John Z. Duling and Evelyn Duling Endowment Fund Grant Program
John Z. Duling and Evelyn Duling Endowment Fund Grant Program supports research teams with seed funding for innovative research and technology transfer to improve arborists’ everyday work.
Funder: Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund
Due Dates: September 1, 2026 (Letter of Intent) | October 15, 2026 (Full application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $15,000 per project, completed within one to three years
Summary: Seed funding for innovative research and technology transfer projects that could improve arborists’ everyday work.
Key Information: Only applicants with an approved Letter of Intent may submit a full application; grants to individuals are excluded.
Description
The John Z. Duling and Evelyn Duling Endowment Fund Grant Program is administered by TREE Fund and was established through a bequest from the Dulings’ estate in Indiana. It provides start-up or seed support for innovative research and technology transfer with the potential to benefit arborists’ everyday work.
The program supports exploratory work on early-stage, untested but potentially transformative ideas. This includes new approaches to research questions and new expertise offering novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives. TREE Fund also emphasizes sharing findings with both researchers and tree care professionals, with the goal of making results freely and widely available while accommodating academic and professional publication schedules.
