Getting backed: sponsorship, grants and scholarships for tree workers

This guide describes what the official pages say. Deadlines and awards change every cycle.

About the funds listed

Most of these funds are for students, apprentices or research projects. Few are for a working climber who is not in a course.
Amounts are shown in the currency the page uses. A few pages give no amount, and those are marked "not stated".
Pages that still show an old cycle are said so plainly.
Most prizes and awards here pay the school, the course or the event, not the person.

United States

TREE Fund scholarships

The Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund) runs a spring cycle from January 15 to March 15 each year. Its scholarships page lists six scholarships for undergraduate students, each US$5,000. The page says they are for people aiming at arboriculture, urban forestry and related fields.

Name	Who it is for	Page says
Bonnie Appleton Memorial	Rising juniors, seniors	3.0 GPA, ISA student
Robert Felix Memorial	Technical or undergraduate college	3.0 GPA, ISA student
Larry R. Hall Memorial	High school seniors, returning students	2.5 GPA, Illinois preference
Will Nutter Memorial	Utility forestry students	Up to US$500 for books
Fran Ward Women in Arboriculture	Female students from year 2	2.5 GPA, PA or DE first
John Wright Memorial	First bachelor's or associate degree	3.0 GPA, US citizen

On the Appleton page and the Felix page, the money is paid straight to the school in two equal payments, can only go to tuition, and is not renewable. The second payment depends on re-enrolling and keeping the GPA. The Wright page gives special consideration to honorably discharged veterans and serving military, and says the award can be applied for again in later years.

For the Hall fund, the Hall page says up to US$500 of the award can go to books, supplies or equipment, and asks for Illinois Arborist Association membership, student membership accepted. The Hall fund was set up by that association.

TREE Fund also lists education grants for programmes that teach about trees, and research grants for projects, which are not for individual climbers.

Chapter scholarships

Several ISA chapters publish their own money.

Chapter and award	Who it is for	Amount
Mid-Atlantic: Frank Santamour	Students in MD, VA, WV, DC	Two of US$1,250
Mid-Atlantic: Annual Meeting	Enrolled students	Fees and lodging
New England: college scholarships	College students	Two of US$2,500
New England: high school	Graduating seniors	US$2,500
New England: Shigo fund	Students going to events	Up to US$500 per request

According to the Mid-Atlantic Chapter page, a person must be a chapter member to be eligible for any of its scholarships. It gives September 1 as the Santamour deadline. Its Annual Meeting scholarships cover registration and up to 2 nights of lodging, and recipients must volunteer at the meeting. The New England Chapter page gives April 1 as the deadline for both scholarship awards, and the Shigo fund gives grants to students for taking part in conferences, workshops and other events.

The Mid-Atlantic page also lists scholarships aimed at working people. A Virginia Department of Forestry grant pays full scholarships for the TRAQ course or the arborist certification course to tree care professionals who live or work in underserved areas of Virginia and are not yet certified. The funds cover the course and exam registration, the study guide and travel if needed. A separate Paul Revell scholarship covers the certification course and study guide for non-certified chapter members. No amount or deadline is stated for the Revell award.

Competition

The ITCC, the International Tree Climbing Championship, is a different kind of goal. Its event page says the male and female winners of chapter or component championships are invited to the international event, and that each regional event also qualifies one man and one woman. The page does not mention travel or funding for qualified climbers.

Canada

Two awards of CA$500 each are listed on the ISA Prairie page. Applications run from January 1 to November 30 each year.

Keith Anderson Student Scholarship: for an Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba student in a post-secondary arboriculture-related programme. The page adds that people in any post-secondary programme with arboriculture work experience are also considered.
Continuing Education Bursary: for someone who has worked in arboriculture and is pursuing further certificates, courses or accredited learning.

More awards sit with the Canadian Tree Fund.

Name	Who it is for	Amount
Jerry Micsinszki Apprenticeship Bursary	Registered apprentices	CA$2,000
Harold Van Dyke Memorial Bursary	College or university students	CA$1,000
Hope Eaton Award	First 5 years, ON or NS	CA$1,000
Wenda Li Climbing Bursary	First-time female Ontario competitors	Not stated here
Jack Kimmel Grant	Research proposals	Not stated here

On the Micsinszki page, the applicant must be a registered apprentice in their home province, working toward the provincial trade designation, so it is not limited to Ontario. The bursary is paid by cheque, and is presented at the ISA Ontario conference in February when a worthy recipient exists. Applications for the Micsinszki, Van Dyke and Hope Eaton awards are due January 31 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time, and the Jack Kimmel Grant is due October 31. The Hope Eaton page says an applicant can apply for one award only among Hope Eaton, Van Dyke, Micsinszki and the Lidkea scholarship. The Lidkea scholarship, per the Canadian Tree Fund home page, goes to a third-year student at the Niagara School of Horticulture with the highest marks in set courses.

Apprenticeship rules and federal money

Skilled Trades Ontario lists arborist as a non-compulsory trade. It says the apprenticeship takes about three years, 6,120 hours, made up of 5,400 hours on the job and 720 hours in school, and that passing the certifying exam leads to a Certificate of Qualification. Because the trade is non-compulsory, the certificate does not have to be renewed.

The federal apprenticeship grants page says the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant both closed on March 31, 2025. Both applied only to designated Red Seal trades. The same page says eligible apprentices can still get Employment Insurance benefits during technical training and up to CA$20,000 in interest-free Canada Apprentice Loans. The loan page says up to CA$4,000 per period of technical training, again for designated Red Seal trades. Whether your trade is designated is a question for your provincial apprenticeship authority.

United Kingdom

The Arboricultural Association lists its awards on its grants and awards page.

Research Grant: up to £5,000 for projects based in the UK on relevant arboricultural topics. Deadline January 31 each year, decision by March 1. It is for research, not personal study.
Association Award: for a significant contribution to the industry. Nominees do not need to be members, and it is by third-party nomination only, not self-nomination.
Best Student Award: for anyone studying arboriculture or urban forestry in the UK. The prize is a free one-day conference entry or a free one-day course.
Young Arboricultural Professional Award: for UK professionals under 35. The prize is free annual membership plus a free conference or course day.

The page gives June 30 as the nomination deadline for the 2024 awards and shows no later date.

Apprenticeship funding in England

The Level 2 Arborist apprenticeship standard is ST0223. Its Skills England page shows it approved for starts, typical duration 18 months, and a funding band maximum of £12,000. The Institute for Apprenticeships page for version 1.0 shows that retired version at £15,000 over 24 months. The Skills England page also says that from September 1, 2025 a revised Lantra Level 3 award in accessing a tree using a rope and harness and aerial rescue is accepted in place of two older awards.

The GOV.UK employer funding page says the government pays 100% of training and assessment, up to the band maximum, for apprentices aged 16 to 24 at employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy. For other apprentices the employer pays a share. Employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy may get a hiring payment of up to £2,000 for apprentices aged 16 to 24, paid in two instalments of £1,000. These payments go to the employer, not the apprentice.

The UK government's Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund is permanently closed. The page says it is not open for further applications and that the guidance was withdrawn on April 10, 2025.

Australia

No Australian scholarship or grant is listed here, and that does not mean none exists.

One in-kind offer exists. The Arboriculture Australia New Arborist of the Year page describes a free-to-enter one-day competition on April 12, 2026 for people in their first 3 years in the industry. The page says each of the ten competitors would receive a gear pack, lunch, a year of general membership and a conference ticket. That round has closed, and the page shows no later date.

New Zealand

The NZ Arb scholarships page describes the Alan Parker Scholarship. It is three scholarships of NZ$3,000 each for people meeting the Wintec Level 6 entry criteria for the Diploma in Arboriculture, paid towards tuition. The page shows an application window of August 1 to October 31, 2023, with winners announced in November 2023. That is an old cycle. No later one is listed, so it is unconfirmed until NZ Arb publishes a new date.

The Work and Income Apprenticeship Boost page says employers can get NZ$500 per month, not including GST, for up to 12 months per eligible apprentice. The apprentice must be less than 12 months into their apprenticeship, be employed by the employer, and be enrolled in a qualification that is covered. The payment is made to the employer, not the apprentice. The page sends employers to the Tertiary Education Commission website to check whether a qualification is covered, and it does not say whether an arboriculture programme is.

Gear makers and companies

No page here promises free gear, pay or travel.

Listing yourself here

ArboNation is a preview site. It makes no promises about funding. You can list yourself on the get sponsored page, and what that leads to is decided before launch.

Points that differ between funds

Deadlines are on each official page, and cycles change.
Funds differ in whether they are for students, apprentices, members or a project.
Funds differ in who is paid: the school, the employer or the applicant.
Amounts are in different currencies. The US, Canadian and New Zealand amounts above are in different dollars.
Missing information on a page is not a yes or a no.