Disaster philanthropy in response to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes is on the rise, just as the events themselves happen in greater frequency. Donors want to help and quickly search for ways to jump in.

This was the case when the strongest hurricane to affect the United States, Hurricane Helene,  made landfall near Perry, Florida as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane caused significant damage along the Big Bend region of the state, leaving flooded homes and streets, millions without power, and at least 26 people dead in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Though we won’t know the full impact for days, weeks or even months, we expect the power outages to be extensive and potentially last for a long time, leaving people without access to basic needs critical to survival.

The Basics of Effective Disaster Giving

At times like this – when worry, stress and fear are high, I remind myself to take a breath and go back to basics. For philanthropy, these basic principles of effective disaster giving help provide trusted outcomes:

  • Take the long view. Even while focusing on immediate needs, remember that it will take some time for the full range of needs to emerge. Power and transportation outages and flood-damaged homes may be top of mind, but it takes a while to truly understand the impact that the disaster has had on people’s lives. Be patient in planning for disaster funding. Recovery will take a long time, and flexible funding will be needed throughout.
  • Recognize that there are places where private philanthropy can help that government agencies might not. With the increase in extreme weather events, governments cannot fully fund recovery, and human and financial resources are stretched very thin. Therefore, private funders have opportunities to develop innovative solutions to help with recovery efforts and to prevent or mitigate future disasters that the government cannot execute.
  • All funders are disaster philanthropists. Even if your organization does not work in a particular geographic area or fund immediate relief efforts, there are ways to align disaster funding with your existing mission. Whether you focus on education, health, children, underserved populations, the environment, conservation or agriculture, disasters affect all these issue areas of interest.
  • Support the sharing of promising practices, preparedness and mitigation. Some hurricane-prone areas have developed stringent building codes to mitigate destruction from hurricanes. Interested donors could help support the transfer of expertise from one region to another before the next disaster occurs. Other areas for promising practices research and sharing include efforts to coordinate volunteers and the distribution of supplies before, during and after an event.
  • Connect and collaborate with other funders. Collaborative philanthropic response to the disaster leverages combined expertise and maximizes the value of the donated human, financial and technical resources. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) works closely with community foundations, regional associations, funders and responding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to share trustworthy information and analysis.
  • Look to past disasters for guidance. There are often lessons learned that could be used to create better policies and procedures. Consider funding disaster risk-reduction research or projects that could inform more effective disaster preparation and response policy.

Read the full blog and give to the CDP Hurricane Season Recovery Fund on the Center for Disaster Philanthropy website.