We’ve all seen the federal responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton in recent weeks being lauded and criticized, depending on who’s ox is being gored. This hurricane season, Republicans are leading the criticism, while during Hurricane Katrina in 2006 the Democrats were lobbing accusations. In essence, this is politics as usual, albeit amplified by the heat of this election season. Still, this post does not rehash political battles but considers the ramifications on nonprofit human services providers both inside and outside of disaster areas.
Many factors are increasing the impact of natural disasters, including the huge rise in people building and living along the coasts, in often poorly-managed ex-urban forest areas, earthquake zones, climate change, etc. The Brookings Institution reports that the US government spent $29.6 billion on disaster relief in 2020, and many nonprofit organizations are also heavily involved in response efforts (reliable expenditure data on nonprofit disaster response are not available). Yikes!
The DHS National Response Framework dictates disaster response roles and responsibilities for federal, state, and local agencies. If a governor affected by a disaster or emergency discerns that the event is beyond their capacity to respond effectively, they may request a presidential declaration for impacted counties. If a declaration is made, special funding from FEMA SBA, USDA, DOT, HUD, etc. is allocated to the affected counties to supplement state and local resources. But federal funding and other assistance is not instantaneous, a fact generally ignored by the media. I was Community Development Director for the City of San Ramon CA many years ago and one of my duties was to manage the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of a disaster. I was sent for five days of training at the state’s “Earthquake School” in San Luis Obispo. One of many frightening things we city officials learned is that it would take at least five days for federal or state help to arrive after a major disaster. So, when you see TV reporters interviewing outraged mayors during a hurricane because no outside government help has shown up, this is the norm, not the exception, regarding of which party is in power.
Nonprofits in disaster zones face much greater demand for services, while struggling to maintain operations. For example, we work for many rural FQHCs, which are usually the only local Medicaid/Medicare provider. One can imagine that FQHCs in western NC and FL are being overrun by patients, while their facilities may be damaged, staff is missing/absent, and little if any government help is coming from the outside, at least initially.
FQHCs and other nonprofits are now often required by funders, or simple common sense, to incorporate comprehensive disaster response and recovery planning into their work, even if disaster management is not a focus area of the organization. Both faith-based and other nonprofits will do their best to offer food, shelter, case management, health care, volunteer coordination and search and rescue services in response to disasters. These community organizations play critical roles in disaster response because they utilize local connections and relationships and are faster to respond than FEMA and other government agencies. The Wall Street Journal recently noted this in an article, “Towns Find Strength and Unity at Home”.
For non-declared disasters, nonprofits are especially vital to response efforts yet there is a dearth of data on these efforts and their outcomes, as reported in 2023 by the Rand Corporation, “The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Community Recovery After Nondeclared Disasters”. Also, research suggests that nonprofits are more effective at delivering disaster response services to marginalized populations than governmental organizations, as demonstrated by the expertise of the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse, etc., which are unparalleled in delivering fast response services across America and especially in rural areas. These organizations and others typically pivot during emergencies to provide higher volumes of food, housing/shelter, emergency healthcare, and cash assistance than what is provided during normal operations and will shift back to service provision during non-disaster times that includes more comprehensive counseling, case management, and other long-term services. Further, during acute response, nonprofits will help anyone in need, regardless of age, income level, religious affiliation, immigration status, and the like—unlike many government programs, there’s no “means test”.
While the demand for services on local nonprofits suddenly increases exponentially during disasters and supplemental federal funding remains over the horizon, another funding problem quickly emerges—foundations. Most foundations fund in certain geographies like a city, county, state, region, or, for large ones, nationally. There are very few foundations in rural and/or low-income communities ravaged by disasters in places like Appalachia and those that exist will quickly become overwhelmed with emergency funding requests. Still, many regional, statewide, and national foundations will abandon their normal criteria and start accepting disaster relief proposals which will help nonprofits to help residents outside the foundation’s usual geographic area of interest.
That’s the good news for disaster area nonprofits, but that good news is very bad news for nonprofits in other places. If the huge Kumquat Foundation that funds in California suddenly starts funding nonprofits in say Catawba County NC, their usual grantees will be out of luck. We saw this play out during Katrina in New Orleans and it lasted for well over a year. The moral of this story is that, if you run a nonprofit in a major disaster area, search for out-of-area foundations with temporary geographic funding criteria. Also, re-focus your grant seeking efforts on federal and state grants. While Congress has been on one their frequent hiatuses since September 27 for the election and won’t be back in session until November 12 (your tax dollars at work), when they do come back, it will be feeding time at the hog farm for grant seekers in disaster areas.