Social Responsibility Building Sustainable Communities
Building Sustainable Communities
$52 million
raised for Haven for Hope from the NuStar NuHope Golf Classic.
$831,000+
provided to employees in need through NuStar’s SAFE fund.
Making a difference in the communities where we live and operate has been a significant part of our corporate culture since our company was founded. We provide engaging and fulfilling jobs with best-in-class wages and benefits for our employees and deliver the fuels that make lives convenient, safe and affordable.
and DevelopmentEmployee Engagement,
Development and TrainingTake Care of the EmployeesHuman Rights and
Indigenous Communities
Community Involvement and Development
We collaborate with local organizations to advocate for safe, vibrant and sustainable communities. NuStar and our employees follow our Guiding Principle of “Pride” in giving back and building a brighter future for our neighbors by contributing time, talent, money and other resources to hundreds of community initiatives each year
Brad Barron, our CEO, is one of the 12 founding members of the Corporate Partners for Racial Equity.
The mission of this partnership is to improve racial equality in the San Antonio community. Many of the founding business members, including NuStar, have agreed to jointly contribute $13.8 million to support initiatives for underserved
people in three focus areas — equitable education, economic opportunity, and community safety and justice.
United Way
The United Way continues to be NuStar’s top community priority, as we believe it is the best organization to reach out to meet the critical needs of the entire community. That is why we are so proud that 99.9% of our U.S. employees contributed to our United Way campaign in 2022. Thanks to our employees’ and our directors’ generous gifts and our company match, we pledged approximately $4 million to United Way in 2022. Moreover, our headquarters average per capita contribution is the highest corporate rate in the nation.
Volunteer Councils
As our Chairman Emeritus Bill Greehey often reminded us, "money alone can’t solve problems — people do." That’s why our volunteers, known as the “NuStar Superstars,” are active in our communities and spend many hours of their personal and professional time serving their communities through projects such as fundraising initiatives, community clean-up events, educational outreach programs and more. In addition, many NuStar employees serve on the boards of local nonprofit organizations across our regions.
To promote employee engagement and cultural development within the company, NuStar’s Volunteer Council is entirely employee driven. The overwhelming employee involvement in volunteerism and philanthropy creates a strong camaraderie among employees, providing an avenue to connect and bond outside of the office and everyday tasks.
In 2005, as NuStar Chairman Emeritus Bill Greehey was preparing to retire from an incredibly successful tenure as the founding chairman and CEO of Valero Energy Corporation, a local TV news special about the desperate plight of San Antonio’s homeless population caught his attention. The story pulled at his heart so significantly that he knew this would become his mission, not to simply put a band-aid on the problem of homelessness, but to really help transform and save lives.
Greehey had no background in homeless services, but as an entrepreneurial business leader, he was an expert in problem solving. He saw that various local agencies were doing a good job of providing food and temporary shelter to the homeless. Those services, however, didn’t solve the underlying problem of homelessness as most of those served were back on the streets each night. Greehey saw the never-ending revolving door that was occurring at local jails and emergency rooms.
Greehey knew that the answer to the problem was transformation. To break the cycle of homelessness, the root cause of an individual’s or family’s homelessness had to be identified, and they needed to have all the resources available to them in order to overcome those issues. In 2006, he assembled a research team and visited a number of facilities across the country that offered varying degrees of transformational services. Combining the best practices of each facility, Greehey set a vision for Haven for Hope, which would be an innovative facility that provides a wide range of social services to meet the needs of San Antonio’s homeless community in a “one-stop” setting to help them transform their lives and become independent and productive citizens. Far beyond shelter, food and clothing, Haven for Hope’s services are geared to combat the root causes of homelessness, with dozens of partner agencies providing the services. And he knew that for Haven for Hope to succeed, it would need to be a public-private partnership.
Overcoming Resistance and Challenges
With his vision and plans for Haven for Hope in place, Greehey set out to raise $101 million to build the 37-acre campus. However, this came at a very difficult time given that the country was still in the throes of the Great Recession. Beyond that, many potential donors and supporters he approached did not understand homelessness. But Greehey wasn’t deterred, he pressed on, and spent nearly two years working day and night to present his vision and plans to business, civic, charitable and government leaders, as well as foundations and philanthropists like himself. He finally reached his goal, raising $61 million from the private sector and $40 million from the public sector to build the campus. The totals included a personal gift of $5 million from Greehey, and through the years, he has gone on to contribute over $44 million to Haven for Hope and its partner agencies.
Since opening its doors in the summer of 2010, Haven for Hope has helped over 40,000 individuals and Greehey served as its founding chairman until he stepped down in November 2022 and became Chairman Emeritus. The campus had an immediate impact as the city’s homeless population count decreased 80% since Haven for Hope started operating. Further, despite the city’s dramatic growth since that time, Haven for Hope has allowed San Antonio to keep its per capita homeless count lower than prior to Haven for Hope’s opening in 2010, something that can be best appreciated by looking at other US cities with increasingly overwhelming homeless populations.
It’s Not a “Shelter”; It’s the National Model In The Fight Against Homelessness
As Greehey always reminds people, Haven for Hope is not a “shelter,” it is a transformational campus. On any given day there are over 1,500 individuals housed at Haven for Hope. Individuals on the Transformational side of the campus must be committed to and actively engaged in self-help programs, including education, job training, counseling, GED classes, etc. – all of which are available on the campus.
Currently there are more than 80 community partner organizations that work together with Haven for Hope staff to provide over 300 different social services, such as medical, dental and vision care, in-house recovery, benefits assistance, legal services, ID recovery, and much more. There’s even a kennel and animal services on campus since many homeless individuals have only a dog or cat in their lives and won’t seek care without that pet.
On average, Haven for Hope serves nearly 7,000 clients per year. To date, more than 40,000 individuals experiencing homelessness have been helped by Haven for Hope and nearly 15,000 individuals have achieved higher levels of residential care. What’s more, 91% of people who exited with a housing placement did not return to homelessness after one year.
Based on its innovative approach and programming, Haven for Hope has widely become known as the “national model” in the fight against homelessness, and more than 300 cities from states across the country have visited Haven to learn more in the hope that they can do something similar in their own communities.
NuStar and Haven for Hope: A Special Bond
While countless nonprofit organizations and universities have benefitted from Greehey’s leadership and generosity, his greatest legacy will be the creation of Haven for Hope. And with Greehey having served as chairman of both Haven for Hope and NuStar, there is truly a special relationship between the two organizations.
While Haven for Hope opened in 2010, NuStar has supported the organization since prior to its inception. With Haven being a start-up organization, Haven had very little professional staff, so NuStar employees stepped up to provide pro-bono professional services that included legal, accounting, fundraising, government relations, project management, and multiple other administrative functions. And through the years, NuStar employees and their families have also provided support through volunteer projects on the campus, monetary donations and much more. Working together, NuStar and Greehey not only also provide back-to-school shoes and fully supplied backpacks for the children at Haven for Hope, but also to students in shelters throughout the community, as well as gifts for families during Christmas through the company’s “Adopt-A-Family” program, and a Christmas dinner for families on the Haven for Hope campus, complete with stockings and gifts for every man, woman and child. In addition, the NuStar NuHope Golf Classic, which is completely organized by NuStar employees and sponsored by the company’s many business partners, has raised more than $52 million to fund Haven’s operations since its inception in 2007, making the tournament Haven for Hope’s largest source of private funding.
Haven for Hope is now one of the most successful philanthropic organizations in the San Antonio region, and NuStar and its employees continue to support Haven for Hope’s work and mission. Haven for Hope is a place where miracles happen every day and tens of thousands of individuals and families have transformed their lives, all thanks to the vision of Bill Greehey and the tremendous support of NuStar and its employees.
The Kronkosky Charitable Foundation contracted with Steve Nivin, Ph.D. to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of Haven for Hope based on data from 2007 - 2019.
The benefits measured in the study included the economic and fiscal impacts of Haven’s operations, the economic and fiscal impacts of the volunteers at Haven, the benefits of reduced crime, the benefits of providing school stability to children, and the benefits of medical care, housing, and other care services.
Haven for Hope’s net benefits to the community averaged $5.6 billion.
Employee Engagement, Development and Training
NuStar’s culture revolves around our nine Guiding Principles: safety, integrity, commitment, teamwork, respect, communication, excellence, pride and making a difference. We believe that these principles are the building blocks for NuStar’s success and have helped us to recruit and retain the best employees and make NuStar a great place to work. NuStar has been recognized on FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list 13 times, FORTUNE’s “Best Workplaces for Millennials” list five times and was also recognized for the last three years as one of the “Best Companies for Latinos to Work For” and “Best Workplaces for Working Parents." In addition, the company came in at #12 on FORTUNE’s “Best Workplaces in Texas” list and was also recognized by Newsweek as one of “America’s Most Trustworthy Companies 2023.” NuStar also has been recognized as a top employer by regional and local publications.
Our Compensation Department evaluates companywide racial and gender equity by job profile every time a new employee is hired or an existing employee is recommended for a promotion. This helps ensure that compensation levels are equitable for all employees throughout the year, no matter their race or gender.
At NuStar, we take great pride in our special caring and sharing culture. And, because of that caring and sharing culture, volunteerism and giving back to the community is a big part of what we do every day. In fact, on any given day at any of our locations, it is likely you will find NuStar employees donating their time, talent or treasure to enrich the communities in which they live.
A great example of our caring culture can be found in Danko Barisic, Executive Director – Business Development, who immigrated to the United States from Croatia during high school. After playing basketball in college and excelling in academics, he joined NuStar in 2008 and quickly became an “MVP” around the office.
From the start, Barisic was a “go-getter.” Not only in the office, but also at almost every volunteer event the company held. His positive attitude and strong leadership made him a natural fit to lead NuStar’s Volunteer Council, but even at this position of leadership there was one event in which he could not participate: NuStar’s quarterly blood drives. This restriction was due to rules surrounding blood donations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for individuals who had spent years growing up in Europe as Barisic had.
After some time had passed, Barisic took the initiative to look back into the guidelines surrounding blood donations as this was a volunteer mission he believed in. He was pleased to learn that the guidelines had been modified by the CDC so he immediately emailed the coordinator of the NuStar blood drives to tell him that he “couldn’t wait” to sign up to donate blood. When the blood drive coordinator asked him why he was so excited about the upcoming blood drive, Barisic revealed that for years he had wanted to give blood to save lives in the San Antonio community but was restricted from doing so by the CDC.
Barisic is just one of the many employees across the company who are not only excited to give back to the community, but in many cases are finding new and creative ways to make our communities even better places to live and work. And Barisic’s story is just another example of how NuStar’s sharing and caring culture benefits the many communities in which we operate!
If You Take Care of the Employees, They’ll Take Care of the Company, its Unitholders and the Community
At NuStar, we firmly believe that if you take care of the employees, they will take care of the company, our unitholders and our communities. And that has been proven true as our employees have made NuStar into one of the largest independent liquids terminal and pipeline operators in the nation! Furthermore, our employees have made a positive difference in the communities where NuStar has operations by donating their time and resources to countless worthy causes. They are the reason that the best is yet to come for NuStar!
Another major part of our culture of caring is NuStar’s generous benefits packages. We are proud to provide our employees with one of the best health and welfare benefits packages in the industry[1], as well as resources to support every aspect of their well-being. NuStar offers a premium healthcare benefits package that covers 100% of an employee’s family healthcare, with several different choices, great flexibility and security — all without employees having to invest a dime in their basic benefits package.
In addition to our stellar benefits, NuStar provides many programs to reward and recognize our employees, encourage a healthy lifestyle and help them achieve financial stability. These include an all-employee bonus, service awards, employee appreciation gifts, complimentary wellness assessments, a fitness membership subsidy, adoption assistance, and more.
We also recognize that our employees’ talent, commitment and hard work underpins NuStar’s success. We encourage and enable our employees to advance their skills and achieve their potential, through our various leadership and development opportunities through defined career paths, professional training, educational reimbursement and scholarships for higher education.[2]
We believe our efforts to take care of our employees while helping them thrive in their careers are the primary driver of our low voluntary turnover rate.[3]
SAFE Fund
NuStar Chairman Emeritus Bill Greehey established the NuStar Support Aid for Family Emergencies (SAFE) fund as a means for providing financial assistance to employees and their immediate family members, including spouses, children, stepchildren and adopted/foster children. NuStar awards grants to employees affected by unexpected hardships, losses, expenses or tragedies. This initiative highlights our dedication to our employees, in and outside of the workplace. NuStar presents the SAFE fund amount as a gift that the employee does not have to repay and, since its inception in 2007, has provided over $831,000 to employees in need.
*(Five year average)
[1] According to 2023 correspondence from McGriff, one of the nation’s leading HR benefits consultants.
[2] For employees’ dependents
[3] Excludes retirements
Human Rights and
Indigenous Communities
At NuStar, we are committed to engaging with the Indigenous Nations in the areas where we operate, and we see ourselves as partners with these Indigenous Nations and communities. We respect each as a sovereign nation and have built long-lasting relationships. Our cooperative relationships and respect for their culture contributes not only to our successful operations, but also helps create economic value for the nations.
NuStar works closely with the Pueblo of Isleta and the Santo Domingo Pueblo, which are near our facilities in New Mexico. For example, members of the Pueblo of Isleta are employed in our right of way maintenance efforts. This ensures the work is not only performed in a way that meets our safety requirements, but also is respectful of their lands. In addition, we have provided essential supplies during natural disasters and worked closely with the Tribal Livestock Owners, an Indigenous group that keeps livestock as a major occupational source for their livelihood. We participate in environmental events to clean up areas of importance to the group and have provided personal protective equipment to assist with the success and safety of these efforts.
Our efforts and relationship with the Indigenous Nations in the areas where we operate could not be summarized any better than by Cedric Coriz, a NuStar Senior Terminal Operator who is also a proud member of the Santo Domingo Pueblo:
Through our Partnership with NuStar, we are fortunate and blessed to have revenue coming into our Tribal Government, which is distributed annually to the Head of Household and their families. This has promoted other businesses to seek relations with the Tribe as well. NuStar’s donations and support have helped reconstruct kivas and cultural buildings which have great meaning to our people.
At NuStar, we are proud not only to have employees who are members of Indigenous Nations, but also of our partnerships with nations in the areas where we operate. We honor the cultures of each Indigenous Nation and look forward to fostering our relationships as an active member of their communities.
