Retirees4Good Program Guidelines

To qualify for Duke Energy Foundation grants made through the Retirees4Good program, volunteers must provide, free of charge, their time, knowledge, skills and expertise to support Charitable Organizations. Participation in the Retirees4Good program is limited to:

• Regular full-time domestic employees
• Regular fixed-term domestic employees
• Regular part-time domestic employees
• Domestic probationary employees
• Domestic technical co-ops
• Domestic retirees

Note: Team events organized by retirees will be governed by the guidelines outlined for the Retirees4Good program. However, retirees are eligible to participate on teams
created by employees as part of the Retirees4Good program described below.

Contingent workers, temporary employees (including interns and college co-ops), and other employee classifications not cited above are NOT eligible to participate in the Retirees4Good program.

The friends and family of eligible participants are invited to participate in Retirees4Good events, but their hours will NOT count toward grant eligibility.

New hires are eligible to participate in the program on the date of hire, but there may be a short delay before they can access the giving system. New hires are typically granted access to the giving system within 5 business days of the hire date. In the event that a new hire participates in Retirees4Good Program Guidelines a Retirees4Goodevent before having access to the system, he or she will be able to enter the information once system access has been granted.

Nonprofit organizations eligible to receive grants earned as part of the Retirees4Good program must be U.S. charitable organizations with a 501(c)(3) status as certified by the Internal Revenue Service.

• Agencies of the U.S. federal, state and local governments may be considered eligible if they have an eligible 501(c)(3) designation; or they are doing work consistent with 501(c)(3) standards and they are affiliated or have a partnership with an eligible 501(c)(3) organization. The eligible organization must be selected for purposes of logging hours, and any Duke Energy Foundation grant will be directed to the 501(c)3 organization.
• Accredited Pre-K-12 schools (including charter schools and private schools), community colleges and colleges/universities may be considered eligible organizations if they have a 501(c)(3) designation, or are affiliated with or have a partnership with an eligible 501(c)(3) organization. The eligible organization must be selected for purposes of logging hours, and any Duke Energy Foundation grant will be directed to the 501(c)3 organization. 
• All such eligible charitable organizations are referred to herein as “Charitable Organizations.”

Volunteer activities that are NOT eligible for the Retirees4Good program include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Volunteering for political causes (including political candidates, political organizations or political campaigns)
• Volunteer hours served as part of a Duke Energy Foundation-organized volunteer event (e.g., Company-Sponsored Projects)
• Time spent raising money or requesting pledges for a charity fundraiser such as a walka-thon, bowl-a-thon, etc.Note: Organized fundraising on a committee or as part of an individual’s volunteer assignment at a Charitable Organizationare eligible for the Hours4Good program. However, raising money and requesting pledges to support your own participation in the fundraiser are NOT eligible for any of the Duke Energy In Action volunteer programs.
• Volunteering for sectarian or religious organizations when the purpose of such volunteerism is related to religious evangelism
• Volunteering for organizations that represent a conflict of interest for program participants, Duke Energy or the Duke Energy Foundation
• Assisting neighbors, friends and family with errands, yard work, etc. when such services or programs are not associated with a Charitable Organization 

Please note that the list above is representative of frequent questions and may be expanded or amended by the Duke Energy Foundation without notice.

General Program Guidelines
Participation in the Retirees4Good program is governed by the Duke Energy Code of Business Ethics.

Eligible employees may participate in Retirees4Good events on personal time or, if previously authorized, on Duke Energy time. Time off to perform volunteer work is granted at a supervisor’s discretion. The Excellence in Education and Communities (EIEC) Policy indicates that EIEC hours may be used to account for an employee’s time away from work, but prior approval from supervision and/or management is required. Please refer to the policy and contact your manager/supervisor to discuss further.

For purposes of the Retirees4Good program, a “project” is defined as a specifically defined work activity that requires multiple volunteers working together at the same location at the same time to benefit one or more Charitable Organizations. A project may have a duration of one day or may be an ongoing or recurring project such as a team working together at the same Charitable Organization every month.

Team volunteer hours that are eligible for a Retirees4Good Duke Energy Foundation grant will be matched by the Duke Energy Foundation in the form of grants made to the Charitable Organizations for which the team volunteers. Once earned, grants will be processed and sent directly to the Charitable Organizations.

Logging volunteer hours

• For team volunteer hours to be eligible for the Retirees4Good program and considered for Duke Energy Foundation grants, they must be logged in the online giving system. Note: Volunteer hours should be logged in the giving system after the volunteer work has been completed and should reflect actual hours served.
• In order to contribute to the total team hours that will be considered for a Duke Energy Foundation grant, team members’ volunteer hours must be logged in the giving system before the deadline established by the event organizer; the sooner team members log their hours after completing a team event, the sooner the event organizer can submit the total hours logged for a Duke Energy Foundation grant. Once an event organizer submits the total hours for an event for a Duke Energy Foundation grant, the event will be locked by the system and team members will be unable to enter additional hours. As  Retirees4Good Program Guidelines The Duke Energy Foundation reserves the right to interpret and administer the Retirees4Good program, and may suspend, amend or discontinue the program at any time. a general practice, team members should enter their hours as soon as possible after the event has occurred.
• Team event organizers are responsible for ensuring that team members enter their hours before the total hours are submitted for a Duke Energy Foundation grants. Event organizers should ensure that all hours are logged and submitted within 90 days of when the event occurred. All volunteer hours should be logged and submitted no later than January 31 of the following year in order to be considered for a Duke Energy Foundation grant.

Team volunteer service thresholds

• Teams must have a minimum of 5 eligible employees and/or retirees. Friends and family can participate on employee-organized Retirees4Good projects and their hours can be logged in the system for tracking purposes, but their hours are not eligible for earning grants.
• Teams of at least 5 eligible participants must volunteer at least 40 hours (combined total hours for all eligible team members) to earn a Duke Energy Foundation grant for a project.
• For teams that volunteer 40 or more hours, the Duke Energy Foundation grant is a $500. 
• Team volunteer hours cannot be carried over from one project to another.

Charitable Athletic Event program

• Participation in cause-related team walks, runs, biking events and other fundraising events that involve athletics may qualify for the Retirees4Good Charitable Athletic Event Program if they meet the guidelines outlined below.
• The athletic event must be sponsored by a Charitable Organization (see eligibility requirements above).
• Teams for cause-related walks, runs, bike rides and other athletic fundraising events must have a minimum of 5 participants, all of whom must be eligible for the Retirees4Good program (see eligibility requirements above).
• The Charitable Athletic Event program will provide financial support to only one Retirees4Good team per unique athletic event in any given city/location.
• The Duke Energy Foundation will donate $250 on behalf of Charitable Athletic Event teams that have a minimum of 5 but fewer than 25 eligible participants. The donation will be made to the Charitable Organization sponsoring the athletic event.
• The Duke Energy Foundation will donate $500 on behalf of Charitable Athletic Event teams that have 25 or more eligible participants. The donation will be made to the Charitable Organization sponsoring the athletic event. 
• The friends and family of Retirees4Good participants may participate in Charitable Athletic Events, but their participation cannot be used to help the team meet the Charitable Athletic Event program thresholds for earning Duke Energy Foundation grants.
• Charitable Athletic Events are not considered to be Duke Energy Foundation -organized, Duke Energy Foundation -sponsored or Duke Energy Foundation -approved events. For information about Duke Energy Foundation -organized events, refer to the “CompanySponsored Projects” program guidelines.
• The Charitable Athletic Event program supports employees who are participating in Charitable Athletic Events but is independent of soliciting employees for donations/financial contributions to support a specific Charitable Organization. If an employee chooses to participate in a Charitable Athletic Event and wants to do fundraising for the event or solicit fellow employees to join him/her, he/she must do so in compliance with the Solicitation and Distribution Policy, which dictates when an employee can solicit, where the employee can distribute literature for the event, and whether the employee can use the Duke Energy email system to solicit participation. 
• Entry fees for Charitable Athletic Events are NOT considered eligible donations for the Duke Energy Foundation’s matching gift program (Dollars4Good) and should not be uploaded for matching gift requests.
• The time spent participating in a qualifying Charitable Athletic Event are not eligible for the Hours4Good program.