As part of Black Hills Community Bank’s culture, we believe in giving back to our local community as a way to pay it forward. The bank’s social responsibility plays a critical role in our business strategy of responsible growth and connects us to our purpose of making people’s financial lives better in our communities. Whether we make a loan to purchase your home or grow your business, it is also important to us to support non-profits who work tirelessly to address community needs.

How we stay involved

The Board of Directors of Black Hills Community Bank has authorized and established the Community Involvement Committee (CIC) to spread awareness throughout our community to people and organizations who are in need of support. With local organizations, we search for ways to involve our directors, shareholders, employees, clients and community members as a way to improve the lives of those we touch through our community programs.

Pass It On Program

A significant portion of the bank’s Giving Mission is done by our employees. Under the bank’s Pass It On program, qualifying employees are awarded $1,000 to contribute to a local Black Hills community non-profit organization. Our employees become ambassadors for the bank with their gifts. The Pass It On program originated in 2010, and in 2022 alone $34,000 was donated to 38 different organizations by our Community Bank Employees.

Jay Ketel presented his #PassItOn to the Hope Center – Rapid City. The money was used to purchase supplies for Jay’s son, Jason, to use for his Eagle Scout project. The project included ripping out the old kitchen and replacing the sink, counter top and cabinets.

Community Volunteer Hours

Every year, Black Hills Community Bank employees give their time to non-profits by volunteers. Each employee is expected to volunteer a minimum of 50 hours. In 2022, the employees completed more than 5,000 hours volunteering at non-profits, serving on committees or boards, and participating in community events or fundraising activities. Nearly 200 organizations benefited from Community Bankers offering their time and assistance within the Black Hills community.  This included activities such as spearheading the Clothe-a-Kid and School Supply Drive in Spearfish, participating in the United Way Month of Caring, and serving on various boards and community committees. Employees have exceeded their volunteer goals each year since the program was established by the CIC in 2010.

2022 Summary

Jodi Watts presented her #PassItOn to the Spearfish School Supply Drive. With this drive, the goal was to help 100 students with supplies. Not only did she give her donation, but the Spearfish Bank hosted a school supply drive for the community.

The bank invested in various ways throughout 2022 beyond our Pass It On program and volunteerism. We support many capital campaigns for non-profits.

The Annual Diaper Drive for BHCB had a record-setting year in 2022. The goal was set at 60,000 diapers and the bank collected 99,915 diapers to donate to two local non-profit organizations. This was nearly double the number of diapers collected in 2018. The total included 84,500 diapers from the Rapid City location, and 15,415 from Spearfish. Throughout the month of June, both BHCB locations, their customers, and the community donated diapers and monetary donations to benefit the Cornerstone Women and Children’s Home in Rapid City and the Bella Pregnancy Resource Center in Spearfish. Several events were held to raise funds for the Diaper Drive, including an online silent auction, a fun run 5K, bake sales and a desert competition. BHCB has collected more than 500,000 diapers over the past 12 years.

Employees donate a dollar once a week to wear jeans every Friday. At the end of each year, employees get to decide who should receive the contributions. For 2022, the bank in Rapid City continued to support the 12 Days of Pizza program. This program originated with Black Hills Community Bank in 2015 and the bank has financially supported it every year since then. Through a partnership with Pizza Ranch, more than 2,000 meals were provided to children and their families during Christmas break. In Spearfish, the bank held a Bare Necessities drive to support the Artemis House. They collected items and in addition to using their jeans day money collected, they delivered 2 pickup loads of items.

How Can We Help Your Organization?

We invite community non-profits and organizations to let us know about their activities and fundraising events. While the bank views charitable giving as a commitment, we regret that we are unable to respond favorably to every donation request or requests that do not align with our Giving Mission, those may include:

• Political Campaigns
• General Operating expenses
• Research projects
• Building & Renovation projects
• Product raffles
• Conferences & Seminars
• Financial support for individuals

We make every effort to support donation requests that meet our Giving Mission. If you feel your organization or non-profit deserves to be considered for our giving programs, we invite you to fill out and submit the donation request form below.