PLANET AEF expands mission and vision

HERNDON, Va. — The PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation (PLANET AEF) is expanding its mission; In additional to providing scholarships, the Foundation will engage in a public awareness campaign to attract people into a career in the landscape and lawn care industry.

For more than a decade, PLANET AEF has focused on providing scholarships to students pursuing education to prepare them for a career in the landscape industry. To date, the Foundation has awarded $811,400 in scholarships to 786 students, with a fund balance of $3.8 million.

However, through its strong partnership with faculty and with landscape industry companies, the foundation’s leadership became aware of the need not only to support students who are already attending landscape industry college programs, but also to attract promising students. Enrollment in college horticulture and landscape programs has been on the decline. Consequently, landscape industry companies continue to struggle to hire enough well-educated employees.

Over the past year, the PLANET AEF Board of Directors has undergone a strategic planning process that led to the adoption of a new mission, vision, and strategic plan for the organization.

“There has been a growing concern, for a number of years, on the part of college faculty and company recruiters that there is a chronic shortage of qualified staff in the landscape industry,” said Tom Fochtman, president of PLANET AEF. “We need to tackle this problem now if we want to ensure a bright future for our industry.”

In order to fulfill its new mission, “to attract, inspire, and support the education and advancement of landscape professionals who create and manage healthy green spaces for the benefit of society,” PLANET AEF will engage in research to better understand the employment needs of the landscape industry. It will also develop a program to raise awareness about the benefits of a professional career in the industry.

“The PLANET AEF board is committed to this new mission of attracting talented people into the profession,” said Jim McCutcheon president of PLANET. “It has worked hard to develop a strategic plan that will help accomplish this.”

PLANET AEF is actively seeking partners and contributors. The Foundation is supported by tax-deductible donations from individuals, companies, and state associations.