Cedar Tree Foundation Inc.

Cedar Tree Foundation Inc. is a Boston-based family foundation established in the mid-1990s by the late pediatrician and entrepreneur Dr. David H. Smith. With approximately $85.9 million in assets and a track record of $9.6 million to $15.4 million in annual giving (FY2019–FY2023), it is a strategically focused private foundation operating exclusively in the United States. Its giving philosophy centers on the belief that individuals and organizations can make significant changes in the world — a principle that translates into multi-year, relationship-driven grantmaking rather than transactional single-year awards.

Critical context for all applicants: Cedar Tree announced in 2025 its intention to spend down and close by 2028, with final grants distributed through 2027. This fundamentally reshapes the application landscape. The foundation is explicitly prioritizing existing grantee relationships and is not actively seeking new programmatic partners except through the Rooted in Justice program, which remains its one open RFP-based entry point.

The foundation favors organizations that are community-based, led by and serving people of color, and working at the intersection of environmental justice and community health. Over its history, it has sustained the David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship at the Society for Conservation Biology (over $3.24 million in cumulative grants, sole funder since 1999), the Regenerative Grazing Initiative spanning tribal and rural ranching communities, the Children's Environmental Health Initiative, civic engagement work in underrepresented communities, and the CEE-Change Fellowship at NAAEE.

Most programs operate by invitation or direct solicitation. The Rooted in Justice program, launched in 2021 with a participatory grantmaking model, is the lone open RFP program — selecting only 4 multiyear cohort grantees per cycle from a field of 50+ applicants. First-time applicants face a narrow window and should prioritize deep alignment over broad aspirational language.

The relationship arc at Cedar Tree is notably long — grantees like the Environmental Working Group, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, National Audubon Society, and Practical Farmers of Iowa appear across multiple cycles with growing cumulative investments. New entrants should demonstrate authentic racial equity leadership, organizational capacity for sustained two-year initiatives, and a clear connection to one of the foundation's named priority areas. Given the 2028 closure, proposals should frame the ask as a high-impact partnership in Cedar Tree's final grantmaking chapter — not an introduction to a long-term relationship.

Cedar Tree's grant data reveals a funder with a wide disbursement range but a concentrated programmatic core. Across 192 tracked grants totaling $14.9 million in the grantee dataset, the median grant is $45,000 and the average is $75,745 — figures skewed by a small number of large, multi-year anchor commitments. The Society for Conservation Biology's Smith Fellows Program alone accounts for $3.24 million across two grant records, reflecting Cedar Tree's role as the program's sole sustaining funder since 1999. Excluding this structural outlier, the effective working range for most funded organizations falls between $20,000 and $250,000 per grant relationship.

Annual giving has ranged from $9.6 million (FY2020) to $15.4 million (FY2023), with intermediate years at $11.2 million (FY2021) and $10.7 million (FY2022). Total assets peaked at $119.9 million in FY2021 before declining to $85.9 million in FY2024, consistent with the foundation's spend-down trajectory and elevated distributions relative to investment returns. Revenue is almost entirely investment-driven: net investment income ranged from $1.5 million (FY2023, a market downturn year) to $11.8 million (FY2021). No external contributions have been received since FY2015.

By program area, conservation and environmental science (Smith Fellows + Regenerative Grazing Initiative) represent the largest share. The Regenerative Grazing cluster — spanning Practical Farmers of Iowa ($350K), Intertribal Agriculture Council ($275K), Piikani Lodge Health Institute ($270K), Wolfe's Neck Farm Foundation ($250K), Land Stewardship Project ($250K), Quivira Coalition ($220K), Western Sustainability Exchange ($180K), Tanka Fund ($180K), Winrock International ($250K), and Defenders of Wildlife ($120K) — totals approximately $2.35 million in the dataset.

Children's environmental health grants collectively total over $2.1 million, spanning Environmental Working Group ($250K), Healthy Building Network ($250K), Center for Black Women's Wellness ($250K), Women's Voices for the Earth ($250K), Defend Our Health ($250K), Coming Clean ($250K), Center for Environmental Health ($250K), Silent Spring Institute ($100K), and Alaska Community Action on Toxics ($250K).

Geographically, Massachusetts leads with 59 grants — reflecting the Boston base and ties to Conservatory Lab Charter School Foundation, Greenroots, and Boston Impact Initiative. Washington DC (18 grants), New York (17), and California (16) follow, while Montana (9) and New Mexico (7) reflect the Regenerative Grazing Initiative's reach into tribal and ranch communities. The Rooted in Justice program standardizes grants at $25,000/year for two years plus $6,000 for professional development.

The following table compares Cedar Tree to five foundations of similar asset scale identified through IRS data:

Cedar Tree stands out from its asset-size peers in two important ways. First, it operates a well-documented, multi-program grantmaking strategy with publicly accessible funding priorities, application portals, and annual grants lists — providing grant seekers with far more transparency than the comparison foundations, which disclose little about their processes. Second, Cedar Tree's announced spend-down to 2028 sets it apart from peers of similar scale that may continue indefinitely; this creates a finite but intensified distribution window in 2026–2027 that could result in larger terminal grants to existing partners. Among foundations of this asset tier, Cedar Tree's commitment to participatory grantmaking (Rooted in Justice's outside review panel model) and its explicit racial equity lens are relatively distinctive features that signal what the foundation values in applicants.

The defining development of 2025 is Cedar Tree's announced intention to spend down and close by 2028, with final grants distributed through 2027. This decision concludes the philanthropic legacy of founder Dr. David H. Smith and fundamentally changes how the foundation engages with prospective grantees — the institution is now in wind-down mode, consolidating support around existing partners rather than expanding its portfolio.

In April 2025, Cedar Tree announced the 2025 Rooted in Justice cohort: four organizations receiving two-year grants of $25,000/year plus $6,000 for professional development. The 2025 multiyear grantees are City Blossoms (Youth Entrepreneurship Cooperative Program), Friends of Refugees Inc. (Growing Leaders Program), Dream of Wild Health (Native Youth Education and Leadership Program), and Urban Community Agri-Nomics (YouthCan program). Eight additional organizations received one-time $5,000 awards (Change Today Change Tomorrow, Athens Land Trust, Montclair Community Farms, Virginia Community Voice) or $10,000 renewal grants (Cultivate Charlottesville, Grow Dat Youth Farm).

The 2025–2026 Rooted in Justice RFP is expected in early September 2025 with applications due approximately October 2, 2026 — likely one of the final competitive cycles before the foundation concludes its open grantmaking in 2027.

Executive Director Sophia Kolehmainen has led Cedar Tree continuously across at least four documented compensation years (FY2020–FY2023), with total compensation rising steadily from $178,406 to $201,187. This leadership continuity signals organizational stability through the spend-down transition. President Joan M. Smith (founder's family) serves without compensation, consistent with the foundation's family governance structure.

Given Cedar Tree's 2028 spend-down, the 2025–2026 RFP cycle represents one of the final opportunities for new organizations to enter the portfolio. Every application decision should be made with this time-limited context in mind.

Identify your entry point before doing anything else. The only open RFP program is Rooted in Justice, targeting grassroots organizations engaging youth ages 12–20 in food and environmental justice. If your work does not serve this population in these areas, the available pathways are Letters of Inquiry through three named topic-specific portals: fracking and energy extraction in the Delaware River Valley, sustainable redevelopment in Detroit, and urban agriculture in Washington DC (especially for low-income communities of color). Do not send unsolicited full proposals — Cedar Tree explicitly directs organizations outside named categories to submit brief summaries via the Environmental Idea Center form on the website.

For Rooted in Justice applicants, set a calendar alert for August and watch cedartreefound.org daily. The RFP typically drops in early September; in 2024, over 50 organizations applied for 4 multiyear slots. To improve your odds: lead with authentic youth decision-making authority (the outside review panel evaluates whether young people ages 12–20 have genuine leadership power, not ceremonial participation), align your budget to the $25,000/year structure, and develop a credible plan for the $6,000 professional development component (at least $3,000 must directly support youth).

State your racial equity lens explicitly. Cedar Tree's published language consistently references organizations led by people of color serving communities of color as a priority. This is not subtext — it is a stated selection criterion. Quantify leadership demographics and community ownership in your narrative.

Reference network coherence. Mentioning complementary or collaborative relationships with existing Cedar Tree grantees — Environmental Working Group, Practical Farmers of Iowa, National Audubon Society, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, or the CEE-Change Fellowship at NAAEE — signals ecosystem awareness and programmatic fit.

Frame for the spend-down. Proposals should acknowledge Cedar Tree's place in the environmental philanthropy landscape and position your ask as a high-impact investment in the foundation's final grantmaking chapter. Emphasize outcomes measurable within a two-year window and demonstrate how your organization will sustain the work after Cedar Tree's closure in 2028.