How Philanthropy Can Adapt During a Disaster—and Be Ready for What’s Next
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VOLUNTEERS DISTRIBUTING MASKS AT ASTORIA PARK IN QUEENS. Ron Adar/SHUTTERSTOCK
COVID-19 has forced many foundations to become disaster relief funders for the first time.
Opportunity funders are grappling with Depression-era levels of unemployment. Education funders are seeing children at risk of hunger as school closures leave kids without essential daily meals. Health funders are watching systems get stretched to their breaking points—and beyond. And funders everywhere are working with grantees who have to reinvent their operations under the pandemic.
Grantmakers around the country are seeing the fallout from this virus among their communities and grantees, and scrambling to respond. While the toll of COVID-19 has been profoundly unequal, falling most heavily on communities that have long been vulnerable due to systemic inequities and discrimination, virtually no community—or funding priority—has escaped the virus’ long reach.
For many foundations, it’s their first time playing such a response role. And none of us has seen a crisis of this breadth in our lifetimes. To better understand how funders can effectively respond to this historic moment, I spoke to several longtime specialists in disaster philanthropy to gather recommendations for institutions new to this area, what lessons from past disasters still apply, and how philanthropy can plan for the long term in responding to both this pandemic and the next disasters that will inevitably strike. Here’s what they told me.
Focus on Your Mission
Regine Webster, vice president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, urges foundations to stay focused on their core priorities, even if they may seem distant from the present crisis. “If your existing mission is with cultural preservation, then consider how COVID-19 has impacted that work. Continue to support that work. I guarantee you it is being impacted by COVID-19,” she said.
Every organization is hurting right now, so supporting your existing grantees sustains the long-term health of your community, said Katherina M. Rosqueta, founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy.
“Start with who you already know and trust. Because there’s not a single nonprofit that isn’t affected,” she said. “Every nonprofit can contribute to community response. This is different than other disasters and crises.”
For grantees, though, this crisis may mean shifting gears. At the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, which has a major disaster response program but few social service programs, there has been a rush of requests, said Erin Dearborn Coryell, program officer for disaster relief and recovery.
“Some organizations are saying right away this is the pivot, this is the change we need. And other organizations, even though they’re first responders, are not sure what their map looks like,” she said.
Prepare for the Next Disaster
Experts emphasize: We know another disaster is going to hit. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Despite the desperate needs provoked by this pandemic, grantmakers need to ensure they have emergency funds available for the possibility of a new disaster, natural or human-caused, striking their community.
As COVID-19 proves, an ounce of planning can be worth a pound of response. Yet past efforts to prepare for disasters have not always accounted for the needs of the most vulnerable, including low-income communities, racial and ethnic minorities, and those on the front lines of impact.
Foundations should not only work with their grantees to do scenario planning, but also ensure community groups are represented and that plans cover all groups’ vulnerabilities, said Alan Kwok, director of disaster resilience at Northern California Grantmakers. That’s particularly important, because federal and state aid often provides greater support for the more fortunate, for example, by compensating homeowners over renters.
“Black and brown communities experience more repeated disasters and are more impacted than their white counterparts,” he said. “And the more repeated disasters that communities experience, you see a wider income inequality.”
Building relationships between communities and groups can be a “force multiplier” in disaster response, said Mark Lindberg, program director of disaster relief and recovery at the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies. When local government officials already know the staff of response organizations like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, which already have relationships with social service organizations like Feeding America and Child Care Aware that do secondary response, it makes the whole process smoother. “We strongly believe that relationships matter when it comes to supporting and strengthening the disaster system,” Lindberg said.
There are two types of disaster response nonprofits that are most essential in a disaster, said Rosqueta of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy. One group consists of first-responder organizations that work globally, who “are always needed for any type of disaster” because they can operate under the most difficult conditions. Examples include the International Medical Corps and Doctors Without Borders.
The second are the hyperlocal organizations that know their communities intimately. Their knowledge—like how to get to the airport if a major roadway is closed, or even which family has a truck in a pinch—and their language and cultural competence are essential to the “last mile” of disaster response.
Better Yet, Try to Prevent the Next Disaster
The pandemic has also underlined the vast potential of preventive methods. Much has been written about Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts—including personal appeals by Bill Gates—to publicize the threat of a global pandemic in recent years. Now that the worst has arrived, Gates is already preparing for the next one. The organization is among the partners in the recently launched Pandemic Action Network, which is both supporting immediate efforts like the #MaskingForAFriend campaign and working to lay the groundwork with governments around the globe for a better response next time.
In California, where summers in recent years have brought fresh devastation from record-setting wildfires, a group including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation is working to address the underlying conditions. They’re looking at how to limit building in high-risk areas, new technologies that can stop a wildfire from getting out of control, and financing options for forest management projects that stop logs and other fuel from piling up. In partnership with Smart Growth California and others, they’re holding a series of philanthropic discussions to inform others about the risks and consider how to build resilience against wildfires.
“I’m hoping funders will change the way they do grantmaking. Instead of waiting for a wildfire or a disaster to happen, they will say, ‘how can we help now?’ It’s moving the grantmaking further upstream in the disaster continuum,” Kwok said.
Those Disaster Measures? Keep Them Forever
“The scale of this is so large it is prompting funders to do things that everybody knew were the right things to do, but it takes a crisis,” said Rosqueta of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy. For example, she sees grantmakers and external partners coordinating in real time on their response to a much greater extent—and greater speed—than before the crisis.
Her center is involved in one such effort. In partnership with Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, and with funding from the William Penn Foundation, the center is developing a regional philanthropic data dashboard for COVID-19 response funds in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Similarly, Philanthropy California is working to coordinate the more than 100 response funds in the Golden State and identify both overlap and gaps. Each project is born out of the pressing need to align efforts.
“Over a dozen funds came together and said, ‘You know what, we don’t have a minute or a penny to waste,’” Rosqueta said. “‘If we don’t respond in a coordinated way, this is not going to work.’”
Grantmakers across the country have also reduced reporting requirements, lifted grant restrictions, and extended grant terms, among other measures, sometimes termed “trust-based grantmaking.” With many nonprofits operating on just one to three months of reserve capital, these measures can reduce pressure and expand the resources they have to respond to crises, Kwok said. “These are not disaster-focused grantmaking strategies. These should be taken as everyday strategies that you have,” he said.
Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, for one, is on the same page. “We have already begun assessing what we are learning from these efforts, and how we can retain the best of what we’ve changed or done,” said Lindberg.
Look for Alternative Methods of Impact
At a time when there are dire needs in every direction, experts stressed the importance of leveraging other tools. Funders might connect grantees to technical assistance, from financial advisors to help with budgeting or technology providers to improve their virtual operations at an affordable price, Kwok said. “We know that financial resources are finite, so how can we be strategic?”
The dire stakes the world is confronting are opening policy windows once shut and barred, and many foundations are beginning to engage in advocacy, or deepening existing work. As these discussions get underway locally and nationally, Kwok urged foundations to ensure vulnerable communities have a seat at the table and a voice in the debate.
Similarly, Lindberg said the crisis underlines the systemic and interrelated nature of vulnerabilities—and how powerful policy is in addressing that challenge. “Not every foundation is active or interested in policy work, but it is evident now more than ever that we need changes in policies and practices at virtually every level, locally and internationally, to help all people enjoy a quality of life, with the dignity and safety that we all want,” he said.
