FOT is honored by Public Relations Society of America

I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree–

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against a volunteer in a safety vest

A tree producing oxygen all day
Will leave a legacy that’s here to stay

Planting a tree is an amazing sensation
Improving the urban canopy of this stumptown nation

Friends of Trees is a group that’s growing
Deftly using communications to help its sowing

With a PR campaign that calls us to action
Bringing communities together with great satisfaction

“Plant it Portland” takes us from “grey to green”
Using social media and the YouTube screen

With story placements, blogs and tweets
Even their Facebook page is sweet

Yes, I think that I shall never see
A nonprofit as PR savvy as Friends of Trees

Poems are made by fools like me
But you too can plant a tree

Plant It Portland! Billboard
Plant It Portland! billboard (Frank Creative)

Friends of Trees is grateful to Portland General Electric for nominating us for the 2011 Ron Schmidt Community Involvement Award, which the Public Relations Society of America presented at its annual awards celebration at Nike’s Tiger Woods Conference Center last week.

Kregg Arntson, PGE Manager of Community Affairs & External Communications, announced the award, noting that Friends of Trees was chosen because of its outstanding public relations efforts to highlight its tree-planting campaigns.

“Without Friends of Trees, we wouldn’t be enjoying the benefits of the 415,000 trees they’ve planted,” he said.  “What I love about Friends of Trees is that they approach it with a sense of humor.”

Arntson concluded by reading the above poem.

The PRSA also presented an award to PGE and Friends of Trees for successfully promoting PGE’s Rose Festival float “Right Tree, Right Place, Right On!” featuring the Plant It Portland! campaign. The campaign involves a partnership with the City of Portland to turn the city’s “grey to green” by planting thousands of street trees in east Portland.

PGE has generously supported Friends of Trees for decades, and was lead sponsor of its five-year Seed the Future campaign.

Local marketing firm Frank Creative created the Plant It Portland! campaign, working with local artist Amy Ruppel to design the artwork and linking Friends of Trees with LWA PR to help publicize the campaign. The campaign emphasizes four key benefits of planting trees—conservation, community, health, and money.

In addition, Friends of Trees was honored to receive a PRSA award in partnership with the Oregon Department of Transportation for the groups’ advertorial promotion of the multi-year I-205 Multi-Use Path greening project A New Forest Grows.

Portland Business Journal Publisher Craig Wessel emceed the PRSA awards celebration, and Tom Kelley, Nike’s Global Brand Director for Sustainable Business & Innovation, gave the keynote speech.

–TR