Funding Opportunities
Chicago Region Trees Initiatives CTI) maintains a hub with grants that can help you plant and care for trees, expand your municipal or nonprofit environmental programs, tackle invasive species in your community, plant pollinator gardens, enhance your community advocacy efforts, and more!

Be sure to read the Request for Proposals (RFP) section to determine if your entity is eligible to apply. For CRTI-administered grants, they offer free application assistance is you reach out to the grant contact on the RFP.

CRTI maintains a list of other resources in the sidebar of CRTI’s grant hub that may help you achieve the goals of your project. They include:

Federal Resources
Other public and private funding sources
Resources to help determine priorities

More funding through the IRA is coming soon
The Morton Arboretum was awarded $15 million of the more than $1 billion made available to the USDA Forest Service by the Inflation Reduction Act for tree planting. These funds will be administered by CRTI to expand and improve tree canopy in disadvantaged communities throughout Illinois. CRTI will be announcing requests for proposals in the spring of 2024 for sub-grants that will benefit underserved communities.

These grants will be available to community groups, nonprofits, governments, universities, and others to do work on public land.

Educational resources and programs
Be sure to visit CRTI’s website for the many programs, events, and other resources they offer.