Talking on the Stump

Words From Jim Gregory

Chair of Nashville Tree Conservation Corps

Another Tree Organization in Nashville?

If you love trees and live in Nashville or if you are well-rooted in the Nashville non-profit community, you may have had a conversation like the following: “Have you heard about that one tree organization in Nashville that focuses on trees? … Oh, yeah, the Nashville Tree Foundation!  … No. … Root Nashville, then? … No. … Earth Matters? … No, there’s another one …”

It begs some questions… Are the many different non-profit tree-advocate organizations creating confusion among Nashvillians?  And is there significant overlap and dilution of missions with so many organizations focused on trees? It might seem that way – but I beg to differ. Allow me to share with you the vision I have for our little acorn of an organization, the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps – formerly the Nashville Tree Task Force – and where we fit into it all.

Just as there are many different kinds of trees in the forest, so too can there be many different types of non-profits in Nashville.  Some non-profits can be thought as growing tall, casting wide shadows and soaking up most of the sunshine. Some grow short, bushy, flexible and actually like growing in the shadow of others. It is also commonly understood in arboriculture that monoculture, the planting of one type of tree or plant, over-and-over, is something that should be generally avoided.  One fatal disease or hungry pest with an appetite for that single type of tree can lead to utter collapse within a single landscape or ecosystem.  There is strength in the diversity of an ecosystem, in fact, often the most diverse ecosystems are those that are most mature and stable.  Like many of you, I find answers in nature, and to me, having so many non-profits focused on the same type of mission is a strength for the city, just as more bio-diversity in a single ecosystem is a strength.

Consider this in a business context: the free market, and what it means when there are many organizations competing for limited resources.  In the traditional for-profit business sense, we are taught that competition leads to innovations in the marketplace, innovations that result in improved product quality or more affordable products for those businesses that want to corner the middle and lower markets of an industry.  Yet profit-driven businesses and non-profit businesses are different in one key way: Profit-seeking businesses have an obligation to create profit with the value of their products. Without profit, people can’t get paid, businesses can’t grow, bills don’t get paid, and any business like that is on its way to the compost. 

On the other hand, non-profit organizations have a mission statement that defines the value in the products or services they are to deliver for the collective public good.  Where many for-profit businesses have a mission statement that exists to help give the organization direction, it is not required, but a non-profit organization is required to have a mission statement by law, and a board is appointed to oversee the activities of the non-profit to ensure it is always conducting business activities that solely support the mission of the non-profit. If it strays too far from the mission, the organization loses its non-profit and tax-exemption privileges and it is likely destined for the compost.

So what happens when more than one non-profit is focused on the same issue in the same city? Good things, I believe. I believe the same invisible framework of healthy competition that drives innovation with for-profit organizations also applies to non-profit sectors. When more non-profits exist and are focused on the same categorical mission, they are stronger due to competition. Let’s be honest here: they compete for the same followers, the same grants and donations. But something happens in the race: the groups grow more nimble and smarter, more efficient and effective. New angles and strategies are discovered.

We believe there are plenty of volunteers and donations to go around in Nashville. We’re a prosperous, giving city – and we’re growing by thousands each year. Besides, we need all the help we can get in saving and growing our urban canopy.  The logistics and planning that go into a tree-planting event are intense, and the thermodynamics of advancing legislation and policies within city government are terrific.  In my opinion, not one single organization can tackle all of these issues in all 35 districts, in all 526 square miles of Davidson County, in a city that is expected to grow more in the next five years than the last five years, eating away at the beautiful wild areas of our county. Despite rapidly accelerating climate change around the planet, plummeting insect and bird populations, and deregulation of federal environmental standards, the economic progress of this city will not stop its forward march. The momentum leaves us breathless. Growth is too large of an issue for any one organization to solve or steer alone.  We need all of us, working together at different paces, going at the problem from different angles, working different networks: a true coalition.

That’s why you’ll see on our website an entire page devoted to our “competing” tree-related non-profits. It’s also why you’ll see our board, working as a team, helping plant trees at the Nashville Tree Foundations’s Re-Leafing Day this November.

Because if Nashville is anything, it’s a city of progressive collaborators. We’re famous for the ways that factions of the community work together. … much like the forces of nature itself. I want Nashville Tree Conservation Corps to be an organization for the tree lovers of Nashville. I hope that as time goes on, we will continue to grow this organization to be like a big hollow oak tree you see in the woods that is often home to all kinds of critters. I hope that this organization’s hollow core will be filled with the energy of the people who love trees and I hope that our organization’s existence ensures that there is always an organization that is driven by people who love trees and nothing else. - Jim Gregory