Released By United Way of America

United Way of America Recognizes Duke Energy As Recipient of Summit Award

Duke Energy Honored at 2006 United Way Community Leaders Conference

Denver, CO – United Way of America (UWA) today honored Duke Energy as a Summit Award recipient of its coveted Spirit of America^® Award program, recognizing the company’s outstanding commitment to improve lives in local communities. UWA recognized Duke Energy at its national United Way Community Leaders Conference in Denver, Colo., as a Summit Award recipient for Employee Community Engagement.

The Spirit of America^® Awards program is United Way’s highest tribute for corporate community involvement.  Spirit of America and Summit Award recipients are judged on detailed criteria in four categories: Employee Community Investment, Corporate Community Investment, Community Leadership and Employee Community Engagement.  The Spirit of America winner excels in each of these four categories. Summit Awards are presented to companies that excel in one or more of these areas.

Duke Energy creates a culture that demonstrates the importance of giving back to the community by providing support for employee volunteerism. Employees are encouraged to actively volunteer in their community – through sweat equity or leadership – and help tackle problems facing those communities. 

In 2005, Duke Energy created a new employee volunteer program called “Volunteers In Action!” as a way to encourage volunteerism among employees.  As part of this program, the company provides an internal web page that tracks available projects, volunteer hours, locations and allows employees to sign up for a project.  Duke Energy’s volunteer grant program also allows employees to apply for funding to maximize their project’s impact.

“Duke Energy has done an outstanding job promoting volunteerism among its employees and the contributions they’ve made speak for themselves,” said UWA President and CEO Brian A. Gallagher.  “Together, Duke Energy and United Way can focus resources on the most pressing problems in local communities to change people’s lives for the better.”

“Helping our local communities become stronger is an important part of our company’s culture,” said Paul Anderson, chairman of the board of Duke Energy.  “We thank United Way of America for acknowledging what I have been privileged to know for years – that Duke Energy, its employees and its retirees are committed to making our communities better places to live and work.”

In addition to the Summit Award presented to Duke Energy, United Way also presented Summit Awards to the following companies:

• DaimlerChrysler – Corporate Community Investment and Employee Community Investment
• General Mills – Corporate Community Investment and Employee Community Engagement
• Kellogg’s – Employee Community Investment
• Kimberly-Clark – Corporate Community Investment
• Microsoft Corporation– Employee Community Engagement
• Xcel Energy – Community Leadership

United Way of America awarded its 19^th annual Spirit of America Award – its highest honor for a company’s outstanding commitment to local communities – to Principal Financial.

About United Way of America
United Way of America is the national organization dedicated to leading the United Way movement in making a measurable impact in every community across America by focusing on the root causes of the most serious problems. The United Way movement includes over 1,3o0 community-based United Way organizations. Each is independent, separately incorporated, and governed by local volunteers. For more information about United Way of America, please visit: www.unitedway.org.

Contact:	Sheila Consaul
Phone:	703/683-7871
24-Hour Phone:	n/a
e-mail:	sheila.consaul@unitedway.org