When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita crashed into the Gulf Coast in 2005—flooding 80 percent of New Orleans, displacing hundreds of thousands of families, and killing more than 1,000 people— Philanthropy New York quickly mobilized its members.
Within weeks of the disaster, the association had created the Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative—an extraordinary effort to galvanize the philanthropic community's response to the disaster.
The driving force behind the initiative were the 50-plus members of a Task Force, representing grantmaking organizations who recognized the need for a comprehensive and practical resource that distilled and made accessible the vast quantities of information around recovery efforts.
Towards this end, the Task Force created the Donors' Guide to Gulf Coast Relief and Recovery, which was published in July of 2006 and was originally designed as an internal document for dissemination among the Philanthropy New York membership.
However, with the assistance of “word of mouth” endorsements, and in the absence of other resources regarding philanthropic responses to the hurricanes, the guide quickly became a definitive national resource for foundations and nonprofit organizations alike. A second edition of the guide was published in December of 2007.
Following the publication of this report, two important questions emerged:
1. What is the best way to coordinate philanthropic efforts in the face of such tragedies?
2. How do you maintain a dialogue, both local and national, that allows the perspectives of affected communities to be heard in a clear, complete, and sustained way?
In order to share the experiences of the foundations, corporations, and individual donors that addressed the needs of those in the Gulf Coast region, as well as provide a blueprint for future philanthropic intervention following such disasters, Philanthropy New York published another comprehensive report as a special project of the Task Force.
Best Practices in Disaster Grantmaking, created with support from the Ford Foundation, is designed to share knowledge about philanthropic responses to the hurricanes that were deemed, by both funders and grant recipients, to be “successful.”
The report also discusses ways to support and empower local philanthropy, affect changes in local and state policy, and develop opportunities for funder cooperation and collaboration.
“The ongoing efforts to rebuild and transform the Gulf Coast for all of its citizens and communities requires focused, collaborative, and inclusive strategies," says Ronna D. Brown, President of Philanthropy New York. “We are proud that our association can play a role in helping New York funders leverage their work for the long-term benefit of the region.”