Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization. Founded in 1972, Arbor Day Foundation strives to provide consumers with the ability to purchase healthy, varying trees on a seasonal basis while helping further educate those in conservation and the importance of taking care of the environment.
Located at www.arborday.org, the focus of today’s unbiased review is to provide you much needed insight into Arbor Day Foundation so that way you can determine for yourself whether Arbor Day Foundation is legitimate or a scam.
What is Arbor Day Foundation?
Arbor Day Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit conservation and education organization that aims to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Incepted in 1972 by John Rosenow in Nebraska, United States, Arbor Day Foundation distributes approximately a little over 7 million tree per year.
Available to those who reside within the United States and Canada, Arbor Day Foundation reached over 1 million members in 2010 and actively supports over 600,000 monthly visitors according to market intelligence reports.
How does Arbor Day Foundation Work?
Arbor Day Foundation has structured their organization around providing conservation and complimentary education services to consumers. Apart from other conservation-oriented organizations, Arbor Day Foundation not only enables US consumers to purchase trees but also supports a variety of conservation programs that prospective members are able to participate with.
The Arbor Day Foundation supports a surprising abundant supply of conservation goods. Apart from enabling consumers to purchase various trees, consumers are also able to purchase Arbor Day coffee, apparel and tree-related merchandise.
Publications, tree care products, gift trees and tree nurses are also sold. Depending upon where a consumer resides will dictate which assortment of trees and shrubs are available for purchase. Potted, shade, ornamental, nut, fast growing, flowering and fruit trees are available for purchase while their Tree Nursery page can help consumers determine which trees are optimal for growth for where they reside.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will my trees arrive?
Trees purchased through Arbor Day Foundation are shipped as bare root stock only when it is dormant in the fall and spring seasons. Depending upon where you reside, your local climate and the calendar year’s weather will determine when you are able to purchase. Fall shipments are made between November 1st and December 10th while spring shipments take place between February 26th and May 30th.
Where can I find my member number?
Your member number can be found on your membership card or on the reply form of each Arbor Day Foundation mailing you may have received. The member number should be just above your name and address and it begins with the number “8” and is a total of ten digits with hyphenation for easier reading. (Example: 8xx-xxx-xxxx).
Does Arbor Day Foundation guarantee tree seedlings?
According to the Arbor Day Foundation FAQ, trees are guaranteed to arrive in a good, healthy condition or they’ll replace them at no charge. Their tree seedlings are shipped as dormant bare root seedlings at a suitable time for planting.
To confirm that the trees are alive, lightly scratch the seeding with your thumb nail, it should reveal a living layer of green tissue. Each tree and plants is guaranteed to grow or they’ll replace them at half the original price plus shipping and handling.
Can I cancel my order?
Once your order has been sent to the Arbor Day Foundation nursery location for processing, it cannot be cancelled. However, you can refuse the order upon delivery. By doing so, you will be refunded the cost of the trees but not the $9.95 shipping (unless the wrong trees were shipped or the trees were dead on arrival).
Popularity
Arborday was registered on April 14th, 1995 by The National Arbor Day Foundation according to a WHOIS report. Ranked 18th in the environment category, arborday.org reflects a global rank of 74,215 with a US rank of 15,452 as of August 15th, 2018.
While the site has experienced decline in traffic over the past few months, their platform still supports over an estimated 600,000 monthly visitors while nearly 88% of their traffic derives from US-based viewers.
Community Feedback
Arbor Day Foundation appears to be a relatively well-run organization and reflects only patches of negative community feedback across the web.
Sites such as PissedConsumer reflect poor consumer experiences with those who have utilized Arbor Day Foundation whereas the Arbor Day Foundation Facebook has accrued thousands of positive reviews since their Facebook page was developed.
Another collection of community feedback you can analyze prior to committing with Arbor Day Foundation would be DavesGarden.com. To date there have been 73 positive, 31 neutral and 84 negative reviews from consumers who claim to have experience with Arbor Day Foundation.
Is Arbor Day Foundation a Scam?
While it may appear that Arbor Day Foundation may reflect a large quantity of negative reviews, many negative complaints have been rectified by Arbor Day Foundation while the volume of positive consumer experiences greatly outweigh the negative or neutral experiences reported. Given the corporate transparency and the overall consensus regarding Arbor Day Foundation we do not believe their organization to be a scam.
Arbor Day Foundation Review Conclusion
Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization that focuses on reducing our carbon blueprint, protecting the environment and preserving life on Earth. If you are looking to participate with one of their environment-friendly programs, become a member or purchase any trees or plants then we do feel that Arbor Day Foundation is a dependable platform until more controversial or negative community feedback surfaces regarding this organization.
Bottom Line: Arbor Day Foundation should be used at your own risk!
Official Site: arborday.org
We invite you to share any experience, insight or feedback you may have by leaving a comment below!
I have been a member for many years! I have NEVER received bushes, trees and etc that were promised to me to make a donation! This is obviously a Rip Off! Will be cancelling my membership! This has SCAM written all over it!! Still waiting for me 5 Sweet Shrubs ordered 1-8-2022!!
I responded to a solicitation from this Foundation with a donation well beyond the suggested amount for free trees. The trees arrived late and were mostly dead– not dormant. My landscaper was reluctant to plant them and told me that other customers had similar experiences. I called the ADF and told them about the condition of the trees. They refused to replace them. Rather they tried to sell me on tree shields which they were selling. Reluctantly, my landscaper carefully planted the sticks and protected them with the same shields the Arbor Society was selling (at a lesser price). In the spring, there were two trees a tiny drying leaf each. In the late summer or fall they were all clearly dead.
I was unaware of any within-year warranty. I had already been “tuned down” on my request for replacement when the “trees” arrived. So what would have been the point?
What proliferated was a pile of mail I kept for curiosity…. Not only did I receive a request to renew my membership several weeks after I sent my original check, but I received constantly bogus surveys which were apparently a ploy to donate more. Moreover, I suspect that my information was sold to a list including various for-profit nurseries, etc.
Subsequently, I have learned that other people have complained about the Foundation. I held back, because mistakes happen. But then a client of mine shared that she was willing 1/4 of her considerable estate to the Arbor Foundation. This worried me as she is quite elderly and was looking for guidance in her judgement as to several million dollars!
When I received yet another email that day from this same foundation asking for donations, I decided to respond with my own disappointment to test their integrity. The response came quickly that I would not be entitled to a replacement as the “warranty” had expired. I did not actually think of having a warranty on their trees as I considered the arrangement one of good will to support the growing of trees. They continued to refuse replacement and included that they would have replaced the trees when they did not arrive in a healthy state. Of course, this was exactly what I told them when I called initially.
First of all shipping on your FREE 10 trees is FREE..no shipping charges… It is 10 dollars to join the Arbor day Foundation and they send you 10 FREE trees for joining …how is that a “scam?” They have different packages to choose from..YOU choose the trees you want …I chose the 10 flowering trees…white dogwood and eastern red bud trees….other sites are SELLING these SAME size trees for 50 dollars ..If you ask ME the Arbor Day Foundation is GREAT/WORTHWHILE and I am sending 10 trees to every one I know come spring .
Well I don’t know much about Arbor Day Foundation but I just got a solicitation from them. It’s posed as a survey but sorry, I’m not a believer. They make themselves look cheap with this. And it even has a scam look to it. I’m sure they hire someone to do this solicitation but Please, they should look at it themselves. Do they really want their name on such a fake looking survey?
Thank you all for posting your comments. Many of them confirm what I thought. Scam. Telling me I’m special and asking me questions, did I sit under a tree, was I ever in the woods, do I think it is important to save forests. A legitimate survey, no. A way to identify someone who would respond to such a mailing – yes. A list to sell. And a way to get my details and financial info.
No trees were sent to my home after making a contribution. Finally figured it was a scam until I continued to read about the poor follow though of the foundation. In the future I will only contribute to local agencies that I can monitor myself.
The Arbor Day Foundation is very irresponsible about the non-native, low-benefit trees they donate and plant. Norway Spruce is possibly the worst choice to be sending people. They crowd out native species, do nothing for wildlife nor humans, not even good for lawns! Plus the bogus “official questionnaires” they mail out are a waste of paper and energy. The facts indicate that the Arbor Day Foundation is actually using deceit to obtain profit. They are harming our forests by promoting cheap non-native species.
I would like to know if blight-resistant American chestnut tree seedlings are available now or next spring for the public to plant.
Planting a Norway Spruce Tree The more Norway spruce tree info you have, the more you will see that planting a Norway spruce tree is a good idea. The tree has many good attributes. First, you won’t need to clear out grasses or work the land to prepare a site for planting a Norway spruce tree. This spruce competes against grasses and weeds, and wins. In addition, the tree is drought tolerant. As a conifer, it can go into shut-down mode when irrigation is lacking. At the same time, it is one evergreen that tolerates wet soil. Plant it in marshy soil and it will thrive. You can plant Norway spruce in sun, shade or partial shade and it grows just the same. It is tolerant of poor soil but also grows in rich, fertile soils. Pest resistant, the trees hardly ever fall victim to insect damage or disease. Deer and rodents leave Norway spruce alone. Care of Norway Spruce Trees Required Norway spruce care is minimal. If you plant the tree with sufficient elbow room, you may not have to lift a finger other than providing an occasional drink during dry periods. Unlike many trees, the Norway spruce does not produce suckers. Because of this, the tree is not invasive.
Read more at Gardening Know How: Norway Spruce Tree Info: Care Of Norway Spruce Trees gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/spruce/norway-spruce-tree-info.htm