Nonprofits brace for drop in donations with XTO’s exodus from Fort Worth

June 21,2017

By Bill Hanna

On the city’s north side, XTO Energy employees have been delivering 108 meals a week for Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County.

For organizations like Meals on Wheels, XTO’s announcement that 1,600 jobs will be shifting to an ExxonMobil campus near Houston immediately raised questions about how those volunteers will be replaced. XTO employees have delivered meals on nine of Meals on Wheels’ 223 routes in Tarrant County.

“We don’t have any other corporate group that delivers that many routes for us,” said Nedra Cutler, Meals on Wheels vice president of volunteer services. “This weekend we were hearing the news and it was like ‘Oh, my goodness.’”

The charitable contributions go far beyond the volunteer work provided by XTO workers.

The high-profile company has been a major player for United Way, donating $2.6 million in corporate gifts and employee giving since 2010, said TD Smyers, who will take over as president and CEO of United Way of Tarrant County on July 1.

XTO’s donations are significant because the United Way is projecting a $2 million shortfall in its revenue goal of $30.4 million for the 2016-2017 fundraising campaign, which ends June 30. Earlier this month, the nonprofit announced it was eliminating about a third of its staff through layoffs, early retirements and cutting unfilled positions.

Last year, United Way also fell $1.1 million short of its $30.8 million revenue goal.

Smyers acknowledged that the loss of XTO employees will hurt.

“In terms of employee philanthropy, in terms of public philanthropy you’re talking about 1,600 less people,” said Smyers, who is replacing the retiring Tim McKinney. “XTO is a very active company. It leaves a pretty significant hole in both corporate gift giving and employee giving.”

The loss of XTO will be felt in future campaigns, said David Frederick, United Way of Tarrant County’s vice president of marketing and communications.

“We are expecting donations to be down,” Frederick said. “We are still developing what our goals will be for next year.”

‘One of the trophy sponsorships’

In 2016, ExxonMobil and XTO combined to contribute more than $3.9 million to nonprofits in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Employees and retirees donated an additional $2.3 million through the employee giving and company matches while also giving 21,400 hours of their time to DFW nonprofits and charitable groups.

The company has said 350 employees will stay in Fort Worth, and there is hope they will continue to volunteer.

“Our employees are very much involved in the community and we don’t see that culture changing at all,” said XTO spokeswoman Suann Guthrie.