Wright-Hennepin members donate $47,800 to local organizations

Rockford, Minn. (February 25, 2026) — Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association (WH) members who participate in Operation Round Up (ORU) donated grants totaling over $47,800 in February. ORU has awarded more than $5.6 million to local organizations since it began in 1994.

WH members who participate in ORU allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the next dollar. The rounded amount is then used for donations supporting local programs. Approximately 90% of WH’s members participate in the ORU program, contributing a total of almost $20,000 each month. ORU’s board manages the donated money, which is held in a trust fund. Through a selection process and review of guidelines, the ORU trustees evaluate funding requests on a bimonthly basis.

Watch a video demonstrating the local impact of ORU at bit.ly/WH-ORU25.

The ORU trust board donated the following on behalf of WH members:

• $29,224, local food shelves.
• $7,500, Angel Foundation, funds for emergency financial assistance for cancer patients.
• $5,000, Thumbs Up, funds to support a teen outreach event.
• $3,000, Can Do Canines, funds to support programming for assistance dogs.
• $2,500, MNK9SS, funds to support the training of five canine handler teams for advanced water-based rescue and human remains detection.

Applications for the next round of funding are due April 1. Learn about the activities ORU supports and find the grant application by visiting bit.ly/WH-ORU, emailing oru@whe.org, or calling ORU Trust Administrator Lisa Zipp at (763) 497-8189.

Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility that provides power to rural Wright County and western Hennepin County. The cooperative has been a corporate citizen to the area since 1937 and currently serves more than 61,000 electric accounts. It is headquartered in Rockford, Minn.

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