Dollar Energy Fund

Since 1983, Dollar Energy Fund has been working to meet our mission to improve the quality of life for households experiencing hardships by providing utility assistance and other services that lead to self-sufficiency. Dollar Energy Fund has grown to become the fourth largest fuel fund in the country. Our organization has been there for those who need help with their utility bills and the need is growing due to increased costs of everyday living expenses and severe winters. Our unique program model allows us to leverage the generosity of the community to maximize the support from the utility companies and their customers.

Dollar Energy Fund, Inc. envisions a community where every resident understands and accesses communi

Goal One: Create career opportunities to retain key staff and maintain a "Best Places to Work” culture

Goal Two: Exploring opportunities to establish programs in new markets or to expand programs with existing partners and in current markets.

Goal Three: Create program efficiencies to reduce costs

Dollar Energy Fund has offered several leadership-focused training opportunities for management, supervisors and staff. Training topics include general employment best practices, employee relations and engagement, conducting performance reviews, documentation procedures, handling instances with reasonable suspicion of drug and alcohol use, FMLA policies, stress management, CPR certification and workplace safety procedures. Management team members are also encouraged to participate in professional associations specific to their individual roles (HR, Fundraising, Accounting, Communications, etc.), as well as actively participate in nonprofit associations and industry coalitions.

In the last year, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dollar Energy Fund has been committed to being a resource for our neighbors in need of utility assistance. We've taken the necessary steps to ensure the continuity of our programs and services, beginning with maintaining a work environment that ensures the health and safety of our employees. Many of our employees have transitioned to working from home, and we've implemented necessary technology programs to provide appropriate communications and training, while also maintaining the standard of our workplace culture. Because many households in our service territory have experienced financial struggles in the past year, the demand for assistance through our hardship program has increased. To meet this demand, we worked with our utility partners to ensure our program guidelines were updated to benefit the most vulnerable customers. We also secured additional funding through the CARES Act, which allowed our program to provide emergency relief for families, individuals and senior citizens in need beyond what we have typically been able to provide. Our online application portal has been enhanced to allow our clients to have continued and increased access to our programs, where applicable. Local, state and federal health and safety guidelines made it difficult to host our planned fundraising events. Our organization worked with our partners to make adjustments to our plans to allow us to continue the momentum associated with our more prominent fundraising events, while also ensuring we are operating with employee and community health and safety protections in place. While things looked different, we were able to achieve many of our fundraising goals and continue generating a funding stream to support our hardship program.