If you know anyone who works for EQT, you might want to thank them.
Did you enjoy free admission at the Whiskey Rebellion Visitor’s Center? Thank your friends at EQT. Did your daughter sell her prize steer at the County Fair? She might thank EQT. Did you enjoy the Finleyville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival? EQT again.
Last year, the western Pennsylvania natural gas company supported the community to the tune of $6.2 million: $4.2 million to local 501(c)(3) charities from the EQT Foundation, and an additional $2 million from the corporation for other public services, including substantial support to volunteer fire departments and funding 4H programs and livestock auctions.
“Our demographic is farmers,” EQT CEO Toby Rice said. “4H teaches leadership and responsibility at a young age.”
Rain Day? They’re there even if it’s dry. They Stuff the Bus in Waynesburg, and that’s a good thing. And then there’s the EQT Covered Bridge Festival because naming rights are sooo 21st century.
“The work that we do in the community speaks to who we are as a company, and who we are as people to work for this company,” said Ellen Rossi, President of the EQT Foundation.
EQT employees are not just experts in the gas industry, they also pack a mean food parcel, plant flowers in parks, and show no mercy to invasive species.
The corporation joined Pledge 1%, a program that asks companies to give 1% of their time, their product, their profit and their equity to the community. EQT employees are asked to give 1% of their working hours to volunteering.
“Right now, we have 880 employees,” Rossi said. “That’s 8,000 hours of volunteer time so far. We’re on target every year.”
“To maintain our social license to operate - we have to be welcome and supportive,” said Rice.
For Rossi, one program that brings joy to her heart is Operation Warm, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit which provides American-made winter coats and shoes to children in need. She connected Operation Warm with local fire departments to use as distribution sites.
“Making the connections between nonprofit partners, getting people to work together, that is the best part of my job,” said Rossi. “This is the company that I have always wanted to work for.”
The money that goes to the community is important, but for Rossi, her satisfaction comes from connecting people and organizations.
“If I can make the connections to bring groups together, those are happy days for me. Those are the warm fuzzy feelings I get from the work I do every day.”
Toby Rice also understands the importance of community.
“We want people to know our values: stewardship, teamwork, seeking excellence and innovation,” he said. “To be the best, to be the operator of choice, both for leasing and drilling, and to be environmentally safe, we have to relate to the community.”
For promoting a company-wide philosophy of community service, donating resources and orchestrating sustained efforts to address community needs, EQT received the WCCF’s Charles C. Keller Excellence Award for Corporate Philanthropy.
On behalf of all those 4-H kids with their market animals, thank you, EQT.