Employee-Led Giving at ORNL Nets More Than $1.1 Million in 2024

Employees of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its managing contractor, UT-Battelle, donated $1,104,866 in the 2024 ORNL Gives campaign, an annual employee-led effort to address needs throughout East Tennessee.

Campaign chair Syreeta Vaughn announced the total during a Leadership Givers breakfast on Jan. 14.

“When you are from here, it’s just what you do,” she told attendees who most generously supported ORNL Gives financially or through volunteerism. She specifically mentioned efforts to help after Hurricane Helene devasted communities east of Oak Ridge. “We showed up and showed we cared.”

ORNL employees contributed more than $922,000 of 2024’s total, and UT-Battelle provided almost $183,000 in support of those employee efforts. In addition to monetary donations, employees recorded over 1,800 hours of service via Volunteer East Tennessee.

“ORNL is proud to be a part of East Tennessee, and our employees truly want to make a positive impact in the lives of our neighbors,” said ORNL director Stephen Streiffer. “This has been a record year for our ORNL Gives campaign and that is due to the dedication and generosity of our staff.”

The flexibility of ORNL’s workplace giving program allows employees to support a wide range of nonprofits through donations or volunteering. In 2024, the campaign featured numerous on-site fundraisers, such as T-shirt and bake sales, 5K runs, food drives and support for the Mobile Meals program, which extended assistance to both elderly owners and their pets.

Donations supported more than 100 area and regional nonprofits including Alzheimer’s Tennessee, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Friends of the Smokies, Isaiah 117 House, Knox Area Rescue Ministries, Oak Ridge Computer Science Girls, Second Harvest, Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley and Oak Ridge, United Way counties in East TN, YMCA of East Tennessee and YO-STEM.

In addition to payroll deduction and volunteerism, ORNL Gives programs include:
• Matching Gifts Fund — UT-Battelle matches employee contributions to 501(c)(3)s up to $500, up to a total of $1,000 per nonprofit each year.
• Team UT-Battelle — This volunteer service program connects ORNL employees with outreach and enrichment opportunities to benefit Oak Ridge and communities across East Tennessee.
• Disaster Relief Fund — In 2024, the fund raised $91,000 from employees after Hurricane Helene’s flooding in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina and UT-Battelle added $50,000. Funds went to affected communities through the East Tennessee Foundation’s region-wide Neighbor to Neighbor Disaster Relief Fund. ORNL employees also donat-ed truckloads of supplies and assisted with a home rebuild in Erwin, TN.