I am the CEO of After the Fire USA (ATF), a leading nonprofit in the space of megafire, climate change, and disaster recovery. We help communities navigate the complexities and stages of recovery post-megafire disaster.

Our services are free to every community because we know systemic inequities are built into the system of disaster recovery. Those who can afford large consulting firms recover faster than those communities already struggling economically. We believe every community deserves an equal opportunity to recover, rebuild, and reimagine.

Although all megafires create chaos, trauma, and tremendous loss, not all megafires are the same. For example, the 2021 Dixie Fire in California burned for three months, covered an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, cost $1.15B, and leveled the tiny frontier town of Greenville. In contrast, the Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado flared suddenly in the last days of 2021 but was quickly extinguished by firefighters and a snow cyclone bomb—it still burned nearly 1,100 homes at a cost of over $500M within its 24-hour megafire period. Yet in both cases, talented and dedicated groups of local leaders emerged out of the ashes.

Our job is to provide those leaders with survivor-to-survivor support, to find funding opportunities, to advocate for federal relief, and to learn alongside them. At the same time, we tailor our services according to the different needs, challenges, and opportunities present in each community.

But disaster recovery is not a quick process: we are a long-term program with a minimum commitment of three years. Our program is an iterative process that demands flexibility and resists comfort zones—much like parenting: just when you think you’ve got it down, wait a month.

Our superpower? Listening first and asking the same question over and over again, “What do you need and how can we help?”

Here’s what we’ve learned when asking this question:

  • Philanthropy needs to value outcomes over inputs.
  • Philanthropy needs to fund capacity.
  • Philanthropy needs to help communities recover resiliently as a whole.
  • Philanthropy should insist on strange bedfellows.
  • Philanthropy needs to get real.
  • Philanthropy needs to support local leadership.
  • At the end of the day, collaboration is key.

Read the full article about disaster philanthropy by Jennifer Gray Thompson at Blue Avocado.