January 08, 2020

The Explainer: #TeamTrees

What It Is: #TeamTrees is a content trend that doubled as a fundraising effort to plant 20 million trees by 2020. Kicked off by creators MrBeast and Mark Rober - and including hundreds of other creators - the challenge raised money for the Arbor Day Foundation, with each dollar generated being used to plant one tree.

How It Started: Upon reaching the 20 million subscriber milestone in May, Mr. Beast wondered aloud how he should reward his 20 millionth subscriber, and the internet answered: he should plant 20 million trees. The effort caught on with Rober being cited, who amplified the request to his 10 million plus subscribers.

Hundreds of creators participated, uploading videos tagged with "#teamtrees" and enabling direct donations to the cause through the “Donate” button on their videos, as well as by directing fans to a #TeamTrees website (https://teamtrees.org/).

Milestones: Videos tagged with #teamtrees passed 15 million views on the first day of the campaign, Oct. 25, 2019. Through its first 48 hours, the campaign saw over 1,500 videos uploaded with the #teamtrees tag and raised over $5 million. Less than two months later, the campaign met its $20 million goal with more than 150 million views of videos tagged #teamtrees.

Important Dates:

-10/25/2019 Mr. Beast and the YouTube community kick off #TeamTrees with Mr. Beast's video, Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!

-12/19/2019 The #TeamTrees project passes its goal of raising 20 million dollars to plant 20 million trees.

Key Creators:

-Mr. Beast Creator with over 28 million subscribers who is known for his extreme and creative endeavors, including ultra-charitable events.

-Mark Rober Ex-NASA engineer with over 10 million subscribers who uses his STEM background to create videos with an educational focus.