Team Trees (stylized as#TEAMTREES) is a collaborative fundraiser that raised 20 millionU.S. dollars before the start of 2020 to plant 20 million trees. The initiative was started by AmericanYouTubersMrBeast andMark Rober, and was mostly supported by YouTubers.[1] All donations go to theArbor Day Foundation, atree planting organization that pledges to plant one tree for every U.S. dollar donated.[2] The Arbor Day Foundation began planting in January 2020 with plans to end "no later than December 2022".[2][3] It is estimated that 23 million trees would take up 210 km2 (81 sq mi) of land,[4] absorb around 1.6 milliontons ofcarbon and remove 116 thousand tons ofpollutants from the atmosphere.[5][6]
The idea started on May 24, 2019, when a fan suggested onReddit thatMrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) should plant 20 million trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on YouTube.[7][3] The idea spread acrossYouTube,Reddit, andTwitter, mostly in the form ofmemes.[2][3] The idea may have been related to the2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires. American YouTuber, engineer, and inventorMark Rober partnered directly with Donaldson to launch the fundraiser. On October 25, 2019, Donaldson uploaded a YouTube video explaining his plan,[8][9] which claimed the top spot on YouTube's trending page, and caused numerous YouTubers to join the movement.[3][10]
The trees will be planted "in a variety of forests on public and private lands in areas of great need" starting in January 2020. The goal is to have them planted "no later than December 2022".[2][3]
As of April 26, 2025, the project has raised over $24,873,500 exceeding the fundraiser's goal to plant 20 million trees. As anticipated, more than 20 million trees have been planted.[11]
Many YouTubers created content to capitalize on the growing trend of Team Trees;[3] despite theArbor Day Foundation reaching out to only a few hundred creators, Team Trees is now featured in over 80,000 videos from over 4200 global creators. Across Instagram and Twitter over 556,001 posts have garnered more than 4.6 billion views.[12]
Discovery Channel made a documentary called#TeamTrees about the campaign which aired on December 3, 2019, coupled with a donation of USD $100,203 the next day.[13]
Eike Lüdeling, the department head of horticultural sciences at theUniversity of Bonn, stated, "It turns out that many of these seedlings, if you don't do this well or if people do it who don’t really care about those trees, then they all just die quickly. Sometimes it’s probably a better idea to plant fewer trees and really take care of them." Danny Cohn, the director of public relations for theArbor Day Foundation, addressed these concerns, stating that "the partners who work with the organization are all required to have plans to help their trees thrive."[14]
On October 29, 2021,MrBeast andMark Rober teamed up again to launchTeam Seas, a successor to the project that aimed to help clean upmarine debris. As with the Team Trees campaign, many influencers had also joined in spreading the message to help the project be a success. While the project is international,MrBeast andMark Rober traveled to theDominican Republic to help clean up there and address issues with trash collection in underdeveloped and underserved areas.
.jpg)