Volunteerism and
Community Support
41,792
Number of employee volunteer hours at PG&E-organized events in 2012
PG&E employees are enthusiastic volunteers, spending tens of thousands of hours each year working in the communities where they live and work. Whether traveling across the country to help utility customers in need, cleaning up state parks across Northern and Central California, building playgrounds, mentoring students or walking to raise money for people with developmental disabilities, the men and women of PG&E continue to give back.
Volunteer Program Results
In 2012, more than 7,470 employee volunteers donated 41,792 hours at a variety of PG&E-organized events during the year—nearly doubling the number of volunteer hours from five years ago and once again exceeding our volunteer targets. When multiplied by the industry standard value of $24.75 for a volunteer hour, these volunteer efforts added up to more than $1 million in equivalent labor.
For 25 years, PG&E has recognized its top volunteers with an award named for Frederick W. Mielke, Jr., a former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company who demonstrated tireless community service.
Our volunteerism efforts continue to grow, in part because PG&E’s community investment program places a priority on funding initiatives that offer an opportunity for employee volunteers to engage. Our efforts are also supported by a network of community relations representatives that work collaboratively with employees and our stakeholders.
For 2013, we set even more ambitious goals of 43,050 hours from employee volunteers at PG&E-sponsored events.
TIP: Click on the items in the chart legend to selectively remove or restore chart data.
In 2013, we offered our first-ever Month of Service, organizing 186 volunteer events in April. In total during the Month of Service, more than 2,830 employees, their friends and families contributed about 11,745 hours of service.
Earth Day Highlights
Click on the Currents links below to see photos and details of the restoration and cleanup work at numerous locations:
- More than 1,000 PG&E employees clean state parks
- Volunteers keep Bakersfield beautiful
- Volunteers clear brush and clean trails in Humboldt County
- Volunteers clean up Sonoma coastline
- Oakland shoreline gets cleanup from PG&E volunteers
- Volunteers fix bridge and trails at Auburn recreation area
- Volunteers brighten up historic Santa Cruz Mission
- Volunteers repair mill at Napa County park
- Volunteers clear area near historic barn in San Mateo County
- Volunteers spruce up Montaña de Oro State Park in San Luis Obispo
There were numerous highlights last year:
- Earth Day: In April, the annual Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup, our flagship employee volunteer event, brought together more than 1,000 PG&E volunteers at 16 state parks throughout our service area. It represented PG&E’s 11th consecutive year as the presenting sponsor of this event hosted by the California State Parks Foundation. Blue-shirted PG&E employees, retirees, friends and family painted fences, cleared trails, planted trees, restored park attractions and removed invasive plant species at parks across Northern and Central California in what has become our single, largest volunteer event.
- Raising Awareness on Safety: In support of PG&E’s focus on delivering safe, reliable and affordable gas and electric service, we launched a new community outreach initiative in 2012 to provide gas and electric safety demonstrations to the public at local community and school events across the service area. In 2012, we reached more than 100,000 community members through roughly 620 demonstration events.
- Best Buddies Challenge: In September, a team of PG&E cyclists raised nearly $50,000 for Best Buddies International, an organization that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thirty PG&E cyclists rode along the scenic Pacific Coast while other employees volunteered at the finish line.
- Habitat for Humanity: In October, PG&E renewed its six-year commitment to Habitat for Humanity through our PG&E Solar Habitat Program at the construction site of a new 12-home affordable housing development in Oakland. The partnership is further supported by the thousands of PG&E volunteers that have come together at Habitat-build sites across the state.
- Power Your Community: In support of our employees’ community involvement, in 2012 PG&E donated $100,000 in Power Your Community grants to 91 organizations that benefit from our employees’ volunteer hours. The employees—who included tree planters, board secretaries and PTA members—applied for grants of $2,500 or $1,000 on behalf of schools or community organizations with which they are connected.
Following Superstorm Sandy, more than 250 PG&E employees volunteered to help provide mutual aid assistance to utilities affected by the storm. The employees and more than 70 trucks and other pieces of PG&E equipment traveled to New York to help restore power to tens of thousands of Con Edison and Long Island Power Authority customers. The teams spent more than two weeks pulling 16-hour shifts, despite being interrupted by a Nor’easter storm that delivered freezing temperatures, sleet and snow.
PG&E’s contingent was one of the largest, and traveled the farthest, of the dozen utilities throughout the United States and Canada that sent support. The PG&E crews were compensated for their work, but the lengthy waiting list revealed the dedication and strong spirit of volunteerism that characterizes our employees.
Nonprofit Board Service
Volunteerism comes in many forms, and PG&E’s leadership team is actively involved in the community through service on many nonprofit boards.
Of the officers who have been with PG&E for more than a year, about 95 percent serve on local affiliate nonprofit boards such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, United Way, Make-A-Wish Foundation and local chambers of commerce. Other PG&E employees are also consistently sought after as members of nonprofit boards, serving a range of organizations.
