In 2008, a group of Bell employees pooled $7,500 of their Pay It Forward dollars to start a $1,000 annual scholarship through the Detroit Lakes Dollars for Scholars program in the name of Bell Bank. Once again in 2015, a group of employees pooled $6,500 of Pay It Forward dollars to add to the endowment to ensure that the Bell scholarship would continue for years to come.

In 2016 the $1,000 scholarship was awarded to Wyatt Nelson who will be attending the University of Minnesota - Duluth and majoring in Engineering.