Do you know an
environmental enthusiast?
Cox Conserves Heroes is part of Cox Enterprises’ national sustainability initiative, designed to recognize youth and adult volunteers, plus nonprofits, making a positive impact on our environment.
The Heroes are actively reducing or reusing carbon/energy and water, or are minimizing waste sent to landfills in line with our company’s own sustainability goals.
Nominations for your favorite environmental enthusiast open in August 2026.
Awards and recognition
Funding environmental impact
Annually, the program awards a total of $150,000 from the James M. Cox Foundation to nine nonprofits selected by the program’s winners. The program includes three first-place grants, three second-place grants and three third-place grants. The winner of the nonprofit category receives the Jim Kennedy Conservation Award in honor of Mr. Kennedy, chairman emeritus of Cox Enterprises, chairman of the James M. Cox Foundation, and an environmentalist who started the Cox Conserves sustainability program in 2007.
A commitment to sustainability
Cox Conserves has been instrumental in driving meaningful progress toward environmental change. We will continue to set new benchmarks in corporate sustainability as part of our ongoing journey to become a more sustainable company through our operations, partnerships and grants to nonprofits. We want to honor volunteers and nonprofits who are actively working to make progress in environmental sustainability while inspiring others to do the same.
To be eligible, nominees must be positively impacting the planet in all of the following areas:
Conservation
Activities reduce or reuse carbon/energy or water, or minimize waste sent to landfills.
Volunteerism
Activities are done on a volunteer basis and are not part of paid employment.
Inspiration
Activities must inspire others to engage in environmental sustainability.
More about the awardees
Learn more about previous winners and the causes they represent.
