How Nonprofits Build Trust And Sustain Impact After Disaster

When crisis strikes and a community is at its lowest point, nonprofits often take on the responsibility of being the liaison between those who want to help and problems that need solving.

Being able to effectively handle resources and donations is essential to nonprofits’ success, especially after a natural disaster when people are more likely to give. However, donations typically begin to slow weeks after a natural disaster as public attention moves to other areas of need. Meanwhile, recovery could take months or years, depending on the disaster. The ability to effectively manage resources during a crisis is essential to a nonprofit’s survival and mission, according to Dr. Angela Seaworth, instructional associate professor for the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service.

Nonprofits generally see a cycle after a natural disaster. Seaworth said this cycle has three stages: the crisis stage, the planning stage and the long-term recovery stage.

“Give nonprofit organizations a little time to figure out how best to deploy resources so they can meet needs throughout the disaster cycle. They are often overwhelmed by donations in the first week, while still trying to assess immediate needs,” she said. “Once they get into the second stage, they can be more strategic and thoughtful about how to best help people. During the third stage, nonprofits need to be able to provide updates on how they have used donations to help people, and they also need to encourage volunteerism and continued giving to help the community on its restoration journey long after the disaster has faded from the news cycle.”

Typically, following a natural disaster, nonprofits that handle disaster response receive a surge of donations from people looking to assist. While the intention can be well-meaning, not every donation assists in a nonprofits’ efforts. Seaworth recommends people donate money over resources because it allows nonprofit organizations to exclusively buy resources a community needs and avoid waste.

“When natural disasters strike, I think one of the greatest parts of humanity is that people want to help immediately. People’s first instinct is to donate items like clothing, furniture or even diapers,” Seaworth said. “Nonprofits are trying to operate as efficiently as possible. They want to identify community needs before distributing tangible gifts from the public. They do not want to assume what the community needs or dictate the type of response based upon gifts they receive.”

Nonprofit organizations also need to allocate funds toward daily operations, sometimes including staff, outreach and operation funds. This can be a source of distrust from the public due to fears that donations are being used unfairly or toward personal benefit.

“The reality is there’s not much fraud in the nonprofit space. But people may still bring up a case of fraud from the 1980s because it was a big scandal and that feeling of distrust is persistent,” Seaworth said. “Unfortunately, like any other sector, there can be bad actors. When you choose to give, make sure to give to an organization that has been vetted.”

By using the internet, nonprofit organizations can now reach a wider audience and receive more donations. The ALS Ice Bucket challenge was an early example of internet virality bringing great success to a nonprofit organization. Over 17 million people dumped ice over their heads, and the campaign raised $115 million to go toward ALS research and assisting those with ALS. Seaworth said this situation was unique because it wasn’t in response to a crisis, but a long-term issue.

“The ALS Association received way more money than it had ever had and, all of a sudden, they needed to make some important strategic decisions on how they would invest this money,” she said. “The organization could use this unexpected funding to invest in infrastructure that would strengthen the organization. For example, an organization could choose to strategically invest some of the funds toward marketing or a new donor database that will allow them to carefully track gifts and build relationships to retain as many new donors as possible.”

One downside of virality and nonprofit outreach is that nonprofit donations tend to slow after a week has passed and attention moves to other issues. To counteract this, Seaworth said many larger nonprofits like the Red Cross create a reserve fund to prepare for future disasters.

“When disaster strikes, nonprofits need to access unrestricted funds to immediately begin funding until donations arrive to fund their work. We want nonprofits to be spending anywhere from 70 to 75% of the money that comes in on programs,” she said.

“It takes more than the length of a news cycle to clean up and recover from natural disasters. From a philanthropic perspective, we want nonprofits to have the flexibility to be sustainable to continue helping clients down the road, because when national news turns to another natural disaster, the reality is that it might be an 18-month rebuilding process for that community. Nonprofits assume the responsibility to stay strong and continue helping people throughout the stages of rebuilding, and we want to help donors understand how to support this dedicated nonprofit work.”