Duke Energy : Foundation funds $200,000 in crisis relief grants for small businesses in Indiana

PLAINFIELD, Ind., May 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Duke Energy Foundation is funding $200,000 in grants to Indiana economic development organizations offering crisis relief to small businesses in the state.

The businesses range from a city of Madison program offering its downtown businesses rent support, to a Brownstown tool supplier that committed to retaining and paying its employees during the pandemic.

"These are challenging times, and the COVID-19 crisis has been particularly difficult for small companies," said Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar. "These grants will support those businesses that are the backbone of the Hoosier communities we serve statewide."

Indiana economic development groups and other entities such as municipalities will receive $5,000 grants and will then identify businesses in need of the funds.

"This grant will allow us to provide temporary rent reductions to a handful of companies in our high-tech business incubators," said Paul Moses, director of business development for the Purdue Research Foundation. "We're hoping it will help them power through the crisis, enabling them to keep moving their innovative products and services to market."

The grants are in addition to $100,000 the Duke Energy Foundation awarded early in the crisis to help food banks and other community action groups across Indiana address hunger and other urgent needs. The Foundation also recently announced $382,000 in grants to support Indiana K-12 programs focused on summer reading programs, STEM and experiential learning. The Foundation is giving the schools and other groups receiving the grants flexibility to reallocate grant funds during the pandemic.

The following organizations are receiving grants, which they are distributing to Duke Energy business customers in their areas:

Economic Development Organization	Targeted County
Aspire Johnson County	Johnson
Bloomington Economic Development Corporation	Monroe
Boone County Economic Development Corporation	Boone
City of Fishers	Hamilton
City of Madison Economic Development	Jefferson
City of Westfield	Hamilton
Crawford County Economic Development	Crawford
Greensburg/Decatur County Economic Development Corporation	Decatur
Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana	Southwest Region
Economic Development Group of Connersville and Fayette County	Fayette
Fulton Economic Development	Fulton
Gibson County Economic Development Corporation	Gibson
Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation & Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce	Bartholomew
Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance	Howard
Greater Lafayette Commerce	Tippecanoe
Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center	Putnam
Greene County Economic Development Corporation	Greene
Grow Wabash County	Wabash
Hamilton County Economic Development Corporation	Hamilton
Harrison County Economic Development Corporation	Harrison
Indy Chamber & Indy Partnership	Central Region
Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation	Jackson
Jennings County Economic Development Commission	Jennings
Lawrence County Economic Growth Council	Lawrence
Martin County Alliance	Martin
New Castle Main Street & New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corporation	Henry
Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership	Northeast Region
One Dearborn	Dearborn
One Southern Indiana	Clark, Floyd
Orange County Economic Development Partnership	Orange
Owen County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation	Owen
Pike County Economic Development Corporation	Pike
Purdue Research Foundation	Tippecanoe
Radius Indiana	Southwest Central Region
Shelby County Development Corporation	Shelby
Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation	Vigo
Town of Brownsburg	Hendricks
Town of Plainfield	Hendricks
Union County Development Corporation	Union
Washington County Economic Growth Partnership	Washington

Duke Energy Foundation

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars.

In Indiana, the Foundation provides approximately $2 million in charitable gifts to a wide variety of nonprofit groups.

More information about the Foundation and its Powerful Communities program can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation. 

Duke Energy Indiana

Duke Energy Indiana, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, provides about 6,600 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 840,000 customers in a 23,000-square-mile service area, making it Indiana's largest electric supplier.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. 

Contact:  Angeline Protogere
Office: 317.838.1338| Mobile: [phone]
24-Hour: 800.559.3853

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SOURCE Duke Energy