Sharing our energy with the communities we serve through charitable giving, outreach and employee volunteerism.
We are privileged to serve natural gas and electric utility customers in our eight-state footprint. Giving back to those communities is part of our history, our culture, and will hopefully be our legacy. We continuously strive to positively impact the lives of every person, business, and organization in the towns and cities we all call home.
Providing safe and reliable energy every day is what we do, and alongside that commitment, our employees make a meaningful difference in the communities where they live and work.
We are proud to share this summary of our community impact activities throughout 2022.
Serving over 1.3 million natural gas and electric utility customers in 825 communities across eight states, our direct economic impact included charitable giving, compensation for almost 3,000 employees, franchise fees, payments to suppliers, and property, sales and use taxes paid to our communities.
We know that by giving back in our communities, we are helping build a stronger and more vibrant society. At the same time, volunteers benefit by finding a sense of purpose and meaning. More than 760 employees spent over 34,000 hours sharing their energy while volunteering with hundreds of community organizations.
We supported the work of economic development organizations and chambers of commerce working to strengthen our communities. In 2022, we invested more than $1,700,000 to aid this development that fuels our local businesses.
Black Hills Cares
We all use energy to heat our homes when it’s cold and keep the lights on when it gets dark. Making the tough decision between paying for energy or feeding your family is beyond challenging. As the need increased, so did the giving. Last year, our energy assistance program, Black Hills Cares, helped over 4,600 families through partnerships with two dozen agencies throughout our service territory.
We match our customers’ and employees’ contributions to Black Hills Cares dollar-for-dollar, raising a total of almost $760,000 last year.
Energy in action
United Way pledges
Last year, we benefited 45 United Ways across our eight states including over $600,000 in employee pledges plus a 25% match from Black Hills Corp. Foundation.
Customers saved energy
We offer our customers a wide variety of programs and rebates to help them learn how to reduce energy waste and lower their energy bills. Our customers understand the importance of these efforts and almost 28,500 customers participated in at least one Black Hills Energy-sponsored energy efficiency program during 2022. Learn more about our energy efficiency programs. Learn more about our energy efficiency programs.
Charitable impact
Included contributions and sponsorships to nonprofits, chambers and economic development organizations, United Way, energy assistance, in-kind donations, scholarships, investments in trees and the social impact of employee volunteer hours.
Charitable giving
Contributions and sponsorships
Our charitable impact included contributions and sponsorships for nonprofits, chambers and economic development organizations, United Way, energy assistance, in-kind donations, and investments in trees, as well as the monetary value of our employees’ volunteerism.
Nearly $1.65 million was invested by our state utilities and the Black Hills Corp. Foundation in the great work of hundreds of worthy local organizations and nonprofits.
Charitable impact by state
We are proud to strengthen the communities where we live and serve. In 2022, our charitable giving totaled more than $6 million including gifts from our corporate foundation and state utility budgets as well as employee giving to United Way and support provided through Black Hills Energy’s energy assistance program, Black Hills Cares. Below is a breakout of how our charitable giving impacted each of our states.
Click on your state below to see how we gave back in the community you live in.
| Foundation* | State Operating Funds | Employee United Way Giving (Paid in 2022) | BH Cares | Volunteerism | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | $83,183 | $211,757 | $63,791 | $67,925 | $105,295 | $531,951 |
| Colorado | $55,196 | $531,971 | $81,956 | $168,969 | $41,656 | $879,749 |
| Iowa | $59,486 | $408,418 | $17,825 | $72,866 | $88,783 | $647,378 |
| Kansas | $30,519 | $274,614 | $34,980 | $157,882 | $60,269 | $558,264 |
| Nebraska | $94,689 | $338,120 | $91,893 | $151,584 | $257,332 | $933,619 |
| South Dakota | $107,584 | $1,361,654 | $237,924 | $73,896 | $259,436 | $2,040,494 |
| Wyoming | $79,902 | $187,197 | $76,033 | $66,621 | $91,971 | $501,724 |
| Total company-wide impact | $510,559 | $3,313,731 | $604,402 | $759,744 | $904,743 | $6,093,179 |
*Charitable impact related to the two communities we serve in Montana is factored into our South Dakota and Wyoming totals.
Spreading Positive Energy in our communities
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