Shell Oil Company

Coming Home Campaign

The collective impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast region and on Shell operations was devastating. Enabling Shell Exploration & Production (E&P), based in New Orleans, to resume operations was critical to the delivery of Shell's regional business plan. Yet Shell recognized that business recovery was at risk if the overall region did not pull through.

The Program

As the Gulf Coast trudged through recovery, Shell knew it could play a critical role in the region where 70 percent of its U.S. oil and gas production occurs. There was no shortage of worthy causes to support. To ensure that its resources, manpower, and expertise achieve the highest levels of mutual benefit, Shell researched all options, including surveying its own displaced E&P employees, before committing to areas that tied most directly to the company's overarching principles of respect for people, planet, and profit.

The result is the Coming Home Campaign, a strategic, action-oriented program that began with securing employee safety and meeting their needs and is continuing to represent doing "the right thing for the right reasons." The multi-million-dollar social investment program focuses its long-term projects on an impressive assortment of high-impact projects that touch the following core areas: security, community rebuilding, art/culture/parks and recreation, education, workforce development, and environmental preservation.

The Impact

Shell is supporting many recovery initiatives in New Orleans through its Coming Home Campaign. Several are highlighted below.

• With more than 60 percent of the police force still separated from their families more than six months after the hurricane, Shell donated $500,000 to the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation to address the housing needs of first responders.
  
• After Katrina, New Orleans lost an estimated $15.7 million a day in tourism. A cultural cornerstone, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival faced steep obstacles in 2006. Shell became the first-ever Presenting Sponsor of the event, giving the organizers the foundation they needed to allow the 2006 and 2007 festivals to go on. The 2006 Jazz Fest was so successful — with 4,000 musicians, more than 250,000 attendees, and $250 million in economic activity — that Shell committed to being the Presenting Sponsor through 2010.
  
• When St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes faced the loss of federal government camps that housed and fed 40,000 volunteers who came to help the region recover, Shell provided a total of $260,000 for permanent volunteer housing in these two parishes.
  
• The Louisiana coast is home to three of the 10 largest U.S. fishing docks. The shortage of ice and ice-making capacity was the single most significant obstacle to restart operations. Shell worked with the Louisiana State University (LSU) Extension Service and the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries Foundation to facilitate the donation of icehouses to serve Cameron Parish (SW Louisiana) and St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Orleans, and St. Tammany Parishes (SE Louisiana). The $500,000 donation enabled the purchase, delivery, and installation of three 20-ton ice machines and ice storage bins.
  
• With a contribution of $1 million, Shell enabled construction to proceed on Louisiana ArtWorks, a 93,000-square-foot workspace and marketplace for
  artists and a destination for cultural tourism.
  
• To help its employees make an impact by supporting the entities, structures, and institutions that matter to them most, Shell developed the Employee Ambassador Grant Program. One-time grants of up to $1,000 per employee helped support rebuilding and recovery efforts in an employee's community, focusing on such projects as daycares, churches, schools, libraries, small businesses, neighborhood community centers, gardens, parks, playgrounds, and more. In all, Shell employees led 71 different projects.

The Difference

The esprit de corps in New Orleans resulting from the Coming Home Campaign has benefited residents and Shell employees alike. Said one employee, "In 32 years with Shell, this was my proudest moment. This was just another excellent example of [Shell] demonstrating solid commitment to people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina — both to the people of Shell and the people of south Louisiana."

The Lessons Learned

We quickly realized our business could not recover until our employees were well on the road to recovery. We knew we had to make clear decisions, communicate information through all mediums, and help the city and surrounding area's recovery to be a beacon of hope for our returning employees. We also learned that our employees were not satisfied to sit back and watch Shell donate money alone — they demonstrated a hands-on commitment to the recovery.

Why Shell Is Involved

Enabling Shell Exploration & Production to resume operations was critical to the delivery of Shell's regional business plan. Business recovery, employee recovery, and regional recovery were irrevocably connected. While the damage wrought by the hurricanes presented operational challenges, it also brought an unprecedented opportunity for leadership.

For more information, please visit: http://www.shell.com/

1615 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20062    (p) 202-463-3133     (f) 202-463-5308     (e)BCLC@uschamber.com

Additional Corporate Citizenship Profiles in BCLC's Disaster Recovery Report

Shell's Partners:

Several community and government organizations
in New Orleans