Disaster Grantmaking

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations

council-webteam — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 03:56:55 +0000

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations council-webteam Mon, 11/24/2014 - 22:56

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations

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.

Based on lessons learned from a year-long joint study of the European Foundation Centre and the Council on Foundations, we concluded that grantmakers can be more effective and strategic in addressing disasters by following eight principles:

First, do no harm.
Not all disaster assistance is beneficial. Inappropriate items can overwhelm limited transportation, storage, and distribution capacities, thereby delaying the delivery of assistance that is desperately needed. Aim to ensure that your grant contributes to the solution and not to the problem.
Stop, look, and listen before taking action.
Information is the key to good disaster grantmaking. Every disaster has unique characteristics. Take the time to learn about the specifics of a disaster before deciding how to respond.
Don't act in isolation.
Coordination among disaster grantmakers, among NGOs operating on the ground, and between these two groups can reduce duplication of effort, make efficient use of resources, and ensure that the highest-priority needs are addressed first. Grantmakers can participate in various standing and ad hoc fora - both real and virtual - where needs are discussed, information is exchanged, and assistance is coordinated.
Think beyond the immediate crisis to the long term.
The emergency phase of a disaster attracts most of the attention and resources. Grantmakers can play a very useful role before the crisis by supporting disaster prevention and preparedness activities and afterward by filling gaps between emergency relief and long-term development programs.
Bear in mind the expertise of local organizations.
Community-based organizations and NGOs with a local presence are the first on the scene when disasters occur. They know best what assistance is needed and they understand the complex political, social, and cultural context of a disaster. However, these organizations are often hampered by the lack of resources and organizational capacity to carry out their important role. Working with and/or supporting these organizations can prove mutually beneficial.
Find out how prospective grantees operate.
Organizations that work on disasters vary greatly in their approaches and overall philosophies. Some specialize only in emergency relief, while others have a long-term development orientation. Some support the work of local organizations, while others do not. It is wise to know what approach you are supporting before making a grant.
Be accountable to those you are trying to help.
Grantmakers should be accountable not only to their donors, boards, and shareholders, but also to the people they seek to assist. Grantmakers need to go beyond merely determining how their grant was spent to engage their grantees in a process that assesses social impact.
Communicate your work and use it as an educational tool.
Highlighting examples of good disaster grantmaking is an excellent way for grantmakers to educate both internal and external audiences about the disaster process. It is useful to build a knowledge base, capture lessons learned, and share your experience with boards, staff, employees, other grantmakers, the media, community groups, public officials, and international organizations.

A number of practical suggestions for good disaster grantmaking flow from these principles and are highlighted in this guide.

Download Document

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Related Resources

Related Events

FAQ: Disaster Grantmaking for Corporate Grantmakers

council-webteam — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 03:24:39 +0000

FAQ: Disaster Grantmaking for Corporate Grantmakers council-webteam Sat, 11/09/2013 - 22:24

FAQ: Disaster Grantmaking for Corporate Grantmakers

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, corporate grantmakers often wish to address the needs of employees and the community at large. Grantmakers must understand the legal rules that govern disaster grantmaking. Below are the answers to many common questions on providing disaster relief.

Although this information provides the legal context for corporate grantmakers' response to disasters, corporations and their foundations should always review their particular approach with knowledgeable legal counsel.

Why is the qualified disaster designation important?

Legislation passed after September 11, 2001 (the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001) defined qualified disasters and made it easier for corporations and corporate grantmakers to provide assistance in such situations. First, the legislation provided that qualified disaster relief payments (defined below) do not count as wages or other income and recipients do not have to pay income taxes on them.

Second, the act's legislative history directed the IRS to issue new guidance permitting company foundations to provide disaster relief to company employees, as long as certain safeguards are in place. IRS Publication 3833 includes the IRS response: As long as the disaster is a qualified disaster and specified criteria are met, a company foundation may offer disaster relief to employees. (Private company foundations may not assist company employees in a disaster that does not meet the definition of a qualified disaster, however, as the IRS reasons that such assistance is serving the business purpose of the corporation and therefore is not charitable.)

What is a qualified disaster?

A qualified disaster is: (1) a disaster that results from a terrorist or military action (2) a presidentially declared disaster (3) a disaster resulting from an accident involving a common carrier (4) a disaster caused by any other event determined by the secretary of the treasury to be of a catastrophic nature. For example, Hurricane Katrina was declared a qualified disaster.

How do I know if a disaster is a “qualified disaster?”

For domestic disasters, grantmakers should check the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) website at www.fema.gov. FEMA does not indicate whether a disaster is “qualified” but does indicate whether a domestic disaster is a presidentially declared disaster. If this occurs, the disaster is considered “qualified.” For disasters outside the U.S., the Secretary of the Treasury will determine whether to make the qualified disaster designation. This information can typically be found on the IRS website at www.irs.gov, but there can be considerable delay before a declaration is announced. The Council will also update its website with whether or not a disaster is qualified, as that information becomes available.

What is a qualified disaster relief payment?

Qualified disaster relief payments include payments or reimbursements attributable to a qualified disaster for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses and reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for the repair or rehabilitation of a personal residence or the repair or replacement of its contents.

How can we assist affected employees?

Direct corporate giving. The easiest way for companies to assist employees affected by a qualified disaster is usually through direct company support. A program that uses corporate resources is not required to meet the special conditions that the company foundation must follow. Whether provided by the company or the foundation, qualified disaster relief payments are not taxable income to employees.

Company-sponsored private foundation. In the event of a qualified disaster, a company-sponsored private foundation may make disaster relief distributions to employees and their families as long as the following requirements are met (comments on the rules are in italics):

The class of beneficiaries must be large or indefinite.

There is little conclusive guidance from the IRS as to how big a group must be to be deemed "large." A few affected employees would not be a charitable class, while a number in the hundreds probably would be. Private foundations can avoid uncertainty by creating programs that provide assistance not just to employees who are victims of Hurricane Katrina, but also to those who suffer losses in subsequent qualified disasters. Opening the program to future victims should satisfy the charitable class requirement because the class of beneficiaries is indefinite.

Recipients must be selected based on an objective determination of need.

The process for determining need may vary depending upon the circumstances. Immediate needs for shelter and food, for example, may be met without a determination of financial need. Longterm assistance, such as financial assistance to pay for housing for a period of months, would require the foundation to determine the financial need of the individual.

The foundation should maintain documentation that demonstrates individuals' needs. This documentation should include:

(1) A complete description of the assistance

(2) The purpose for which aid was provided

(3) The objective criteria the foundation used to provide assistance

(4) The name and address of each recipient and the amount distributed to him or her

(5) Any relationship between the recipient and officers, directors and key employees of the foundation or its substantial contributor (the company).

The recipients must be selected by an independent selection committee (or by other substitute procedures that ensure that any benefit to the employer is incidental and tenuous).

A committee is considered independent if a majority of the members of the committee are not in a position to exercise substantial influence over the employer. Members of the board of directors, the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer are examples of individuals typically in a position of substantial influence.

If a private foundation follows those requirements, the IRS will presume that any distribution is consistent with the foundation's charitable purpose and the payment will not be taxable wages for the employee. Also, any distribution to employees?other than individuals who are directors, officers or trustees of the foundation or members of the selection committee?will be presumed not to violate the prohibition against self-dealing. (The self-dealing rules prohibit private foundations, including company foundations, from entering into a range of financial transactions with disqualified persons. Disqualified persons include substantial contributors to the foundation, as well as foundation directors and officers.)

Note that if a private foundation chooses to provide scholarships to assist in the aftermath of a disaster, the foundation still must obtain advance approval of the grantmaking procedures and either follow the requirements for employer-related scholarships and education loans or be able to demonstrate that the scholarships for those affected by the qualified disaster are neither compensatory nor self-dealing. Grants to Individuals by Private Foundations contains more information about the requirements for scholarships.

Public charity. A public charity, whether sponsored by the corporation or completely independent, such as a community foundation, may also make payments for disaster relief. The guidelines outlined above for company-sponsored private foundations should be closely adhered to in order to ensure that the grants are made for charitable purposes.

How can we help the affected communities at large?

Direct corporate giving. The rules for the deductibility of company contributions of products and cash are unchanged by the qualified disaster determination. Contributions of products and grants provided to charities and government bodies for the purpose of disaster relief will be deductible.

Note that contributions of inventory?property held for sale to customers?made to charities for the care of the ill, needy or infants generally qualify for greater deductibility than contributions of inventory for other purposes. Typically, companies may receive a charitable deduction of no more than the cost basis of inventory. However, companies donating inventory for the care of the ill, needy or infants may receive a charitable deduction for no more than twice the cost basis of the property. The term "needy" is defined to include a person who lacks the necessities of life as a result of temporary distress and includes victims of a natural disaster. Companies should consult with their advisors to determine the amount of any deduction for contributions of inventory.

Grants to non-charities, such as a chamber of commerce or an individual, will not be deductible as a charitable contribution by a corporation.

Corporate-sponsored private foundations and public charities. Aside from the differences in grantmaking to employees, there are no special rules for contributions by private foundations and public charities in the event of a qualified disaster. Most relief work is being conducted by public charities and governmental entities. However, a chamber of commerce or other non-charity may be facilitating the support of evacuees in some communities. When making grants to non-charities, private foundations must exercise expenditure responsibility to ensure that the grants are used for charitable purposes. Included in the requirements of expenditure responsibility are the use of a written grant agreement and receipt of follow-up reports from the grantee on the use of the money. Most payments for disaster relief presumably will be charitable, but private foundations must ensure that they follow the rules of expenditure responsibility to avoid incurring an excise tax. Public charities have more flexibility in making grants to non-charities, but still need to ensure that any grant is used for charitable purposes.

Our employees want to assist affected coworkers, how can we facilitate and/or encourage this giving?

While corporations may set up bank accounts to collect contributions for coworkers affected by a disaster, payments to such a bank account would not be charitable and, thus, the donor would receive no charitable deduction. However, employees may contribute to a disaster relief fund at a company-sponsored private foundation or public charity and receive a deduction.

Company-sponsored private foundations that typically only receive contributions from the corporation should be particularly aware of the substantiation rules. Generally, donors will need receipts for contributions over $250 so that they may claim a charitable deduction. See the IRS publication Charitable Contributions?Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf) for more information.

Company foundations should also take into account state charitable solicitation laws and consider whether they must register in states with such laws before accepting employee donations. Even if gifts from employees would permit the private foundation to be classed as a public charity, this would not happen unless the foundation applies to the IRS for reclassification.

Many corporations are mobilizing their matching gift programs through their direct giving program or foundation to encourage employee giving. These programs frequently match gifts either to a particular charity chosen by the corporation?such as the American Red Cross?or to charities of the employees' choice that are providing disaster relief.

What are some additional resources for more information?

IRS Publication 3833: Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance through Charitable Organizations (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3833.pdf)

Disaster Relief? Current Developments, IRS FY 2003 Continuing Professional Education material (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicm03.pdf)

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Related Events

Related Resources

Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How U.S. Philanthropy is Responding to the 2020 Crises

emily.moses@cof.org — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:29:23 +0000

Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How U.S. Philanthropy is Responding to the 2020 Crises emily.moses@cof.org Tue, 09/15/2020 - 14:29

Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How U.S. Philanthropy is Responding to the 2020 Crises

The public health, racial justice, and economic crises of 2020 have affected millions of Americans and laid bare the glaring inequities in our systems and institutions.

A new report from Council on Foundations, Philanthropy California, and Dalberg Advisors outlines how the US philanthropic sector is responding to the 2020 crises — and the opportunities to shift practices and share power to enable communities and the industry to #BuildBackBetter.

We surveyed 250 foundation leaders and conducted more than a dozen in-depth interviews to assess how the sector is changing in three ways: resourcing, priorities, and internal operations. Across all three, we found shifts in practices yet few examples of increases in power sharing.

Download Report

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Funds Management

Working with Grantees

Related Events

Related Resources

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide

emily.moses@cof.org — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 18:12:51 +0000

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide emily.moses@cof.org Mon, 08/31/2020 - 14:12

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide

This Strategy Guide, developed in partnership with the National Center for Family Philanthropy, invites you to reflect more deeply on how your foundation chooses to balance the four factors of Purpose, Conditions and Trends, Time Horizon, and Assets for Mission, especially in times of greater crisis or opportunity. It leaves the final decision to you, without judgment for your payout amount, lifespan, or mission. To aid you in the journey into the soul and stewardship of your philanthropic assets, you will find guidance on:

Strengthening the stewardship and governance of your portfolio
Challenging assumptions about perpetuity and payout
Understanding the spectrum of choices foundations use to balance purpose, conditions and trends, permanence, and spending
Leading more intentional board conversations
Resources for improved investment stewardship
Thinking outside the box on spending and time horizons

Download Strategy Guide

Download Discussion Guide

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Endowments & Investing

Funds Management

Related Events

Related Resources

Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities

ben.mcdearmon@cof.org — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 22:26:12 +0000

Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities ben.mcdearmon@… Tue, 08/25/2020 - 18:26

Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities

A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources

The Council on Foundations has long been involved in helping foundations and funders navigate grantmaking in times of disaster and hardship. We have published various materials over the years related to this subject. This Compendium chapter is designed to be combine key information into one comprehensive resource. We address:

Disaster assistance in response to natural disasters, as well as emergency hardship assistance for more personal tragedies and man-made events, including mass shootings;
Assistance to specific groups, such as employees of a particular employer;
The specific IRS rules that must be followed, but also discuss where there are gaps and unanswered questions; and
Unique approaches designed to help victims of tragedy.

The target audience for this chapter includes private foundations, community foundations, company foundations, and direct corporate-giving programs. Although this book occasionally references the individual donor and the laws that affect that donor, we do not make an effort to provide a comprehensive analysis of the rules for individual giving.

The chapter is organized as follows:

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR U.S. CHARITIES

PART ONE reviews the legal framework applicable to U.S. charities, including a discussion of charitable purpose and how disaster assistance and emergency hardship funding can fit within that purpose.

PUBLIC CHARITIES PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF AND EMERGENCY HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE

PART TWO examines public charities, including community foundations, and discusses how these organizations can provide assistance to communities and individuals.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS

PART THREE reviews specific rules for private foundations making grants to other charities and individuals.

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY AND DISASTER RELIEF/EMERGENCY HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE

PART FOUR discusses issues important to corporate philanthropy, including assistance to employees of individual employers.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH MAN-MADE DISASTERS

PART FIVE examines recent man-made disasters, including several mass shootings, and discusses new approaches to help the individuals and communities affected.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES

PART SIX concludes with a list of resources that will be helpful to funders, including some sample documents.

Accessing this Chapter

As a benefit of Council membership, members can download this chapter for free. Non-members can purchase this chapter of the Legal Compendium in our store for $149.

Members Download for Free

Nonmembers Purchase from Store

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Related Events

Related Resources

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific

brian.kastner@cof.org — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 18:56:39 +0000

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific brian.kastner@… Tue, 08/25/2020 - 14:56

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific

Give2Asia's report looks at 15 years of its grantmaking to understand giving patterns, program impact, and opportunities in the philanthropy sector.

Go to External Resource

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Related Resources

Corporate Peer Discussions: COVID-19 Response

council-webteam — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 20:31:12 +0000

Corporate Peer Discussions: COVID-19 Response council-webteam Fri, 07/10/2020 - 16:31

Corporate Peer Discussions: COVID-19 Response

In March, the Council joined the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP), Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), and Points of Light (POL) to host a series of corporate salon discussions that focused on response and adaptation to COVID-19 challenges.

These bimonthly peer exchanges offered companies and corporate foundations the opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and resources beneficial to managing community investments throughout the pandemic.

Initially intended to serve as a brief peer exchange, these discussions quickly expanded into a five-month continuum that has evolved from immediate relief to long-term recovery conversations. As companies and corporate foundations determine a new normal, we have collected in-depth summaries with specific information on each issue- and industry-based session for you to review and consider.

Partnership Letter: What is the Courageous Opportunity for Companies in this Crisis?

The Council, ACCP, CECP, and POL will continue to share resources and produce relevant content specific to companies and corporate foundations. Please contact the Council or a representative through your respective member organization with requests or recommendations on how we can support your team.

Issue-Based Discussions

Industry-Specific Discussions

Thank you to each company who participated in a corporate peer discussion. On behalf of the Council, ACCP, CECP, and POL, we appreciate your commitment to community and sharing with peers as we serve companies across each of our member organizations.

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Related Events

Related Resources

The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response

council-webteam — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 16:27:31 +0000

The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response council-webteam Wed, 06/24/2020 - 12:27

The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response

COVID-19 has prompted a rapid response from funders to channel funding to organizations across the world. To make this happen efficiently, global intermediaries have stepped up to support individuals, foundations, and corporations in directing support to charitable organizations in Asia & the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Global intermediaries are a specific kind of charity in the United States that serve as a connector and facilitator of grantmaking to charitable organizations outside the US. These charities have deep expertise in the rules and regulations around giving internationally but also lend their relationships and regional knowledge to funders who wish to embark on supporting causes globally.

For COVID-19 response, these organizations were some of the first to set up response funds and to warn of outbreak as they heard from partners in Asia about the disease.

They have helped facilitate nearly $300 million in grant dollars and made it easy for the rest of philanthropy to provide direct relief to other countries for COVID-19 response.

Learn more about the impact of these important grantmakers in their own words:

* Designates Council on Foundations Members

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

International Giving

Related Events

Related Resources

Making Grants to Crowdfunding Campaigns During Disasters

council-webteam — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:44:37 +0000

Making Grants to Crowdfunding Campaigns During Disasters council-webteam Wed, 04/22/2020 - 11:44

Making Grants to Crowdfunding Campaigns During Disasters

You may wonder whether you can make grants to GoFundMe campaigns that are supporting localized efforts during disasters. Proceed cautiously: GoFundMe and many similar crowdfunding platforms are not registered 501(c)(3) public charities, and therefore you need to examine carefully if the campaigns hosted on these sites are charitable in nature.

How Can Foundations Make Grants to GoFundMe and Other Crowdfunding Platforms?

If the page and account was set up by a charitable organization to benefit that charitable organization, you can make a grant just like you would any grant to any other charity. In this case, the charity is using the platform as a method to accept contributions for themselves. For GoFundMe, such pages will have a green check mark and a note that all contributions are 100% tax-deductible.

On the other hand, if the campaign was set up by an individual, or a non-charitable entity, with the intention that the money raised would go first go to the individual/non-charity who would then disperse to other organizations, you would treat this as a grant to a non-charity. In this case, you would need to collect documentation to show how your grant served a charitable purpose. Such documentation could include checks and transmittal letters from the individual/non-charity to charitable organizations matching the amount of your grant, or documentation of an objective and nondiscriminatory program of making grants to individuals in need. However, if your grant came from a donor-advised fund, you would need to exercise full expenditure responsibility.

Tip for your nonprofit partners: Individual donors sometimes create fundraising campaigns for their organization and unwittingly make life difficult for the charity in question. We recommend that you help your nonprofit partners understand the need for campaigns to be set up in their name, not in the name of the individual supporter.

Note: There are some charitable crowdfunding platforms, such as GlobalGiving, where this issue is not relevant.

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Scholarships & Grants to Individuals

Related Events

Related Resources

Advice from the Field: Responding to Mass Casualty Events

council-webteam — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 17:27:58 +0000

Advice from the Field: Responding to Mass Casualty Events council-webteam Mon, 08/05/2019 - 13:27

Advice from the Field: Responding to Mass Casualty Events

It is an unfortunate reality of our times that foundations must respond all too often to mass casualty events in their communities. There are immediate questions that need to be addressed and an ongoing crisis to manage if your foundation is going to raise and deploy philanthropic capital in support of the victims, their families, or the impacted community.

Because these incidents occur at random:

It is important to start by having contact information readily available outside normal business hours—this includes key staff, government and nonprofit partners, board members, and community leaders.
The first and most critical step is to ensure your team is accounted for immediately following an incident.
Once you have key team members safely accounted for and capable of engaging, it is important to start mobilizing additional partners to identify who is doing what and how best to plug the foundation into the process of supporting the community.

Community foundations in particular have wide range and capacity for deploying philanthropic dollars raised, including:

Institutional/organizational support (immediate and/or long term) for community organizations, nonprofits, and agencies responding and providing emotional, physical, and social forms of support to victims and their families, as well as support services to the community at large that is now feeling unsafe, scared, and simply distressed.
Direct compensation and support to victims and their families for healthcare, funeral costs, and unrelated loss of income due to inability to work, etc.

A few immediate considerations:

Assess the landscape of all providers (Red Cross, mission relief service providers, city government and law enforcement) to see what resources are immediately available.
Determine what can be coordinated, if anything, around mobilizing funds and donations for support.
Assess whether those funds coordinated are best utilized in support of immediate or long-term benefit. Be as clear as you can in the criteria for disbursement of funds to honor donor intent from the onset.
- If funds are being raised elsewhere to directly support the victims and their families, the foundation might have an opportunity to address the long-term implications of mass violence on the community. It should be noted that anxiety and distress can continue to take a toll on people and communities long after a tragedy occurs.
Be prepared for any potential political fallout or pressures that could come if elected officials or others choose to uplift your fund as the de facto for their institution(s)—they may then want a hand in its disbursement and politically overstep when determining how this will take place—even before decisions are made.
Prepare yourself for a range of possibilities and stand ready to adapt to changes, as outside influence will come quickly and you will not have control over every decision.

If you elect to go down the path of victim and family compensation or direct support:

You will need to consider the support of a viable firm, association, or consultancy group to assist in processing funds for disbursement.
Give an Hour, National Compassion Fund, and American Red Cross are examples of organizations who can provide the necessary coordination involved in assessing victims' compensation.
Consultancy groups typically come with varying costs that need to be incurred alongside the disbursement—this may range from $75,000 to $300,000, depending on the scale of the tragedy and compensation pool.

Realize that there are significant administrative costs coming your way to manage the fund and its varying components:

This comes in the form of staff resources, hired expertise, and contracts to develop additional web pages and media coverage, as well as advice on legal protections against fraud, scammers, and so on. 
The waiving of administrative fees often feels right, but be prepared to manage all the misdirection it creates in staff time and resources. Also remember that new contracts will need to be signed with service providers who themselves will charge 10% or more.

Everything moves at the speed of trust, so be sure to have qualified partners engaged:

This may include church leaders, local government, social service providers, hospital foundations — you name it. It's important to constantly assess the network, motives, and long-term potential of each step as best you can without allowing it to immobilize your efforts. Consider quickly assessing who would be the best fit to coach your team through the process to better clarify who is responsible for what.

Here is a quick sampling of resouces from foundations who have experienced and managed tragic incidents. These tools share how they responded and the lessons learned along the way. If you would like to share additional resources, please contact the Council's Engagement team.

The One Fund Boston: Lessons for Leaders

Ventura County Community Foundation

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff

Disaster Grantmaking

Disaster Grantmaking

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations

Disaster Relief: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations

Download Document

Questions?

Related Resources

Related Events

FAQ: Disaster Grantmaking for Corporate Grantmakers

FAQ: Disaster Grantmaking for Corporate Grantmakers

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How U.S. Philanthropy is Responding to the 2020 Crises

Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How U.S. Philanthropy is Responding to the 2020 Crises

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities

Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities

A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law: The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR U.S. CHARITIES

PUBLIC CHARITIES PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF AND EMERGENCY HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY AND DISASTER RELIEF/EMERGENCY HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH MAN-MADE DISASTERS

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES

Accessing this Chapter

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific

Trends in Disaster Philanthropy: Examining 15 Years of Disaster Giving to the Asia-Pacific

Go to External Resource

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Corporate Peer Discussions: COVID-19 Response

Corporate Peer Discussions: COVID-19 Response

Issue-Based Discussions

Industry-Specific Discussions

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response

The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response

Learn more about the impact of these important grantmakers in their own words:

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Making Grants to Crowdfunding Campaigns During Disasters

Making Grants to Crowdfunding Campaigns During Disasters

How Can Foundations Make Grants to GoFundMe and Other Crowdfunding Platforms?

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

Advice from the Field: Responding to Mass Casualty Events

Advice from the Field: Responding to Mass Casualty Events

Questions?

Related Events

Related Resources

A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources