Cellcom Green Gifts

Cellcom is excited to announce our 2026 Green Gifts application is now open! This year, $30,000 will be awarded to outstanding organizations across Cellcom’s service area. These funds support projects that protect natural resources, promote sustainability, and provide environmental education for all ages.

See the video below, featuring Green Bay Sail & Paddle, one of last year’s recipients. Their work to connect the community with our waterways highlights the importance of environmental stewardship and outdoor education. You can find more stories about last year’s recipients and the incredible impact they’re making here.

The Cellcom Green Gifts application window will close September 30th, 2026. For all details on eligibility and how to apply, click here.

Apply Now

Who Can Apply?

Cellcom welcomes Green Gift applications from organizations dedicated to environmental sustainability and the preservation of our wildlife habitats. We also strongly encourage non-environmental organizations to submit a Green Gift application for projects or programs that focus on environmental stewardship or offer an innovative approach to education or addressing a community issue. 

We’re fortunate to live and work in a region that’s filled with natural resource for all of us to enjoy.  Organizations throughout Wisconsin pave the way for our communities to connect with nature by preserving and enhancing natural areas, providing educational programming, and spearheading sustainability and research efforts. We’re excited to support the many nonprofits throughout our service area that are leading the way as environmental stewards.

Green Gift recipients will be notified in October, and funds will be dispersed in October and November.

Green Gifts are used to support organizations, programs and projects that:

  • Address a community-based issue that relates to the environment
    • Focus on reducing negative impact on the environment
    • Provide environmental education programs for all ages
    • Provide educational opportunities for adults to learn about environmental sustainability, including training or leadership development
    • Foster water conservation, protection of our air, landscape and water or wildlife preservation.

Funding Details

In 2025, Cellcom distributed a total of $30,425 in Green Gifts. 

Through Green Gifts, Cellcom donates proceeds from its cell phone recycling program to local organizations, programs and projects that are dedicated to or support environmental sustainability.  The program was launched to protect the environment and support conservation in Northeast Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Customers can bring in their old, unwanted or broken phones to be reused and recycled. Cellcom sends the phones to recyclers who in return send money to Cellcom for the materials that were saved from the phones. Consumers can contribute to the program by donating their old cell phones for recycling at any Cellcom retail location.

Cellcom Green Gifts will not be awarded to: 

  • Individuals
  • Private foundations
  • For-profit organizations
  • Political organizations or campaigns
  • International efforts
  • Capital fund drives
  • Endowments
  • To fund labor costs 

Cellcom makes one-year gifts and does not offer multi-year donations. A new Green Gift application must be submitted for each year a Green Gift is requested.

Application Details

The following items are requested in the online application: 

  • Contact name, phone number, email and mailing address
  • Organization’s mission or purpose (50 words or less)
  • Brief history of the organization (50 words or less)

Project(s) description (250 words or less) including:

  • Project overview Goals and objectives
  • Brief timeline
  • Project activities
  • Breakdown of projected costs for project and amount requested
  • A description of the community need addressed by the project
  • Overview of the educational impact of the project
  • Description of how project will be evaluated
  • Past impact of organization’s work on the environment
  • Please contact Kevin Brown (kevin.brown@nsight.com) with any questions.

2025 Recipients

Here are the 2025 Cellcom Green Gifts that were awarded throughout Cellcom’s service area:

  • Lake Edge Learning Center
  • Green Bay Sail & Paddle
  • Greater Green Bay YMCA
  • Town of Oneida Fire Department
  • Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
  • Manitowoc County Historical Society
  • Pulaski Lions Foundation
  • Trees For Tomorrow
  • Wild Instincts
  • Good News Project
  • Heckrodt Wetland Reserve
  • Freedom House Ministries
  • North Lakeland Discovery Center
  • Friends of Neshota Park
  • L.H. Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve
  • Green Bay Botanical Garden
  • Friends of Potawatomi State Park
  • Navarino Nature Center
  • Waterways Association of Menominee and Shawano Counties
  • Woodland Dunes Nature Center & Preserve
  • Green Bay Southwest High
  • Baird Creek Preservation Foundation
  • Red Smith School - Green Bay Public Schools
  • Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System d.b.a. UW-Green Bay
  • Rahr Memorial School Forest - Manitowoc Public School District
  • Ruffed Grouse Society
  • Open Door Bird Sanctuary
  • City of Green Bay – Conservation Corps
  • The Environmental Park Trust of Sheboygan County