Terry is nominated for Coolest Dutch Brands 2026

Four friends, an app and a browser extension, and a growing community of people who want their everyday spending to mean something more. This one is for all of them.

We have some news we are a little bit proud of: Terry has been nominated by Fonk Magazine for Coolest Dutch Brands 2026. We are the sixth nominee of the year, and to be honest, seeing our name on that list still feels slightly surreal.

Because here is the thing. Terry only opened to the public in June 2026. A few weeks later, we were nominated for one of the most respected sustainability brand awards in the Netherlands. For a platform this young, that is a wonderful vote of confidence, not just in what we have built, but in the idea behind it.

What is Coolest Dutch Brands?

Coolest Dutch Brands is an annual award organised by Fonk Magazine, the Dutch trade publication for the creative marketing and communication industry. Every year the editors select twelve Dutch, purpose-driven brands that put sustainability at the heart of what they do. A jury of more than sixty strategists and creatives then assesses the nominees across three rounds: a written round, a live semi-final, and a final pitch. The winner of Coolest Dutch Brands 2026 will be announced in May 2027.

The award has been running since 2017, and the list of past winners reads like a who's who of Dutch brands with a conscience: Naturalis, De Vegetarische Slager, Fairphone, VanMoof, Marcel's Green Soap, The Good Roll, Smyle, BYBORRE, and, last year, Zeeman.

In very good company

We are also sharing the 2026 shortlist with some seriously strong names. Earlier this year, brands like Triodos Bank, Fish Tales, Stox Energy Socks, Oliver Green, and No Waste Army were nominated too. Standing alongside them, and in the footsteps of earlier winners like Fairphone, VanMoof, and Zeeman, is exactly the kind of company we hoped to keep.

As our co-founder Gustaaf Dekking put it: "It is an honour to stand in a line-up with brands like Fairphone, VanMoof, and Zeeman, all companies we look up to ourselves. For us, this nomination is above all confirmation that Terry's story resonates: that existing money flows can mean far more for nature than we often think."

The idea behind Terry

If you are new here, a quick recap. Terry is a Dutch donation platform, an app and a browser extension, that automatically generates a free donation for nature and climate projects whenever you make an online purchase at one of more than 600 connected brands, from NS, Bol, Coolblue, and HEMA to Vandebron, Dille & Kamille, and Wilderland.

The clever part is that it costs you nothing extra. Terry works on the affiliate commissions that brands already pay, and simply redirects a share of that existing money towards nature restoration. You shop the way you always would, directly with the retailer, and a donation is triggered behind the scenes.

It started, as many of these things do, with a shared frustration. Four friends, worried about climate change and the state of nature, kept running into solutions that asked for more money, more time, or a change in habits that was hard to sustain. Meanwhile, billions of euros flow through the economy every single day. So they asked a simple question: what if a part of those existing flows could give something back to nature, without asking people to consume more?

That question became Terry. And the philosophy that guides it is refreshingly honest: buy less, but when you do, buy better. Terry is not here to make anyone shop more. It is here to add a layer of impact to the purchases people were going to make anyway.

Small amounts, serious impact

During our beta phase, early users already generated nearly 1,000 donations, sending thousands of euros to nature restoration projects. More than half of our users generate donations every month, and between 40 and 50 percent stay active month after month. Those numbers gave us the confidence to leave the relative safety of the beta behind and go live.

We also do not do this alone. Terry works together with thirty social and environmental organisations, including Land van Ons, The Pollinators, Trees for All, Stichting Rechten van de Natuur, and the Jane Goodall Institute Netherlands. Every donation flows to real projects run by people who know exactly what nature needs.

This nomination belongs to our community

And honestly? This nomination is just as much yours as it is ours.

An award is a lovely thing to receive, but it does not restore a single hectare of farmland or bring back a single butterfly. Our users do that. It is your purchases, your donations, and your enthusiasm that prove, every single day, that making an impact really does not have to be complicated. A cool brand? What we really have is a cool community.

That, more than any trophy, is what we are proud of: that four friends with an idea built something people actually use, for a better climate. Three years ago, we could not have dreamed we would get this far.

What's next

We are still very much at the beginning. The Netherlands is our first market, and expansion across Europe is on the horizon. The biggest challenge ahead of us is not explaining what Terry does, but becoming a natural part of people's daily routine. That means being visible in more places, growing our community, and showing that impact can quietly ride along with the economic behaviour we already have. As nature grows, Terry grows with it.

The full interview with Terry appears in Fonk Magazine, in print and online. You can read it here: https://fonkmagazine.com/artikelen/cool-brands/terry-is-de-zesde-genomineerde-voor-coolest-dutch-brands-2026-77061.html

And if this is the moment you have been waiting for to join in: get Terry for your browser or phone, and turn your next online purchase into something that gives back.

About Terry

Terry is a Dutch donation platform that automatically generates a free donation for nature and climate projects with every online purchase at more than 600 connected brands. The platform runs on affiliate commissions, redirecting existing money flows towards nature restoration at no extra cost to the user. Terry was founded by Roderick Villevoye, Furio Cioni, Gustaaf Dekking, and Michiel Jenniskens (and Terry the otter), and works with thirty social and environmental organisations. Its philosophy: buy less, but when you do, buy better.

Learn more at terry.earth · LinkedIn · Instagram