Four days after Hurricane Maria, Jennifer Lopez appeared at a press conference with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and announced she’d be contributing $1 million to the relief efforts. Her significant gesture matched the seven-figure gifts that stars, like Sandra Bullock and Leonardo DiCaprio, had made earlier this year to recovery organizations working in Houston, and was on par with the many multi-organizational efforts major celebrities have put forth in the wake of domestic terrorist acts, like Ariana Grande's Manchester Benefit Concert, the concerts held in honor of the victims of mass shootings at Paris' Le Bataclan and Orlando's Pulse nightclub, and, most recently, the efforts we're sure to see in regards to the massacre in Las Vegas.

Unlike other celebrity philanthropic initiatives, disaster relief, both natural and manmade, requires a quick response and is rarely accounted for in giving plans, leaving donors a short window to logistically manage the liquidation of funds, finding out where best to direct those funds and how to be confident they’re being deployed appropriately. Maggie Neilson, co-founder and CEO of Global Philanthropy Group, which advises corporations and wealthy individuals like Angelina Jolie, Shakira and John Legend on their giving, spoke with Billboard about the process and thinking behind ultra high-level donations to all types of disaster relief.

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