Branching Out
Dave Klemp ’15 fills a hole with Trees for the Triangle, his pay-what-you-can tree-planting service.
Raleigh’s NeighborWoods program used to give free trees to homeowners to plant in their yards, but it was discontinued in 2017. When that happened, Dave Klemp ’15, who had worked for the program, felt the area needed a dedicated tree-planting program. So, he says with a laugh, “I decided to start my own, with no nonprofit experience.” Just months after NeighborWoods shut down, Klemp’s Trees for the Triangle sprouted. It’s been a huge learning curve, he says, but with the tree knowledge he gained studying forest management and the guidance of an engaged board of directors, Trees for the Triangle has been growing and thriving. In eight years, the nonprofit has planted or given away more than 3,500 trees, with a goal of 50,000 by 2050. It’s ambitious, but Klemp says maintaining the Triangle’s tree canopy is crucial to help reduce urban heat island effects and slow climate change.
Klemp, 33, built his organization on a pay-what-you-can model that he “lovingly ripped off ” from Maggie Kane ’13, who founded the Raleigh restaurant A Place at the Table. Both organizations rely on donations to help cover the cost of their services for those who can’t pay full price. Anyone in North Carolina’s Triangle region can request a tree from Trees for the Triangle, regardless of whether they can pay for it. “A lot of areas that have been historically disadvantaged have poor tree canopy coverage,” Klemp says. He wants to change that and says that someone shouldn’t have to choose between paying for a tree and paying their bills. “Everybody’s got enough problems in this world,” he says. “I’ll get you a free tree if you need a free tree.”
Eventually, Klemp wants Trees for the Triangle to be top of mind when people consider planting a tree in their yards. The organization is also working on larger projects with Triangle towns and cities and wants to partner with developers to reduce canopy disruption as the region grows.
“There are infinite good causes in the world. It’s hard to pick just one,” Klemp says. “This isn’t going to solve all of our problems, but I feel it is an objectively good thing I can do to improve my little corner of the world, and it’s something I know can leave an impact for a long time.”
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