Aligning Community Support with Nonprofit Needs in Times of Disaster and Other Crises

When natural disasters and inclement weather shut down entire cities and states or a tragic crisis takes place, an outpouring of support in the form of financial donations and disaster relief supply drives from people far and wide never fails to follow.

That type of community support plays an integral role in helping nonprofits fulfill their mission, but there is another vital component that is often overlooked: existing, sustainable support from donors and community partners.

That’s where sustainable, unrestricted funds from workplace giving programs and support from strategic partners play a tremendous role.

Employee giving and strategic partnerships empower nonprofits to have an immediate, effective, and lasting response.  Resources that flow-in after a crisis or disaster strikes through donation relief campaigns strengthen that response, as long as those resources match the nonprofits’ needs.

What nonprofits need most, especially when it comes to crises and disaster relief, are monetary donations and large quantities of needed, organized goods. Often (despite their best intentions), in-kind support donated by individuals does not align with the actual needs of the nonprofit and those they’re helping. For example, donors might run to their closet and send a bag full of clothing when really what the nonprofit needs are sleeping bags, shrink-wrapped pallets of bottled water, and fresh food. Through strategic partnerships with nonprofits, businesses serve as a key solution to this disconnect.  And according to employee donors surveyed in America’s Charities Snapshot Employee Research, 6 in 10 employees want to work for a socially responsible company where the culture supports their passion for volunteering and donating. For instance, whereas a strategic partnership with the community farmers’ market or grocery store, serves as a natural fit and reliable source for a nonprofit to access fresh ingredients and food donations they need (when they need it), cash donations made through an employer-sponsored disaster relief campaign will help fill the needs gap by providing the nonprofit with money to purchase necessary items like shrink-wrapped pallets of bottled water or sleeping bags.  By empowering employees to support the community through organized workplace giving and disaster relief campaigns, and forming strategic partnerships with nonprofits based on their needs and in-kind support your company naturally has to offer, businesses are an indispensable conduit for providing nonprofits much-needed resources – in times of crises AND all year-long. 

America’s Charities is proud to provide employers and their employees multiple ways to provide such support to nonprofits. Through America’s Charities’ employee giving solutions, charitable funds management, and strategic consulting services, we facilitate sustainable giving through workplace giving campaigns, volunteer opportunities, and can also help you turn your employees’ passion into action when crises and disasters strike by setting up a disaster/crisis relief campaign on your workplace giving website. 

More Disaster Relief and Recovery Resources:

• Tips to share with employee donors
• How to start a disaster recovery campaign through workplace giving
• America’s Charities Disaster Recovery Funds