INTRODUCTION
The Jack Kimmel International Grant Program, championed by the Canadian TREE Fund, honors the late Jack Kimmel who was the former Director of Parks for the City of Toronto. He is remembered for his contribution of 46 years of leadership to the ISA and its Ontario chapter. Jack Kimmel grants provide much needed funding to arboriculture and urban forestry researchers all over the world. This grant is administered by TREE Fund, with participation from the Canadian TREE Fund in the evaluation process.
These grants are available to researchers whose work is primarily outside of the United States. Projects are expected to be completed within one to two years. Grant award amounts are limited to a maximum of $10,000 and will vary depending upon the adjudged value of the project relative to the needs of the arboriculture community. No project may receive more than one award from this program.
APPLICATION PROCESS
| August 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) open |
| September 1, 2026 | Letter of Intent (LOI) submission due |
| September 15, 2026 | Notification of proposals advancing to full submissions |
| October 15, 2026 | Full submissions due |
| Mid-to-late December 2026 | Notification of selected grant recipients |
TREE Fund will accept LOIs only between August 1 and September 1, 2026. To apply, fill out an application on our online portal – by clicking here.
Letters of Intent (LOI) need to be completed before September 1, 2026. Your LOI must clearly identify the Principal Investigator and Institution who will be contracted for the work should your application be approved.
TREE Fund will evaluate whether your LOI concept meets all of our application criteria and is deemed to have a reasonable possibility of success given the year’s research priorities. If and only if your LOI is approved, TREE Fund will send you a notification and open the application to you beginning September 15, 2026. TREE Fund determinations on whether an LOI meets the application criteria are final and not negotiable. Full submission is due October 15, 2026.
An instructional video on our Grants is available on our YouTube Page.
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Application Requirements can be found here.
Projects are expected to be completed within one to two years with a maximum grant award of $10,000. No project may receive more than one award from this program.
Letters of inquiry for Kimmel Grants that do not focus on topics related to the focus area will be rejected from further consideration. TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, of both a qualitative and a quantitative nature. TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects, and will not accept applications for such work:
- Grants to individuals;
- Projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments;
- Tree planting programs;
- Studies focused on traditional forestry and timber production, agroforestry, and ecology and conservation of forested and other natural areas,
- Product testing primarily for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.
AWARD PROCESS AND FUNDS DISTRIBUTION
Recommendations on grant awards will be presented by the Research Committee to the TREE Fund Board of Trustees for approval in December 2026, and grant recipient(s) will be notified in writing within one month of Trustee approval. A Grant Agreement form that includes a payment and reporting schedule will be provided with award notification. It must be completed within one month of notification, and returned to TREE Fund with all required supporting documentation.
Applicants are most strongly encouraged to review the sample Grant Agreement form (which can be viewed here) with their employers’ financial or grant management offices prior to submitting an application, to ensure that the Agreement forms can be signed expeditiously upon receipt. Potential difficulties with Agreement terms that are identified during the application process may be considered and negotiated more favorably than those presented after the grant award process.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
It is TREE Fund’s explicit desire that research findings eventually be freely and widely available to any and all parties who may benefit from the author’s work. At the same time, TREE Fund recognizes the importance of academic and professional journal publications and will work with grant recipients to ensure that findings are disseminated in a manner that is cognizant of all parties’ schedules and needs. Recipients should inform TREE Fund when funded research findings are published or presented at conferences so that these accomplishments can be widely publicized. Recipients should also recognize the support provided by TREE Fund in their articles or presentations related to the funded project. Recipients are strongly encouraged to publish findings to relevant professional journals, i.e. Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Arboricultural Journal, Trees: Structure and Function, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Plant Pathology, HortScience, Horticultural Science, Sustainable Development, Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Health, Environment and Urbanization, Urban Ecosystems, etc.
Recent Jack Kimmel Awards
2025 was awarded to Mohammad A Rahman, PhD from University of Melbourne, Australia for project, “Trait-based assessment of urban tree health and climate resilience”
2024 was awarded to Anirban Guha from Indian Institute of Science Education & Research Thiruvananthapuram for project, “Good functional and early warning indicators of urban mangrove health”
2023 was awarded to Dr. Petr Hedenec with University Malaysia Terengganu on project, “Light-side of the termites: Distance effect of termite nests on tree growth and pathogen resilience of tree species in Taman Botani at UMT.”
2022 was awarded to Dr. Huade Guan with Flinders University on project, “A pumping-test analoguefor characterizing root-zone and plant integrated hydraulic systems based on above-ground measurements.”
2021 was awarded to Dr. Justin Morgenroth with The University of Canterbury on project, “Optimizing tree responses to root pruning in mature trees.”