Strategic Giving

In 2009, Spectra Energy gave back more than $7.5 million to the communities where we live and work through our philanthropic programs. In addition to making financial contributions, supporting communities means giving of our time and talent. Our investments in sustainable benefits to our communities and stakeholders will enable Spectra Energy to realize our vision of becoming the partner of choice for our communities and the employer of choice for individuals.

Through 2009, our philanthropy has been primarily focused on three areas: educational attainment, to encourage the study of math, science and technology especially targeted towards at-risk students; competitive workforce, our investment in the universities where we recruit; and community vitality, to contribute to healthy, successful communities. A cornerstone of our program promotes regional flexibility consistent with our focus areas.

Some recent community contributions include:

• In eastern Canada, Union Gas sponsors “Safety Villages,” where school children learn about carbon monoxide and fire safety – a project that befits Union Gas’s role as a retail natural gas provider.
• Union Gas also supports the Waterloo Region Children’s Museum’s energy awareness and conservation program. The exhibit stresses the importance of being respectful of our natural resources.
• In western Canada, we supported the Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society in their effort to provide inner city school children the opportunity to participate in a riverbank clean up.
• In Pennsylvania, Spectra Energy donated $45,000 to the Nature Conservancy for reforestation and watershed remediation projects.
• At YES Prep Public Schools in Houston, we fund the Spectra Energy Teaching Excellence Program which provides professional development and training to all new YES teachers to ensure academic excellence in the classroom.

We support the generosity of our employees and retirees of both time and money to benefit their communities. Our dollar-for-dollar United Way match has made us a $1 million donor to both the United Way of Greater Houston and the United Way across Canada. We are the largest single donor in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, home to Union Gas headquarters. We also offer a matching gift program whereby Spectra Energy matches dollar-for-dollar contributions by our employees to eligible charitable organizations.

We partner with Junior Achievement in many of our communities with both financial and volunteer support. This program educates students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.

We encourage employee volunteerism throughout the year. In 2008 and 2009 our employees contributed 23,000 and 28,000 hours, respectively, to our communities. We support our employee volunteers with grants used to purchase supplies for projects and recognize employees engaged in the leadership of various non-profit boards. Spectra Energy is also pleased to offer a merit based college scholarship program to the children of eligible employees and retirees.

In 2009, we evaluated and revised our approach to corporate philanthropy. As a result we refined our strategic objectives and decision criteria for 2010 and beyond, and developed indicators for measuring performance in our community relations and corporate philanthropy. The changes are reflected in the revised focus areas:

• Education and Workforce Development. To help provide youth the broadest options for their future and help build a highly skilled employee base for our communities, we now approach educational investment as a seamless focus stretching from pre-K through technical schools, universities and beyond, including technical and professional accreditation programs.
• Community Vitality. To make the communities where we live and work healthy and successful, we invest in environmental programs, targeted arts and culture organizations, safety, health and human services (primarily through United Way), and community enhancement.
• Employee Support and Volunteerism. The spirit of employee philanthropy and volunteerism is strong at Spectra Energy. We support our employees and retirees as they give back to their communities through employee directed giving to eligible charitable organizations, by supporting their sweat-equity of volunteerism and by matching their contributions to the United Way. We also increased our limit for our matching gift program from $5,000 to $7,500 per employee per calendar year to eligible organizations.