Jack Kimmel International Grant

The Jack Kimmel International Grant Program, championed by the Canadian TREE Fund, honors the late Jack Kimmel who was the former Director of Parks for the City of Toronto. He is remembered for his contribution of 46 years of leadership to the ISA and its Ontario chapter. Jack Kimmel grants provide much needed funding to arboriculture and urban forestry researchers all over the world. This grant is administered by TREE Fund, with participation from the Canadian TREE Fund in the evaluation process.

These grants are available to researchers whose work is primarily outside of the United States. Projects are expected to be completed within one to two years. Grant award amounts are limited to a maximum of $10,000 and will vary depending upon the adjudged value of the project relative to the needs of the arboriculture community. No project may receive more than one award from this program. Due to the similarity of the Jack Kimmel International Grant and John Z. Duling Grant, applicants may submit to only one of these programs per unique project funding cycle.

Jack Kimmel International Grant proposals may be submitted for any of the core areas of TREE Fund interest, as defined here. TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, of both a qualitative and a quantitative nature. TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects, and will not accept applications for such work:

• Grants to individuals;
• Projects that are primarily municipal tree surveys or assessments;
• Tree planting programs;
• Studies of individual tree species for the primary purpose of agricultural or timber/forest planting yield;
• Commercial tree- or soil-related product testing primarily for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.

TREE Fund will evaluate whether your LOI concept meets all of our application criteria and is deemed to have a reasonable possibility of success given the year’s research priorities. If and only if your LOI is approved, TREE Fund will send you a numbered application form for your use. You may not apply without such a numbered application form, and the number of applications so provided each grant making cycle may be limited. TREE Fund determinations on whether an LOI meets the application criteria are final and not negotiable.

Project Description:

• Overall Project Summary, Including Overarching Goals (400 Words Maximum): A brief statement of the current issue/problem and its impact on arboriculture, urban forestry, and the professions that are involved with researching, planning, designing, growing, planting, managing and/or otherwise maintaining urban trees; and goals of the proposed research.
• Description of Measurable Outputs/Outcomes (250 Words Maximum): Include a list of the tangible outputs (publications, extension/outreach materials, posters, etc.) from this project and identify up to five measurable outcomes (real changes in day-to-day urban forest design or management) that are expected to result from work proposed.
• Current Knowledge/Past Research in Project Area (1,000 Words Maximum, excluding in-text literature citations as described at the end of this section): Description of what is known about the problem/project area and with reference to previous attempts to address it where appropriate; a review of literature and past experiences of the investigative team.
• Project Work Plan (1,500 Words Maximum): Clearly define the scope of the work to be performed, including hypotheses, design, methodology and analyses. Any anticipated proprietary elements of proposed research must be identified clearly in the initial application. Should applications fail to make such declarations, TREE Fund reserves the right to negotiate royalties from patents, sales, copyrights, or other commercial results of funded research.
• Dissemination Plans (300 Words Maximum): A brief description of activities and outlets used to share the results of this project. Be sure communications with both academic and practitioner communities are addressed. It is TREE Fund’s explicit desire that research findings eventually be freely and widely available to any and all parties who may benefit from the author’s work. At the same time, TREE Fund recognizes the importance of academic and professional journal publications and will work with recipients to ensure that findings are disseminated in a manner that is cognizant of all parties’ schedules and needs.
• Literature Cited: It may be useful to refer reviewers to previous work published elsewhere. In such cases, cite appropriate works in your text in “Author(s), year” format (e.g. “Smith, 2014” or “Jones et.al., 2003”) and then list those citations alphabetically by first author’s last name as indicated in the following link from the American Phytopathological Society: https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/page/authorinformation#litcited

Budget Elements, Including:

• Institutional Compensation, Stipends and Benefits
• Travel and Transportation
• Equipment (e.g. Vehicles, Growth Chambers, Etc.)
• Other Materials and Supplies (e.g. Paper, Ink, Etc.)
• Contract Labor (Consultants, Speakers, Etc.)
• Institutional Overhead (Maximum 10%)
• Other/Miscellaneous
• Cash or In-Kind Funding from Other Sources (Minimum 10%; unrecovered institutional overhead may be applied to meet this minimum)

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
Staff will screen all applications for applicant eligibility, word counts, alignment with TREE Fund mission, and compliance with minimum requirements, then forward compliant applications to TREE Fund’s Research and Education Committee. Members of this committee will score your proposal as follows:

• Qualifications of the investigative team: 10 points
• Potential impact of the project: 25 points
• Approach: 35 points
• Dissemination plan: 10 points
• Feasibility: 15 points
• Discretionary: 5 points.
• Total Maximum Possible Score: 100 points.

TREE Fund does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability or national or ethnic origin. Current trustees of TREE Fund or any member of the family of any such trustee are ineligible to receive grants from TREE Fund.

Moreinfo: http://www.treefund.org/grants/research-grants/kimmel