Propane Is Personal: Community Creates Meaningful Workforce Engagement

When a child in foster care finds a stable home, when a family puts food on the table after a difficult week, when a rural fire department gets the equipment it needs to save lives — these moments don’t happen by accident. They happen because people and organizations choose to show up and have community workforce engagement.

For companies in the propane industry, showing up for the community isn’t just good corporate citizenship — it’s good business. The towns and rural communities where propane companies operate are the same places their customers live, their employees raise families and their businesses depend on for long-term viability. When those communities thrive, so does business.

What separates the companies that make a real difference from those that simply write a check? Employee buy-in. When the people who fuel your trucks, answer your phones and serve your customers are invested in community outreach, the impact multiplies. So does the pride, morale and sense of purpose that keeps good employees around.

MFA Oil Company, a farmer-owned fuel and propane supply cooperative based in Columbia, Missouri, has spent nearly a decade building exactly that kind of culture. Its experience offers a practical blueprint for other propane companies looking to move beyond making donations and to become genuine community partners.

Why Employee Buy-in Matters

There’s a meaningful difference between a company that simply writes checks to charitable causes and a company whose employees are truly engaged in giving back. The first is transactional. The second is cultural, and anyone who has worked in both kinds of companies can tell you the difference is real.

A talent retention study by Benevity analyzed data from 10.6 million users at more than 400 companies and found that businesses see 52% lower turnover among newer employees when those employees participate in purpose-driven programs. In another study, researchers examining 90 different workplace interventions identified volunteering as the only one that demonstrated a positive impact on both employee well-being and sense of belonging. Those are meaningful findings for an industry where recruiting and retaining skilled drivers, technicians and customer service staff is an ongoing challenge.

Propane is a personal business, especially in small towns. Customers aren’t just numbers — they’re neighbors who notice the companies that give back and the ones that don’t. They also notice who is absent. Employee-driven community involvement builds goodwill and carries more weight than just advertising campaigns alone.

How to Get Started

Building a culture of community involvement requires deliberate choices about how programs are structured, communicated and supported. MFA Oil’s experience over the past decade offers some clear and transferable lessons.

Start with the employees. MFA Oil’s annual Week of Giving wasn’t conceived in a boardroom. It was developed by members of the company’s employee committee, a group of roughly eight to 10 employees who researched local charitable organizations and selected a diverse mix designed to appeal to a wide range of personal interests and experiences. When employees build the program, other employees are more likely to buy into it. Ownership drives participation in ways that top-down initiatives rarely can.

Give employees meaningful choices. The employee committee chose a diverse group of causes, understanding that employees come from different backgrounds and care about different things. The committee continues to manage charity selection, periodically rotating new organizations into the mix to keep the program fresh and relevant.

Make giving visible and personal. Each year during the Week of Giving, MFA Oil invites every participating charitable organization to present to employees on their work and how donated funds are used. This single program element may do more to drive participation than anything else. When employees hear directly from a foster care coordinator, a hunger relief advocate or a children’s hospital representative about where their money goes, donations feel less abstract and more personal. Kristin Branscom, a senior graphic design specialist at MFA Oil’s home office, has seen that dynamic firsthand. “When people can see the impact of what they’re contributing, it makes them want to keep participating,” she said.

Lower the barrier to participation. Not every employee can give the same amount, and MFA Oil doesn’t ask them to. One-time contributions are welcome, and activities throughout the week raise additional funds. But the program’s financial foundation is the Helping Hand pledge, where employees commit one hour of pay per month for a year and receive eight hours of paid time off in return. It’s a practical incentive that makes participation feel accessible and valued.

Make it engaging. The Week of Giving isn’t purely a fundraising drive. MFA Oil keeps the energy up throughout the week with additional activities, including trivia contests, pumpkin bowling, a cornhole tournament and more, making it something employees look forward to each year.

Communicate results and celebrate growth. Sharing outcomes keeps employees informed and motivates future involvement. The numbers behind MFA Oil’s Week of Giving tell that story well. When the program launched in 2016, 77 employees raised nearly $35,000 for local nonprofits. By 2025, participation had grown to 183 employees and the amount raised had more than doubled to $79,395, with donations split among five organizations: Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association, Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition, Columbia Second Chance, Feeding Missouri and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“It’s impressive how much good we can do collectively,” said Tom May, MFA Oil’s senior director of employee relations and engagement and a member of the employee committee.

Branscom, who has participated for 10 years, agreed. “It brings people together, gives us a shared purpose and it’s easy to get involved,” she said. “It’s rewarding to know we are making a real difference.”

Spreading the Love

While the Week of Giving is powered by employees, the MFA Oil Foundation represents the company’s broader commitment to the communities it serves. In its 2025 fiscal year, the foundation awarded $341,450 in grants to 150 nonprofit organizations across 103 communities in seven states, focusing on education, youth, humanitarian services and civic endeavors.

James Greer, senior vice president of supply and transportation and chairman of the MFA Oil Foundation, said the foundation is proud to support organizations addressing vital community needs. “We are all about empowering the local organizations that are working to improve life in the communities we serve,” Greer said. “Whether it’s helping rural first responders purchase life-saving equipment, providing schools with resources for students or supporting youth programs that build future leaders, we’re proud to invest in projects that create lasting impact. When I drive through these communities and see the tangible impacts of our grants, like a baseball game being played under lights we helped purchase, it’s incredibly satisfying.”

As it enters its 2026 fiscal year, the foundation is expanding its reach. Historically, most grants were capped at $2,000 through community betterment grants, covering items like first responder supplies, educational materials, 4-H and FFA program support, and furniture or appliances for shelters and community facilities. Beginning in 2026, the foundation will also offer community development grants for larger projects such as county fairground improvements, athletic fields and park facilities, major first responder initiatives, and rural infrastructure improvements for libraries, community centers and schools.

Since its founding in 1998, the MFA Oil Foundation has awarded more than $4.3 million to community organizations throughout its trade territory.

Investing in the Next Generation

For MFA Oil, community investment doesn’t stop with grants and charitable giving. Since 1965, the MFA Foundation — a jointly administered philanthropic organization managed by both MFA Oil and MFA Incorporated — has awarded scholarships to high school seniors pursuing higher education. In 2025 alone, 293 students received a total of $732,500 in scholarships, with the majority of awards set at $2,500 and applicable to any college, university or trade school.

Since its inception, the MFA Foundation has awarded scholarships to nearly 16,000 students totaling more than $18.7 million. For a rural energy cooperative whose customer base includes farm families and small-town households, few investments carry more meaning than helping the next generation pursue their dreams.

Showing Up in Person

Financial contributions matter immensely, but some of the most meaningful contributions nonprofit organizations receive come from individuals who show up and give their time and effort.

Across MFA Oil’s workforce, employees are active in the communities where they live and work in ways that extend beyond company-organized programs.

May serves on the advisory board of the Columbia chapter of Good Dads, an organization dedicated to promoting responsible fatherhood. May got involved after a former colleague invited him to consider the opportunity.

“Fathers are critical for healthy families, happy children and thriving communities, but their roles are often underestimated and underappreciated,” May said. “I’m proud to volunteer my time to an organization that is doing good for the people in my community.”

Jason Harville, fuel and propane plant manager for MFA Oil’s Columbia office, has spent 15 years teaching financial wellness classes as a volunteer. His involvement grew from a personal interest in financial literacy and a belief that making conversations about money more accessible can change lives.

“The more we talk about it, the more you realize how much we share,” Harville said. “Whether it’s our struggles and insecurities or our goals and hopes for the future, there’s a lot of common ground.”

Tony Johnson, who manages MFA Oil’s northwest district, is the fire chief for the Mercer County Fire Protection District in Princeton, Missouri. Johnson became a volunteer firefighter out of a sense of pride and duty to his community.

Each of these employees found a cause they believed in and committed to it. More importantly, MFA Oil has built a culture that supports volunteering. To support community volunteering, encourage employees to get involved, recognize their efforts and let their stories inspire others.

Building a Replicable Culture

The propane industry has always been more than an energy business. It’s a network of companies serving the needs of rural America, fueling homes, farms and businesses in communities that larger industries often overlook. That position comes with opportunity.

The companies positioned for long-term success won’t just be the ones with efficient operations or clever marketing. They will be the ones whose employees are proud of where they work, whose customers think of them as neighbors and whose communities see them as more than just an energy supplier.

Building a culture of giving backed by employee buy-in is built one intentional decision at a time. At MFA Oil, that started with giving employees ownership of the process, making their participation feel meaningful and showing them the collective impact that could be made.

The communities you serve are counting on the energy you provide. With the right culture in place, your employees can give them a great deal more.