than yourself? When someone you care about passes away, have you hoped you could send an immediate E-card to their loved ones and ensure that something tangible and meaningful was being done to remember them? Over the past year, the American Forest Foundation has begun working on solutions to these challenges – both from working with individual donors and in partnering with an increasing number of companies to help meet their sustainability and workplace recognition needs.

Recognize the Most Important People in Your Life with a Gift of Conservation

Currently, you can make a tribute or memorial gift in honor of someone you care about through the AFF website and a letter will be sent to the person informing them that a gift has been made in their honor. However, by early fall, you will be able to not only make an online gift, you will also be able to choose the option of purchasing an e-card as well as other opportunities where you can recognize the most important people in your life with a gift that will ensure the sustainability of America’s family-owned forests!

Through this platform, you will not only be able to make a gift in honor by sending an e-card or more traditional card via mail but also the ability to pair that gift with a meaningful conservation impact as well as options to purchase some exciting forthcoming AFF merchandise.

"We believe that this is an important way to provide people with an opportunity to honor important events, from Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to birthdays and Earth Day, and we wanted to be sure that folks could do that with ease through our new platform," said Beth Riley, AFF’s Director of Philanthropy.

You will be able to choose from a wide variety of conservation initiatives AFF is engaged with including post-fire reforestation and wildfire mitigation, white oak regeneration, biodiversity conservation in the Southeast, and carbon sequestration.

Solutions for Workplace Recognition: From Employee Milestones to Sustainability Goals

The American Forest Foundation recently partnered with PRA, a leading business event management firm serving many well-respected corporate brands, including Fortune 500 companies for over 40 years. Social responsibility is an important pillar at PRA. During the pandemic, they reached out to us because "we were highly focused on an organization that was truly making an impact, and an impact you can see. We wanted to work with an organization that was supporting communities and areas in the US where we also work producing corporate business events," said Courtney Lohmann of PRA.

During the pandemic, in lieu of in-person events, they sent out experience boxes for their online events; through these efforts, they wanted to ensure that they could plant a tree for each box delivered. "Planting trees provides a myriad of benefits and every time a tree is planted, our environment improves. If a company is serious about making an impact, the right partner is key. With AFF’s transparency and the types of programs you support, it’s easy for a company to see that they can have a big impact on several different environmental issues," explained Lohman.

For their 40th anniversary, PRA invited clients to join them as they set out to plant 400 trees through their partnership with the American Forest Foundation.

"We are in an exciting moment as we redefine our sustainability initiatives and a partner like AFF allows us to brainstorm with them on unique ideas to continue to expand on all that we can do together," said Lohman.

Brands, such as Bank of the West, are looking for ways to incorporate sustainability into all facets of their work and are considering ways to expand their employee recognition program. Along with other conservation organizations, employees will now have the option of choosing from a conservation impact through the American Forest Foundation, supporting our Western fire mitigation and reforestation work, to commemorate a milestone or work anniversary.

If you’re interested in how you can make a tribute or memorial gift or have your employer or business become engaged, please contact Bethany Mueller at (202) 852-7520 ext. 4889.

This piece was originally published as part of AFF's quarterly magazine, Woodland Magazine. You can read the full piece in the digital edition of the publication.