Redefining Of Disasters Preparedness For The Philanthropic Sector

By Tammie Caldwell


One billion dollars is relatively large sum of money. This represent sum of money in damages that the United States Government uses as a benchmark to measure the relative impact of a natural disaster. Such billion dollar disaster occurrences continue to increase with newer threats arising faster than the facilities of disasters preparedness available. These range from western states wildfires to raging Texas tornadoes.

You already know that the people most affected are already at the mercy of other vulnerabilities and risks long before the phenomenon strikes. You know that relieve to such people is determined by higher social forces. Such forces often determine the allocation of essential resources. These forces have the power to locate a levee or channel money to safe houses. This means calamities are most disruptive in areas where philanthropy is prevalent.

Philanthropic advanced activities like leverage, collective capacity and coalition building must kick in immediately disaster strikes. Experience and research has shown, however, that donations from the private sector including from foundations declines dramatically in six months. Donations are also quite poorly coordinated.

Dramatic insights into our social sectors level of resilience and functions as a system are provided by FE MA through a 2011 disaster recovery framework. This framework tells us preparedness is the key to sustainable, stronger and intact survival or resilience after a calamity.

The philanthropy sector needs to better prepare itself for a swiftly changing operating scenario. This scenario has basic infrastructures of accountability, law and opportunity under siege. Such a scenario measures recovery in years and not in months or cycles of elections.

The important and diverse roles that donor foundations provide have avid documentation. The spectrum of documentation covers calamity recovery, relief and resilience. There are numerous theories on disaster and philanthropy that provide how, to instructions and guidance or from whom funds came from and went where. This kind of analysis often appears in publications years after. The findings prove critical in the provision of insights for calamity financiers and their responses.

Those experiences that communities affected by disasters go through show dramatically how improved data infrastructures a shared sense of urgent accomplishment could do. An organization that leverages information effectively has a major role to play in taking valuable resources and producing good outcomes among affected people. A good example is The Foundation Centers Foundation Maps. This is a grant online tool. It shares with non profit enterprises and donation financiers a framework that defines crucial data in real time.

Whether the occurrence is an outbreak of Ebola in West Africa or bankrupt Detroit, disaster communities constitute the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. They expose an underlying status of the society infrastructure as well as how they affect people. When a catastrophe strikes, everyone sees himself or herself as a people. Everyone sees his or her fragility and vulnerability. For a moment in time, it becomes us and not them.

As the rate, scenery and degree of calamities goes up, the charitable sector must shift its focal point towards preparedness. It can start doing this through a shared sense of urgency and committing themselves to improving the data infrastructures. This way, first responders will be able to spring fast into action. They will assist communities self-organize long before others can mobilize.




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