As of November 1, 2024, there was 24 climate and weather disasters in the U.S. that exceeded $1 billion in losses. Disasters are intensifying and becoming more frequent. Many places are hit over and over, and the people who live in these communities must make impossible choices about whether to rebuild and how or whether to start over in a different location. 

In a recent Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) webinar, Beyond the hurricanes: What climate change means for funders, Director of Advisory and Education Services Tanya Gulliver-Garcia spoke with:

  • Roxie Jerde, President and CEO, Community Foundation of Sarasota County
  • Monica Sanders, Founder and CEO, The Undivide Project and Forbes contributor​
  • Sarah Labowitz, Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

They discussed how funding after a disaster works, and what funders, federal programs, and philanthropy can do better. 

Mis- and Disinformation is a Huge Problem 

With each disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) develop responses to combat disinformation and misinformation. This year, both FEMA staff and meteorologists were targeted with threats of violence.

Often, the types of disinformation people pass around on social media do not reflect their beliefs when discussing the climate’s effect on their communities. Many people support measures to safeguard their infrastructure in a sustainable way; they want interventions like levee support, storm-resistant housing, etc. 

 “When you ask people out of the context of social media about climate change, more people acknowledge the impact of climate change than is often expressed in social media and political fora,” said Sanders. However, it’s very important to help people discern credible sources for the information they consume.

Language around climate has become politicized, and some language might be triggering, which is why education is so important. Disinformation and conspiracy theories are so widespread that NOAA has a standing answer in its FAQ, explaining why “nuking a hurricane won’t work.”

There’s an opportunity for private philanthropy to help directly by funding public education campaigns led by community groups that may be better able to reach residents. “Public information about mis-, dis-, and malinformation is a public necessity,” said Sanders. 

Government Agencies Such As FEMA and HUD Can Only Do So Much 

Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Funds (CBDG-DR) help rebuild communities after a disaster. They’re appropriated by Congress and distributed by the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD). However, because Congress does not permanently authorize CBDG-DR funds, the program must be reinvented every time disaster strikes. This adds a lot of bureaucratic complexity to the process of families receiving the money to recover.  Additionally, it can take several months to years to get money into the hands of people in need. Rural communities might only have one or two local government workers to appeal for federal funding, adding more time to the process of getting money where it’s most needed. 

“The funding landscape is very chaotic and very unpredictable,” said Labowitz.  

Labowitz, who created the Disaster Dollar Database to track HUD and FEMA funding, said that HUD hasn’t issued new funding since May 2023. This means communities that have endured recent disasters have not had access to the funding that would support their efforts to rebuild fully. 

Affordable Housing is Often Located Where Disaster Risks are Higher 

Due to exclusionary zoning, low-income people are often pushed into places where the land is cheap and homes are undervalued. When a disaster hits, homeowners in these areas receive less money to rebuild. They may be unable to afford to rehouse themselves at an equivalent or better standard. And if they live in rural areas, they draw from a smaller tax base with which to not only recover from, but prepare for disasters. 

Philanthropy can help by funding recovery to build away from hazards. Funders can assist in rethinking problematic building codes, creating storm-resistant infrastructure, or rebuilding with mixed-use housing. Sanders shared that reducing hazards near residential areas might look like creating rain gardens to help with flood risk, citing the example of the Mirabeau Water Garden in New Orleans. 

Funders need to account for the root causes of damage in disaster-hit communities, think through radical interventions, and lead conversations. Very importantly, they must co-design solutions with communities that have lived through disasters. 

Jerde described the work that the Community Foundation of Sarasota County had done using a participatory grantmaking process. 

“The citizens in the community truly said, ‘This is what we need, and this is what we want supported,’ so we want to always ensure that we're listening to those voices, along with our partners.”

Heat is the Crisis to Watch for Climate-Related Disaster Philanthropy

Gulliver-Garcia asked each panelist to share the one indicator they were paying attention to regarding signs of climate change. All three panelists said “heat.” 

This year’s disasters show the links between heat and other natural hazards: Hot air temperatures lead to drought, raise water temperatures, and increase rainfall. Yet, heat is not an example of a disaster listed in the Stafford Act, which governs disasters. So far, FEMA has not declared a major disaster declaration for any communities affected by extreme heat. 

For additional resources on preparing for extreme heat, check out CDP’s webinar on the heat crisis.

“Recover for People, Not Place”

Funders can help communities “recover for people, not place.” Right now, government funding is typically very property-oriented. It focuses on bringing individuals, families, and communities back to where they were before the disaster, both figuratively and literally. 

CDP’s recovery definition is broader and more holistic, and we encourage donors to establish similar definitions for their grantmaking. It reads, “Disaster recovery is the process of improving individual, family, and community resiliency after a disaster. Recovery is not only about the restoration of structures, systems, and services – although they are critical. A successful recovery is also about addressing sources of inequitable and unjust outcomes, and individuals and families being able to rebound from their losses and sustain their physical, social, economic, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.”

What Climate Change Means for Funders and How They Can Help

Gulliver-Garcia shared three takeaways from the webinar:

  1. Boost disaster-related giving, with particular attention to preparedness and long-term recovery. Disasters are growing. They are increasing in frequency, size, cost, and impact. 
  2. Address the needs of rural communities. Rural communities are often ignored in disaster recovery, yet many disasters happen in these areas. Rural funding requires patient dollars and a recognition of the assets that exist in these communities. 
  3. Fund climate change. As funders, we need to step up and look at increased investment in climate change. We know that recovery from this year’s disasters will take years, if not decades. How can our investments in recovery include climate adaptation and mitigation strategies to prevent further harm?

Watch the full webinar at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.