Giving Back

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From helping people save homes and cars to funding education, to funding family-building events, oil patch companies and organizations are busy in the community beyond just the business of finding and transporting oil and gas

Both Oilfield Helping Hands and Danos Gives began by helping one or two families before becoming more organized and intentional. For the Permian Basin Pipeliners Association, it was about helping educate the future of the community.

Pipeliners Funnel Charitable Giving

The Permian Basin Association of Pipeliners (PBAP) started in 2019 as a 501c6, for the purpose of awarding scholarships (https://tinyurl.com/2xu6jtuv), with also a focus on politics affecting the oil and gas industry. To raise funds and donate to causes, it needed a 501c3 designation.

So, in 2021 the leaders formed the Permian Pipeliners Education Foundation (PPEF). Its purpose was to support education in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in which they operated, said current President Shelby Campbell.

She explained, “Through the years in which we have online documentation [2021-2025] we have received revenue from events [$1,307,000,000], revenue from memberships [$342,000], and we donated $650,000. That includes grants and community improvement donations, along with 106 scholarships. Currently our membership and event revenue has succeeded last year’s.

Each PPEF member is authorized to give $1,000 to any organization of their choosing. Campbell said that option has sent donations to Literacy Coalition of the Permian Basin and others.

The type of student who can be a recipient is a criterion that has been expanded as well.

STEM education is indeed important for anyone who might end up working in midstream in the Permian Basin. “But,” Campbell recalled, “we started to figure out that, as a pipeliners’ association, there’s a lot of [other] trades that we want to support as well. And there’s a lot of other degrees that help us, such as accounts payable. So, we wanted to make sure that we were giving back to that as well.”

Shelby Campbell

Priority still goes to STEM students, who can receive up to $5,000 each, while the others receive $2,500 each. Applicants must be sponsored by—and generally somehow related to—a PBAP member. Members themselves may also apply. Transcripts, letters of recommendation, and an essay are other requirements.

As Campbell noted above, 2025 was the biggest year for receipts, awards, and membership. She attributes that expansion to two main things—a good website and the addition of a second organization. In 2023 they created the Delaware Basin Association of Pipeliners (DBAP), meeting in Kermit. “It grew our market. It grew the amount of people following our social media.”

Fundraisers and Other Events

As it is for many nonprofits, golf is key. PBAP already had a golf tournament in Midland, and DBAP has added its own in Hobbs. Clay shoots are also a staple, along with the occasional cookoff. But golf is the biggest money magnet.

DBAP and PBAP fundraise separately, with all money going to PPEF, to which both organizations report.

Christmas parties are another popular function. “We’ve actually been pretty heavy on the Christmas party because so many corporations that have employees in Midland have corporate parties elsewhere,” she said. This led to their Midland party.

Since both groups have their own officers and board members, the volunteer count has doubled, adding to the groups’ outreach. Both groups also have regular lunches in months lacking events, typically featuring industry speakers.

Campbell joined the group in 2020 at the request of her employer. “I do business development for WHC, which is a pipeline and facility construction company. When they asked me to become involved with this organization, they just wanted me to be a member to help out [by] volunteering.”

PBAP gets good response with its golf tournaments.

“Just” helping out led to her becoming treasurer, then vice president, and now president. Each job is held for two years.

In addition to helping the community, this kind of organization fosters networking that benefits members themselves, Campbell said. “I think there’s a lot of benefits to the suppliers, your subcontractors, even the operators. We’ve been trying to get a lot more operators involved.”

She added, “We’re trying to be one of those that can benefit everybody.”

Oilfield Helping Hands Eases Crises

“We’ve helped people save their homes, cars,” said Gene Pate, board chairman of Oilfield Helping Hands. “The majority of it is medical stuff, either from illness or accident.” In just over 20 years they’ve given out almost $7 million to oilfield families who have hit a temporary rough spot.

Founded in Houston in 2003, OHH now has six chapters including Houston, along with the Permian Basin, Haynesville, Rocky Mountains, South Texas, and Appalachia. (Find them at OilfieldHelpingHands.org.)

For example, “We helped a guy get a new kidney in the past. And that was a great story because it was a very successful transplant. And he actually came back and worked the events for about four or five years, just helping to give back,” Pate related. Saving homes and cars are on the list, along with the single biggest event, Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017. Harvey’s lingering storms caused widespread flooding that pushed thousands of people out of their homes.

With Harvey, Pate recalled a two-minute board meeting of the Houston chapter that authorized $300,000 to be given out there. Instead of the usually thorough vetting process, he said, “As long as the people could meet the abbreviated short form of yes, I work in the oil field, yes, I work for this company, I’ve been here so many years,” they’d get a check ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 for a hotel or other immediate needs.

Fundraising is the easier part, Pate said, as golf tournaments, casino nights, and other options are well attended. The hard part? It boils down to one word.

“Pride.”

Especially for men, admitting the need seems to be huge, even if a friend or family member suggests they try. “People have to admit that they need help or they’re in a bind and [someone needs] to come and help us because so many times they just… well, people won’t come. They won’t. We’ll have somebody call and say, ‘Hey, can you help this guy?’ I’ll say, ‘Yeah, but he has to fill out the information.’ We’ll even send them the deal.”

But once the application arrives at the home, too many of them never get back to OHH.

Pate stressed that confidentiality is a priority in the vetting process—only two or three people examine any application. And while the process is important, the goal is more to help and include than to reject or exclude. “We’re here to help,” he assured.

Oilfield Helping Hands is another charity that lifts lives using the generosity of the participants and the grand game of golf.

Ups and Downs

With that long history, OHH has endured several oilfield price cycles. So, when prices and employment are down and needs go up—is there enough coming in to cover the bigger needs?

It was a bit of a challenge, Pate said. “And we saw a little bit of drawback in sponsorship, maybe we may have still had the same amount of participation from teams coming to an event, but maybe some of the major, the bigger 5-10-15, $20,000 sponsorships weren’t getting taken.”

The saltwater tournament in Houston continued, because it was outdoors, and it raised a little less than it had before. And there’s some reserve. “We have a little nest egg that’s built in. We try to maintain two years of operating expenses.”

The Permian Basin chapter started in 2018, he said, and after a slow start, has been giving grants and donations since about 2019.

Day Jobs Help Out

Like PBAP’s Shelby Campbell, Pate has a day job, to whom he is indebted for allowing him to volunteer as he does. He is Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Sales for Centurion USRS, an oilfield rental company with a wide product offering. He added that the Permian Basin chapter President is Tom Migchelbrink, whose day job is with Crusoe Energy.

OHH’s Permian events include a Golf tournament, Pickleball Tournament, Christmas Casino Night, Sporting Clays Tournament Sponsored by the Rig Riders Motorcycle Club, and quarterly happy hours. This year they are having an International Oilman’s Happy Hour, which happens every other year in Midland.

A sum of $30,000 went to Refuge Services from the Danos Foundation.

Danos Pitches In

Danos CEO Mark Danos takes it to the streets in his company’s charitable efforts.

When your company’s stated purpose is “Honor God, develop great people to solve challenges for our customers and communities,” it does sound like a great way to do business. And it’s also a great way to serve the community beyond the P&L statement.

Mark Danos, a member of the third generation in his family’s business, is owner and CEO of Danos Family Investments. He said, “When we think about our purpose, the last words, ‘solving challenges for the customers’—for our communities, what does that mean?”

Helping people outside of the work environment started gladly but slowly, as individual needs became known.

While the company employs 3,700 people, 350 of whom are in the Permian Basin, Danos, after 78 years, is still a family business, with headquarters nestled in the small coastal town of Gray, La. Across those regions, entities like T-ball leagues, schools, churches, cheerleading squads, and others, often made requests. Danos often happily responded to those.

It became apparent that some intentionality could improve the process for everyone. One employee pointed out to management that the company was doing great at solving customer problems and could do better for the community by applying the same skills there.

Mark Danos is pleased that the impetus came from within. “This really started as a grassroots idea [through] motivation and inspiration from within the organization and it continues to be led by groups from within committees.” It started with a few people and ideas in 2017 and now is a companywide effort with a separate website at www.theseedsofgiving.com.

Under employee leadership the efforts have grown, both in dollars and in boots on the ground. While Mark Danos hesitated to give numbers, he noted that 20 percent of the money given comes from employee additions to what the company itself puts forth. And that the original 10-year giving goals were achieved in just four years.

Chef Boyardee goes into gift bags, called Bags of Hope, courtesy of Danos.

Danos Gives

Recognizing that existing charitable organizations have the expertise to provide the actual services, Danos said the company writes checks to selected groups rather than making thousands of small donation decisions itself. “We can thereby have a bigger impact in the community by boosting great organizations that are doing great things. So, it’s a kind of yin and yang. They lean on us. We lean on them. Together we can do great things.”

That’s the foundation of Danos Gives. But exactly where to give was a big decision. Environmental issues, animal rights, healthcare, and others were considered. “After a year or two, we realized we are all about caring for people. And this is through Danos Gives.”

Another decision involved how much and how many organizations are involved. It seemed best to partner with a few—choosing the recipients by a project or need they had identified, so long as it meshed with Danos ideals and was in a city where Danos people live and work.

And that partnership could continue, he said, if the organization did use the money as promised, and had similar plans for the next year. Danos take applications in the second half of every year and make decisions accordingly.

Danos Roots

Giving to employee-suggested camps, workshops, and events comes under the rubric of Danos Gives. Said Mark: “Who’s going to camp? And is it a camp that aligns with our purpose and our values? If it is, we want you to send your kids, we want you to send your family, if it’s a family camp, if it’s a family weekend, those sorts of things.”

Danos Works

It’s not just about the money. Under the Danos Works program, when Danos employees volunteer at a nonprofit that meets the criteria, whether it’s getting money from Danos or not, “for every hour they volunteer, we’re paying those organizations. So that’s a broader filter,” Danos said.

Whatever happens, Mark Danos says they’re committed to helping out. “We’re not going away. As the world changes and the economy changes, we’re still going to be here.”

Danos Foundation awarded $50,000 to Family Promise of Odessa.

Paul Wiseman

A longtime contributor to PB Oil and Gas Magazine, Paul Wiseman is an energy industry freelance writer.

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