Corporate philanthropy in the Alaska oil and gas industry: millions of dollars and thousands of hours donated.

• Author: Anderson, Tom
• Position: OIL & GAS

If you have owned or managed a business, you're likely aware of the pressure to increase income while making payroll and ensuring your bills are paid.

Alaska has a full spectrum of commerce and businesses that struggle with profit and loss flows every year. The oil and gas industry, while employing and profiting more than any other commerce sector in the state, faces the same challenge of fiscal responsibility and stewardship to shareholders, employees, and the communities in which its companies operate and profit.

Philanthropy and sharing the earnings with nonprofit organizations particularly in the healthcare, education, and emergency response worlds makes demonstrable difference. Charitable efforts now face an even greater struggle to secure funding from private sources considering the state's fiscal deficit.

As capital budget, revenue sharing, and municipal assistance opportunities drain away, oil and gas industry members are stepping up and serving as a last bastion for financial support of critical nonprofit services and infrastructure.

Commitment to Community

Scott Odell grew up in Alaska. He worked his way up the corporate ladder with Halliburton, becoming the state's district manager last year, overseeing oil fields services and product distribution.

In the business world, particularly the oil and gas industry, economics and science are the driving forces from which profits are seen or lost. This is to be expected. Fortunately, sometimes a business and its management take an extra step, above and beyond the call of corporate duty, to evaluate and redistribute profits back into the communities from which its employees, clients, and customers reside.

Odell and Halliburton follow this altruistic model to the benefit of Alaskans.

"When I was reassigned back to Alaska last year as District Manager for Halliburton, and I reviewed how extensive the company's philanthropy extends statewide, it reinforced the importance of giving back to the community," says Odell. "Our goal, at a charitable level, is to offer volunteer time and donations to the places where our employees live and raise their families."

Halliburton has committed to and sponsored nearly $43,000 in community-based causes in 2015 and for 2016, in addition to donating employee time through volunteer efforts.

Odell says the company's range of charitable commitments impacts everything from safety--through the American Red Cross Home Fire Preparedness Campaign and the purchase of smoke detectors for installation in Alaskan homes--to supporting public safety resources like the Anchorage Police Department Auxiliary Search Team, Crime Stoppers Tips Line phone system, and the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers in its distribution of Safety...