Our community impact
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.
Serving over 1.34 million natural gas and electric utility customers in 800+ communities across eight states, our direct economic impact included charitable giving, compensation for almost 2,900 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 31,000 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 2023, we invested more than $651,000 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 $697,000 last year.
Energy in action
United Way pledges
Last year, we benefited 45 United Ways across our eight states including over $495,000 in employee pledges plus a 25% match from Black Hills Corp. Foundation.
Charitable giving
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 $2.3 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.
Spreading Positive Energy in our communities
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Nebraska Volunteer of the Year Brock Domeier, a gas service technician in the Sutton area, represents volunteerism through his dedication to supporting his small-town community. Brock’s devotion to his community and country deserves praise and recognition. Not only has he dedicated countless hours… -
Thank you to Brody Reddell and James Dotson for volunteering their time to help with many duties preparing for this wonderful golfing fundraiser to benefit United Way of Boone County, in Harrison, Arkansas! They both put up all the signage at each of the 18 holes, drove and picked up donated… -
“Building a community of character, one kid at a time!” That’s the goal of the First Tee program, and it lines up perfectly with Black Hills Energy’s values and emphasis on doing the right thing. So it makes perfect sense that our company has opted to support the First Tee of Northwest Arkansas… -
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the Poultry Festival golf tournament! Our business development team in Fayetteville, Arkansas, recently played in the 63rd Annual Poultry Festival golf tournament hosted by Tyson Commodity Purchasing Group. We were a sponsor for the event and donated…