A challenge for grantmakers is finding a balance between being responsive when the disaster strikes and also taking time to be effective in that grantmaking. The list of resources below has been compiled by the Iowa Council of Foundations to assist grantmakers (as well as nonprofits) in helping to support Iowa communities impacted by disasters. For more information, please contact the ICoF by clicking here.
DISASTER RESOURCES
At the Heart of the Storm: A Disaster Preparedness & Recovery Guidebook for Nonprofit Organizations
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and Bush Foundation (PDF, 42 pages)
Lessons learned from the recovery from tornadoes in the St. Peter, MN area in p1998.
Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance through Charitable Organizations
IRS (PDF, 28 pages)
By using this publication at an early stage to help plan your relief efforts, your program will be able to help victims in ways that are consistent with the federal tax rules that apply to charities. This document contains advice about helping to provide relief through an existing charitable organization, information about establishing a new charitable organization, guidance about how charitable organizations can help victims, requirements for documentation, and more.
We Were There: The Role of Philanthropy in Disasters
Council on Foundations (PDF, 16 pages)
This report highlights how philanthropy has helped meet both long-term and immediate needs after national emergencies, and helped spur progress in other societal challenges. The booklet tells philanthropy's story after the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, and offers commentary from grantmakers and government officials on the role foundations played.
Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations
Council on Foundations, European Foundation Centre (PDF, 46 pages)
Foundations and corporate grantmakers can make a significant contribution in the disaster relief field by filling critical gaps in underfunded areas like disaster rehabilitation, prevention, research and education activities. This booklet that contains ideas, examples and resources related to disaster grantmaking.
Rebuilding Affordable Housing: The Challenge of Creating Inclusive Communities
Urban Institute (PDF, 13 pages)
New Orleans has a unique opportunity to recreate itself as an economically diverse, inclusive city that offers its low-income residents authentic opportunities. With careful planning by and for all, New Orleans can bring back its families and offer them homes in vibrant mixed-income communities.
Power Amidst Chaos: Foundation Support for Advocacy Related to Disasters
Alliance for Justice (PDF, 36 pages)
Foundations responded in many ways after the 2005 hurricanes. This paper provides a guide for foundations to evaluate their grantmaking practices and community involvement, and to assess how they can help communities become better prepared before disasters strike as well as better able to respond after they do.
Legal Resources and Services: Disaster Grantmaking
Council on Foundations
Moved by widely publicized human suffering and increased disaster aid requests, foundations and corporations are becoming more active in the disaster relief field. Grantmakers have a distinct role to play in disasters because of their ongoing relations with grantees, long-term perspective, flexibility and convening capacity. Lacking the sizable emergency relief resources of governments and some well-known nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), foundations and corporate grantmakers nevertheless can make a significant contribution, for instance, by filling critical gaps in underfunded areas like disaster rehabilitation, prevention, research and education.
Disaster Relief- Resources for Charities and Contributors
IRS
Information offered on contributing for disaster relief efforts put forth by the IRS.
From Chaos to Community
Community Partners (pdf, 35 pages)
This is a document that provides first steps in compiling guidance and thoughts for citizens who want to make their communities whole again after a major disaster
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
The Philanthropic Ventures Foundation has a report designed to help foundations prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies of all scales
Best Practices in Disaster Grantmaking
NYRAG, pdf- 44 pages
This report was created by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers based on lessons learned from the Gulf Coast.
Legal FAQs on Disaster Grantmaking
Foundation Center News and Commentary
Responses to frequently asked legal questions for corporate grantmaking in response to disasters.
Philanthropic Grantmaking for Disaster Management: Trend Analysis and Recommended Improvements
Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
Review of grantmaking to disasters and humanitarian emergencies from September 11, 2001 and later. Provides recommendations on best practice for improving the effectiveness of disaster related grantmaking.
Giving in the Aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes
Foundation Center
Report on foundation and corporate response after the Gulf Coast Hurricanes.
When the Hot Dishes Stop Coming
Bush Foundation- St. Paul, MN
Report on the efforts following the 500 year floods that occurred in the Red River and Minnesota River Valleys in Minnesota and North Dakota in 1997. It serves as a report on the progress made and can also serve as a blueprint for other communities.
After the Flood- Some "Out of the Box" Options for Foundations
Southeastern Council of Foundations- Effective Communities Project
Advice to foundations on how to be more innovative in their response to Hurricane Katrina. Suggestions include making different investments such as micro-enterprise funds and community development loans, partner differently with grantees, and using their influence with organizations, government, and big business.
After the Fires Fund Example Guidelines
San Diego Foundation/ San Diego Regional Disaster Fund
These grant guidelines were developed by the San Diego Foundation/ San Diego Regional Disaster Fund as the grant guidelines for the 2007 wildfires.
Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations
IRS Publication 3833
This publication provides information for business on how to structure assistance for employees as well as other information.