Disasters — both natural and manmade — are more frequent and widespread. In 2025, 300+ million people in the United States and around the world needed humanitarian assistance and protection, representing almost 30 million more people than at the start of 2023.[1]
What follows are ways philanthropy can help. You can also learn more about building resilience, so that communities can better withstand disasters by visiting our Community Resilience Framework.
When disaster strikes, give cash, not goods
The early days of responding to a disaster are often chaotic. There isn’t time to sort through donations, which take up space or likely go to waste. Needs also change fast. Cash donations allow organizations responding to the disaster to shift purchases and programming as the situation evolves.
Relief organizations find that direct cash transfers can be one of the most effective ways to help survivors. Direct cash transfers can be more cost-effective to administer, reach a wider audience, and provide more flexible and responsive assistance. In 2024, the World Food Programme transferred $2.2 billion in cash-based transfers and commodity vouchers (which are redeemed for specific items) in 37 countries, reaching 57.5 million people.[2] For more on direct cash transfers, see our Guaranteed Income Primer.
If you want to give something more tangible, consult which matches the specific needs of NGOs and disaster victims to donors and local suppliers of needed goods. Purchasing needed goods from local suppliers avoids shipping costs and supports the local economy, in addition to helping survivors.
For immediate relief, consider both small, local nonprofits/NGOs and larger international groups
Effective disaster response requires both types of organizations, each playing a critical role. Local organizations and those already on the ground in disaster-affected areas can often determine more quickly what their communities need most to recover. For example, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, local organizations like People in Need Ukraine and Razom for Ukraine worked to provide food, shelter, and medical assistance to vulnerable people in Ukraine and those seeking refuge across borders.
Myriad USA’s DisasterLink Network can link donors to grassroots organizations in disaster-prone areas are pre-vetted for rapid response in crises.
But when a disaster strikes, the scale of need often requires large national and multinational organizations to play a role in coordinating relief and filling gaps, including those resulting from cuts to USAID funding in 2025.[3] For example, Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid nonprofit, coordinates with local, national, and international responders to avoid duplications of efforts, remove logistical bottlenecks, and ensure the efficient use of resources.
International Medical Corps (IMC) provides mobile medical teams and house-to-house visits and trains local community members, including health staff, social service specialists, and police officers, on topics spanning health and hygiene awareness, self-care, and positive coping strategies, with current operations in 27 countries. In January 2024, IMC deployed three field hospitals in Gaza, where they have had a presence since 2008, assisting more than 750,000 civilians. When Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica in 2025, they were positioned to provide immediate medical services, having previously trained first responders and strengthened preparedness following 2024’s Hurricane Beryl.
Many large global organizations for poverty relief also respond to disasters. CARE, an international humanitarian agency, has emergency response experts in 95 countries. Save the Children, an international organization for vulnerable children, operates first-response teams in crisis zones like Gaza and Sudan. Oxfam, a global anti-poverty organization, organizes crisis response to provide affected people with clean water, food, shelter, blankets, and psychological support.
Look beyond immediate relief to recovery, rebuilding, mitigation, and prevention
Effective disaster response involves four stages of disaster relief. Donor attention is highest when a disaster first hits the headlines, but the effects of a disaster can last years, if not a generation or more.
Donating to a pooled fund — which gathers donations when disaster first strikes but disburses grants to individual nonprofits over a longer period — is one way to support recovery and rebuilding efforts. Examples include several funds run by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Global Giving. Global Giving established its Hope in Crisis Fund to support communities whose needs have faded from the headlines or were never covered by mainstream media. Donors can also consider setting aside funds to make multi-year gifts to organizations that are engaged in longer-term recovery efforts.
Networks of organizations that communicate and coordinate before a disaster hits can help mitigate a disaster’s harm. In the United States, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) is an association of organizations involved in the mitigation and alleviation of disasters. NVOAD works to improve the delivery of services to disaster-affected communities by providing a forum that promotes cooperation, communication, coordination, and collaboration. Members include the American Red Cross, Americares, Direct Relief, Feeding America, and Habitat for Humanity, among others.
Improve accountability
Philanthropy and nonprofits alone do not have the scale to address all the needs brought on by a disaster. Keeping track of the many organizations involved and their effectiveness is challenging amid the chaos of disasters.
Immediately following disasters, it can be difficult for those affected to directly engage with the government and other aid organizations attempting to help them. To address this problem, Accountability Lab partners with local NGOs around the world to promote greater accountability and responsiveness of government and other institutions for translocal labs and the global network Accountable Now.
The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) has various reports investigating the effectiveness of agencies operating in a range of locations, including Haiti, Nepal, and New York. DAP also offers resources such as the Disaster Policy Wiki, which has more than 1,000 post-disaster relief policy recommendations to improve management systems.
In 2017, DAP launched SmartResponse.org, a platform designed to help donors make more informed decisions about their disaster relief aid while increasing organization transparency by requiring organizations to share data to be included on the “how to help” lists SmartResponse provides donors.
Notes
1. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (2024). Global Humanitarian Overview 2024: Abridged Report. United Nations.
2. Annual Performance Report for 2024 (June 6, 2025). World Food Programme. https://executiveboard.wfp.org/document_download/WFP-0000165535
3. Kates, J., A. Rouw, and S. Oum. (October 24, 2025). U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze & Dissolution of USAID: Timeline of Events. KFF. https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/u-s-foreign-aid-freeze-dissolution-of-usaid-timeline-of-events/
Page updated 12/16/2025.