Let’s Rethink Giving to Disaster Relief

With Giving Tuesday coming up December 2, it’s a good moment to have a conversation about donations to communities hit hard by natural disasters.

The rush to raise money after a natural disaster is dramatic and necessary. Search and rescue, relief, and crisis management are critically important.

But there is no such urgency to support long-term recovery. Unfortunately for many families, that’s the disaster after the disaster. Long after the camera lights have turned off, people  to cope with debris removal, lost homes, cars, and furniture. So many times, we’ve seen people crying about photographs and childhood memories that have been swept away. Small business owners see their life’s work destroyed.

People talk about how precious the community fabric is, but for many places, it’s been torn up. For many others, the protections and safety nets are not in place if something happens to them in the future

Long-term recovery remains chronically underfunded in infrastructure, gaps in insurance, mental health support and local economic development. This has contributed to the “hollowing out of communities,” where people leave because they don’t have the finances to stay in their childhood homes. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that more than 4.3 million Americans had to leave their homes because of disasters in 2024, whether for a short period or much longer.

In a report that came out this month, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy confirms that 80% of disaster giving happens within the first week, while recovery and resilience often receive less than 5–12% of total disaster funding. The encouraging news: funders are starting to shift toward making a long-term positive impact. State of Disaster Philanthropy 2025

How do we accelerate that shift? How do we invite donors to see beyond relief and response to support the hard work that accompanies recovery over years, not weeks?  At the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), we are thinking about different language and concepts that convey the barriers families face. Using the words “community continuity” to describe the disaster cycle as an example.

We are identifying innovative tools like parametric insurance that can insure communities instead of individuals. Many low and moderate income (LMI) households are getting priced out of insurance individually. Group insurance options can help cover some of the gap.

We are working with community planners to share information about “natural defenses” – how features like green ways, sand dunes, and cypress forests can serve as wind and water breaks.

We are working to tell more inspiring stories of the lengthy battle families and small businesses face in long-term recovery to motivate giving before the disaster, or hazard, occurs.

Community funders and other leaders  can use these ideas and many others as the basis for fundraising campaigns that show the impact of investing in your community’s future.  “In addition to supporting immediate needs following a disaster, donors can have a lasting impact by helping communities prepare for disasters before they occur. The United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction studies show that $1 spent on disaster risk reduction delivers an average return of $15 in terms of averted future disaster recovery costs.”

To provide these and other insights to community funders and leaders, ISD and the International Sustainable Resilience Center (ISRC) are launching The Academy of Community Resilience and Development with a webinar on Dec. 11.

This Giving Tuesday, funders and communities should continue the conversation about increasing funds aimed at preparing communities for recovery before disasters happen.

• What ideas do you have to describe the parts or all of the disaster cycle? Prepare, Respond, Recover that might resonate with more donors?

  
  

• What type of stories will entice donors to give to the lonely journey after the immediate crisis?

 Respectfully,

Craig Cole

Director of Strategic Initiatives/ISD Fellow

Craig.cole@isdus.org

PS. There is a webinar on Dec.11, The Fundamentals of Economic Resilience, that marks the launch of the Academy.

Craig Cole has 30 years of nonprofit experience, including helping develop the Home Fire Campaign at the American Red Cross, which has saved more than 2,000 lives due to the placement of smoke alarms in disadvantaged neighborhoods since 2014.