Marketing Your Accreditation

Submit a Story to Local Media

One way to make news about your achievement is to submit your news story to your local media outlets and industry publications.

Use Social Media

Be sure to use social media outlets to spread the word about your accreditation, and tag ArbNet.  We are on Facebook (@ArbNet), X (@ArbNetorg), and Instagram (@arbnetorg).

Promote Your Accreditation on Your Website

Develop a page on your website devoted to your accreditation, explaining what an arboretum is and the importance of accreditation. If you don’t have your own website—or even if you do—be sure and share your arboretum listing on the Morton Register of Arboreta.

Describe ArbNet and Your Accreditation

When speaking with the public, be sure to explain and describe the organizations that you are accredited through.

Digital Accreditation Badge

Use the ArbNet accreditation badges that are provided with accreditation on your website, brochures, signature lines, tree labels, etc.

Produce Signage 

Use our new ArbNet signs that are available to purchase.

Submit a Story to Local Media

Arboretum accreditation is a meaningful achievement both for your organization and for your community. Arboreta and green spaces provide educational, wellbeing, and ecological benefits to those who visit. 

Your arboretum accreditation is newsworthy and can be shared with local media outlets.

Crafting a Meaningful Story

Start by identifying why your accreditation matters. Local media are drawn to stories that highlight community value. Tell how your arboretum enhances quality of life, provides educational opportunities, or contributes to environmental stewardship. 

Frame your message around impact—what this recognition says about your organization’s growth, and how it will help you serve your community in new ways.

Including a short quote from your director, board chair, or a local official helps humanize the story and connect it to your organization’s mission. Journalists appreciate a clear, heartfelt narrative that explains why this achievement is significant.

Develop a Press Release

A press release is your primary tool for sharing the news. A press release should be written with a concise headline announcing your accreditation level, followed by a brief introduction about your arboretum and the value of ArbNet accreditation. Include a short description of ArbNet and The Morton Arboretum to provide context, and use one or two quotes that express pride, purpose, and community benefit.

Add a few sentences about your arboretum’s history, mission, and programs, and close with contact information and a link to your website or ArbNet profile. A high-quality photo—of your landscape, staff, or visitors—can make your story more engaging and visually appealing to editors.

Connect with Local Media

Identify media outlets that align with your mission and audience—local newspapers, community magazines, regional radio, or municipal newsletters. Personalize your outreach with a short, professional email introducing your story and attaching your press release. A subject line like “Local Arboretum Earns International Accreditation” helps capture attention.

In your message, emphasize why this milestone matters to their readers—especially if your arboretum serves as a public space, educational hub, or contributor to local sustainability. Keep your outreach concise, friendly, and informative.

Social Media Tips

Be sure and share your accreditation with your social media followers! 

Here are some examples:

Learn more about Social Media Tips and other strategies to share your story. 

If you are not a “traditional arboretum” or a “botanical garden” simply add a page on your website regarding your arboretum and your ArbNet accreditation. 

Include ArbNet in a footer on a webpage or presentation.

Website Examples

Website footer example

Describe ArbNet

Explain the organization that you are accredited through for additional impact and clarity.

In April 2011, The Morton Arboretum launched ArbNet and arbnet.org, an interactive community of arboreta and tree professionals designed to support the common purposes and interests of tree-focused public gardens. The Arboretum Accreditation Program was established through ArbNet at the same time to provide specific standards of professional practice, and offers four levels of accreditation. In tandem, they created the Morton Register of Arboreta—a global database of arboreta and other public gardens that have a substantial focus on woody plants.

Since its inception, ArbNet has accredited over 800 arboreta across 40 countries. In 2022, ArbNet was honored with the American Public Gardens Association Program Excellence Award. Into the next decade, ArbNet will engage its large and growing audience by continuing to support gardens in reaching their professional goals and milestones, sharing best practices and resources, improving urban forestry by supporting municipal tree collections, building capacity for smaller arboreta through grants and professional opportunities, establishing arboreta in biodiversity hotspots to facilitate conservation, supporting tree conservation efforts through partnership and networks, and finally, supporting scientific and horticultural research in arboretum collections of all sizes.

The ArbNet program is unique and impactful, which can be seen by its global footprint and diversity of arboreta. ArbNet supports a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world.

ArbNet’s founding organization, The Morton Arboretum, is an internationally recognized tree-focused botanical garden and research center. Its 1,700 acres of beautiful tree-filled landscapes are a place of enjoyment, a vibrant hub for nature education, and a world-renowned center for scientific research that studies trees and how to sustain them. As a nonprofit organization, The Morton Arboretum’s mission is to collect, study, display, and conserve trees and other plants from around the world to inspire learning, foster enjoyment, benefit communities, encourage action, and enhance the environment.

Digital ArbNet Accreditation Badge

Use the ArbNet accreditation badges when posting tree events, and on brochures, tree labels, arboretum signs, etc. 

You may obtain your appropriate jpeg accreditation badge by contacting ArbNet staff at arbnet@mortonarb.org. 

Various file versions, such as black-and-white and higher resolution versions, are available.

Examples using the accreditation badge in promotional materials:

Examples using the accreditation badge in signage:

Accreditation Signs

An ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation sign is available to order through Cynosure Custom Signs, Inc. The process and details for ordering a sign to recognize your accreditation are below. 

Ordering an Accreditation Sign 

ArbNet-accredited arboreta can request an accreditation sign by using Cynosure’s contact form on their website or by email at cynosuresigns@gmail.com, and reference the ArbNet accreditation sign. 

If you wish to purchase a customized version of the accreditation sign with your own logo included, you will need to send your logo file to Cynosure with your request.

Accreditation signs are made of dibond—an aluminum composite sheet—and are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Size Options

Prices do not include cost of shipping or taxes.

• 9×12 inches, customized or uncustomized: $25 (USD)
  
• 12×18 inches, customized or uncustomized: $35 (USD)

If you live outside of the United States, you can request the image file for the sign design by emailing the ArbNet staff at arbnet@mortonarb.org and take it to a local sign vendor near you.

Accreditation Sign Examples