March 6 at Lincoln South Rotary

It all started with Mark Rober on You Tube. Several of his videos have gone viral and he has millions of followers. He is an engineer and inventor and posts videos about popular science, do-it-yourself gadgets and creative ideas.

 

He was nearing 20 million viewers and he received a challenge from a follower . . . plant 20 million trees to celebrate reaching 20 million viewers. It was anticipated that he would reach that milestone so initially the project hoped to start the campaign in 2019 and reach the 20 million goal in 2020.

 

The project connected with The Arbor Day Foundation which has a pledge of planting one tree for every U.S. dollar donated.

 

Megan said she was overwhelmed as she did not anticipate what a phenomenal success it would be.

 

The first campaign video was launched on 10-25-19. The focus was on the environment with a challenge to everyone to do their part. There were videos created in Oregon and Virginia of tree planting.

 

The launch was on a Friday, and Megan reported that it was indeed a busy weekend. Within the first 24 hours there was $3.5 million committed. And, by Sunday – wo within the first 48 hours, it was up to $6 million. Over the first week the total reached $11million.

 

It took only 53 days to reach $20million. But, they have left the program in place and will continue to plant trees. The contributions have slowed down – but they have not stopped. We watched the website and, during our meeting, there were nearly 130 trees purchased.

 

Mega said that the project event attracted some high profile individuals. Elon Musk donated $100,000. After learning that another individual wanted to be on the top of the list – so he donated over $100,000.

 

The median donation is $5. One of the favorites posted was from a lady that put in $11.55 stating that her two daughters pooled their piggy bank money and this is what they wanted to do.

 

From that initial video, there were 600 additional YouTube creators who created and posted videos. #TeamTrees took over YouTube – it had 3 of the top 5 spots. It was the younger generation saying that the environment matters. It attracted people who saw this as an affordable way to make a difference – with as little as $1 they could be a part of the project.

 

The Arbor Day Foundation will plant trees on all of the continents. They will connect with local experts that know what trees to plant, were to plant and when to plant. They have already planted 7 million and have planted on every continent.

Megan said that it is important to review campaigns and decide what works and does not work. With this campaign she said that it was all about sharing the message on social media. People could identify with giving back to society and it was affordable for all. There was some coverage in business journals because it was such an unusual campaign. It was an obvious movement of the people – it was not a corporate run program.

 

The Arbor Day Foundation said that it is important to look at what’s next.

 

First, they need to fulfill the promise and maintain the trust. And, they want to continue to share the story of the project.