Marathon refineries maintain a Community Advisory Panel (CAP) as a regular forum for community members and refinery personnel to discuss issues of mutual interest. Refineries seek out neighbors, educators, public health workers, business owners and other community representatives for their panels so that Marathon can better understand community concerns. CAP agendas may include safety and environmental performance metrics, emergency response and security efforts, and operations and community activities.
Community and Society
Marathon is committed to the welfare of citizens in host communities and countries,
and uses its CSR elements as the framework for operating as a responsible business,
employer and neighbor.
Community Relationships
Marathon recognizes that it is a privilege to do business in a community. The Company
manages its operations in a manner that respects communities and citizens, and furthers
sustainable and responsible investment in areas where it operates. In addition to
providing local employment, Marathon supports capacity building and community
development activities, and encourages philanthropy and employee volunteerism.
More than 90 Terminal, Transport and Marine (TT&M) facilities in 18 U.S. states develop community relationships through the organization's Good Neighbor Program. Employees host facility open houses and tours, distribute educational materials, attend off-site group meetings, support community activities and, in some cases, host emergency responder events with multiple agencies.
Through engagement with government officials in Wyoming, Marathon learned that addressing methamphetamine (meth) use is a state priority. Meth affects the quality of life in communities, the safety and well-being of Marathon workers and their families, and employee retention and recruitment. In response, Marathon developed a meth awareness and prevention program. By year-end 2007, more than 10,000 people in six U.S. states had participated in the program. Marathon is taking the lead in forming the national Corporate Meth Alliance to maximize education and awareness through private and public partnerships. The Alliance will be launched in 2008.
Social Investments
Marathon awards grants to nonprofit organizations that fulfill educational, health and
human services, civic and community, environmental and social needs in its areas of
operation. Grants and corporate contributions in 2007 totaled more than $9.8 million.
Employee giving through programs that Marathon tracks, plus SSA vendor and customer
donations to Children's Miracle Network, totaled approximately $4.7 million.
The strategic focus areas for Marathon's social investing are health and human services, and education. To maximize its support for select organizations in these areas, Marathon develops signature community relations programs combining financial donations and volunteer activities.
Marathon has a signature relationship with United Way in many communities where it operates. Depending on the location, the Company matches employee donations from 60 percent to 100 percent. In 2007, total Marathon donations to United Way were approximately $1.3 million.
Signature relationships supporting health-related causes include Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, a nonprofit organization dedicated to curing breast cancer, and Tex US TOO!, a group that provides prostate cancer education and support. Marathon also supports Impact Player Partners, which offers grants to help wounded U.S. military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Marathon and its employees support primary and secondary education through school partnerships, curriculum enhancement programs, Junior Achievement and similar initiatives. For example, since 1990 Houston employees have volunteered at Robert Browning Elementary School. Activities in 2007 included mentoring, reading buddies and pen pals. In Findlay, Ohio, employees have volunteered to support Lincoln Elementary School's reading and writing programs for 17 years and helped students at Washington Intermediate School improve in reading fluency and comprehension.
