Gifting trees is one of the oldest forms of meaningful giving, a living thing, growing in someone’s name, outlasting every other gift they receive that year. What has changed is the infrastructure around it: verified planting sites, real impact data, personalised digital delivery, and named forests that recipients can actually visit and track.
ForestNation plants trees in five verified sites across Tanzania, with field-measured CO2 data from the Working Trees study, and delivers each tree as a personalised Gift Story to the recipient. Nearly 2 million trees planted for 500+ companies and thousands of individuals. [1]
Key Takeaways
- Gifting trees means planting a real, verified tree in the recipient’s name, not a certificate, not a donation receipt, but an actual tree tracked in a named location.
- ForestNation Gift Stories deliver a personalised tree gift by email, no login required, no address needed, at $1 per tree planted.
- Two formats: a digital Gift Story delivered instantly by email, or a physical Tree Kit ($12, lower per kit in bulk) with seeds to grow at home and a matching tree planted in Tanzania.
- Tree gifts work for every occasion: birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Earth Day, corporate recognition, onboarding, and memorials.
- The Working Trees field study measures CO2 sequestration at 0.025 tonnes per tree per year across five Tanzania sites, specific, evidenced, and publishable in ESG reports.
- Plant a tree as a gift at giftstory.ai, no account needed, takes 2 minutes.
What Does Gifting a Tree Mean?
Gifting a tree means planting a real tree in the recipient’s name in a verified reforestation site. The recipient receives a personalised gift, a Gift Story, showing their name, the tree’s Tanzania location, and ongoing impact data as the tree grows. The gift is not symbolic. The tree is real, tracked, and growing.
ForestNation Gift Stories include the recipient’s name, a personalised message from the sender, the specific Tanzania planting site, and CO2 sequestration data from the Working Trees field study (0.025 tonnes per tree per year). The recipient can visit their Forest Profile at any time and share it. The gift keeps giving long after the occasion that prompted it.
Why Give a Tree as a Gift?
Four qualities make tree gifts structurally different from other gifts:
They grow over time. A physical gift depreciates, it wears out, goes out of style, or gets lost. A tree appreciates. The tree planted for a birthday is larger and more impactful at next year’s birthday than it was when it was given. The gift gets better, not worse, with time.
They are genuinely personal. A Gift Story is created with the recipient’s name, a personalised message, and their specific Tanzania planting location. The recipient can visit their Forest Profile and see real-time impact data. That is a fundamentally different relationship to a gift than receiving a box of chocolates.
They have no logistics overhead. Gift Stories are delivered by email globally and instantly. No address collection, no shipping, no customs, no delivery timing management. A birthday gift to someone in Tokyo is delivered the same way as one to someone next door.
They are compliant with green claims regulations. Under EU ECGT (2024/825), UK Green Claims Code, and US FTC Green Guides, environmental claims need specific evidence. ForestNation tree gifts are backed by the Working Trees field study, a specific, evidenced, publishable environmental contribution. “We planted a tree in your name in Tanzania, field-measured at 0.025 tonnes CO2 per year” is a compliant claim.
How Does Gifting a Tree Work?
There are three ways to gift a tree through ForestNation, depending on whether you want a digital or a physical gift, and whether you are gifting one person or a whole team.
A digital Gift Story
A Gift Story is created online and delivered instantly by email, with no address needed, anywhere in the world. You write a personal message, choose how many trees to plant, and the recipient opens a personalised experience with a Forest Profile they can follow as the trees grow. It is the format explained in full further down this page.
A physical Tree Kit
A Tree Kit is posted to the recipient with seeds, growing medium, and instructions to grow a tree at home or on a desk, while a matching tree is planted in Tanzania. Kits can be custom branded with a logo and a message, which makes them popular for employee recognition, conference giveaways, and corporate gifting. Tree Kits ship to the US and Canada.
A corporate campaign
For gifting to 50 or more people, ForestNation’s corporate programme handles the logistics. Gift Stories are delivered to individual inboxes on a chosen date, or custom branded Tree Kits are shipped in bulk, both with verified planting data for ESG reporting. You can start a corporate tree gifting campaign when you are ready to scale.
What Does It Cost to Gift a Tree?
- A single Gift Story: free to create at giftstory.ai, and the first send is free. After that, every Gift Story plants at least one tree, at $1 per tree.
- A single Tree Kit: $12, with lower pricing per kit on bulk orders, from the ForestNation shop.
- Corporate campaigns: personalised Gift Stories or custom branded Tree Kits at scale. Plan a corporate tree gifting campaign.
Trees are always $1 each with no volume discount, so a tree gift’s cost scales simply with how many trees you plant. Only the physical Tree Kit costs less per unit in bulk.
Tree Gifts for Every Occasion
Birthdays: A tree planted in the birthday person’s name in Tanzania, with a message that connects the planting to the relationship. The tree grows alongside the friendship. giftstory.ai makes this simple, write the message, plant the tree, no account needed.
Anniversaries: One tree for year one. Five trees for five years. A named grove for a decade. A gift that scales with the relationship acknowledges the relationship rather than just the date.
Christmas: A Christmas tree gift that keeps growing after Christmas. A personalised Gift Story in someone’s name is appropriate for every person on a gift list, regardless of location, dietary preferences, or lifestyle. No logistics, no wrapping.
Memorial trees: A tree planted in memory of someone who has died is a living tribute that grows over time. Many families plant memorial trees through ForestNation, the Forest Profile becomes a place to visit, share, and return to.
Corporate gifting: Companies plant trees for employees, clients, and partners as part of recognition programmes, deal closings, and appreciation campaigns. Marriott, Logitech, and Salesforce all use ForestNation. The gift is the same quality regardless of whether it goes to one person or five thousand.
How ForestNation Tree Gifting Is Different From Other Tree Gifting Companies
Most tree gifting services plant in national forests or unnamed global locations and hand the recipient a certificate with no measured impact behind it. ForestNation is different in two ways.
First, the data is measured, not estimated. Trees are planted across five named sites in Tanzania (Kitopeni, Yamba, Mkusu, Kivuga, and Mmanyai), and the Working Trees field study measures CO2 sequestration at 0.025 tonnes per tree per year. That figure is field-measured and auditable, which is what lets a company publish it in ESG reporting rather than rely on a vague estimate.
Second, the gift is an experience, not a certificate. Instead of a PDF, the recipient receives a Gift Story with their name, the sender’s message, and a Forest Profile they can track over time. The gift becomes the start of an ongoing connection to a real, growing tree rather than a one-off transaction.
What Environmental Impact Does Gifting a Tree Create?
Each tree planted through ForestNation’s reforestation programme in Tanzania absorbs a field-measured 0.025 tonnes of CO2 per year. The Working Trees field study used Tanzania-specific allometric equations (Mugasha et al., 2016) across the five planting sites, with a 30% uncertainty discount applied, so the figure is deliberately conservative. The programme also creates paid work and sustainable livelihoods for local farming communities. ForestNation’s preferred verification standard is the Open Forest Protocol, and the Tanzania project is whitelisted with it.
The full method is published in the ForestNation impact methodology, which documents five metrics for every forest: CO2 absorbed each year, oxygen produced, work hours created, land reforested, and food and income generated. These are specific, evidenced figures rather than generic estimates, which is what makes a tree gift a defensible environmental contribution under US, UK, and EU green claims rules.
Research and References
- ForestNation impact methodology. Working Trees field study: 0.025 tonnes CO2 per tree per year, five verified Tanzania sites. forestnation.com/impact-methodology
- ForestNation: nearly 2 million trees planted, 500+ corporate clients. forestnation.com/corporate-gift-a-forest
- Mugasha et al. (2016). Allometric models used to estimate tree biomass and carbon in Tanzania, applied across the five ForestNation planting sites.
- Open Forest Protocol (OFP): ForestNation’s preferred forest-verification standard, with the Tanzania project whitelisted. openforestprotocol.org
What Is a Gift Story?
A Gift Story is a private multimedia experience, similar to an Instagram or Facebook Story, created by ForestNation. The sender builds it from videos, images, and media slides, and can add a personal voiceover. Real trees are planted in the recipient’s name in Tanzania. The recipient gets a notification email linking to their Gift Story, where they see the full personalised experience and how many trees were planted for them, then can visit their Forest Profile for verified proof.
The forest message appears on both the sender’s and recipient’s Forest Profiles, connecting them permanently. Gift Stories can be sent individually, scheduled, sent in bulk, or triggered via API webhooks. From one tree gift for a birthday to a thousand for a corporate Earth Day campaign. See what is a Gift Story for the full explanation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does gifting a tree mean?
Gifting a tree means planting a real, verified tree in the recipient’s name in a reforestation site. They receive a personalised Gift Story showing their name, the tree’s location, and ongoing impact data as the tree grows. ForestNation plants in five verified Tanzania sites, field-measured by the Working Trees study. The gift is not symbolic, the tree is real, tracked, and growing.
What is a memorial tree gift?
A memorial tree gift plants a real tree in memory of someone who has died. ForestNation memorial trees are planted in verified Tanzania sites with a personalised message from the giver. The Forest Profile becomes a living tribute the family can visit, share, and return to. Plant a memorial tree at giftstory.ai, no account needed, and your first send is free.
Are gifting trees a sustainable gift?
Tree gifts through ForestNation are backed by the Working Trees field study, a specific, evidenced environmental contribution measuring CO2 sequestration at 0.025 tonnes per tree per year across five Tanzania sites. Under EU, UK, and US green claims regulations, this is a specific, substantiated environmental claim. A verified tree gift is one of the most defensibly sustainable gifts available.
How do I gift a tree to someone?
Go to giftstory.ai. Write a personalised message. Choose how many trees to plant. The recipient gets a notification email linking to their Gift Story, a private multimedia experience built from videos, images, and slides by the sender. The Gift Story shows how many trees were planted on their behalf and links to their Forest Profile, which proves it. No account needed, no address required. The tree is planted in Tanzania, and they receive ongoing updates as it grows. Takes 2 minutes, and your first send is free.
