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October 25, 2007

$1 Billion In Storm Relief From Foundations, Business

Foundations and corporations in the United States committed more than $1 billion in cash and in-kind giving for relief, recovery and rebuilding in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to a report by the Foundation Center.

Contributions by corporate giving programs and corporate foundations accounted for the majority of institutional giving, according to the report, at nearly $520 million or 57 percent of total giving. Moreover, corporate giving focused more on immediate relief, while foundations focused more on recovery and rebuilding.

The report, Giving in the Aftermath of Gulf Coast Hurricanes, is based on an analysis of interviews with 10 of the top 25 independent foundations that responded to the disaster. They include David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Calif.), Ford Foundation (N.Y.), Robert W. Woodruff Foundation (Ga.), Open Society Institute (N.Y.), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Wash.), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (N.J.), Lilly Endowment (Ind.), Rockefeller Foundation (N.Y.), Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (Mich.), and Walton Family Foundation (Arkansas). Additionally, the report provides a comprehensive record of the resources institutional donors provided.

The overwhelming destruction wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the failure of the levee system in New Orleans, and the widely criticized government response all served to engage foundations across the country, according to the report.

In fact, of the estimated $6.5 billion (GivingUSA) for the relief effort through June 2007, giving from institutional donors accounted for more than $900 million in cash donations, and more than $100 million in-kind.

Foundations typically spend months or even years planning a move into a new funding area. In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast disaster, however, movements had to be swift, and challenges arose constantly. "A substantial challenge I can say that we faced, and we faced it mostly with the civic leadership and the more established leaders, was trying to find them immediately after the storm because most of them didn't have Internet addresses," said Linetta Gilbert, program officer, community resource and development, at the Ford Foundation. "People didn't have mail delivery for some time, so the Internet really became our network, along with texting when the telephone lines became available."

According to the report, the vast majority of foundations that responded went outside of their grantmaking guidelines to provide support, but were not expected to continue to allocate funding for recovery and rebuilding activities in the long run. As awareness grew of the need and of the lack of foundations in the region, particularly in Louisiana, the report found there appeared to be a much stronger lure for foundations to remain actively engaged.

"We've been involved for two years and will probably be involved for about two to three more," said Carey Shea, head of the Rockefeller Foundation's New Orleans initiative. Ford Foundation's Gilbert noted the need for sustained grantmaker commitment to the region. "It's a long-term challenge," she said, adding that the Foundation is putting in a request before its board to remain in the region for another five years.

"Foundations, corporations, and other institutional donors went far beyond their grantmaking guidelines to respond to immediate needs and to provide support for recovery and rebuilding efforts," said Steve Lawrence, senior director of research at the Foundation Center, in New York City, and the report's principal author.

Other key data findings include:

• About one in four institutional donors contributed $1 million or more for relief recovery efforts. Altogether, 219 institutional donors gave a total of nearly $800 million, or 88 percent of all documented cash giving.
  
  
• The South rallied to take care of its own. Grantmakers in just five Southern states, namely, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Virginia and Lousiana, collectively accounted for over one-fifth, or 21.6 percent, of the institutional response to the disaster.
  
• Most giving (83 percent) went to intermediary organizations outside of Louisiana and Mississippi.
  
  
• A few large foundations dominated foundation giving. Ten foundations each made disaster-related commitments of $10 million or more, representing more than half (55 percent) of all documented foundation contributions. Four foundations - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Mich.), Lilly Endowment, and Ford Foundation - each gave more than $28 million.
  
  
• Corporate donations were more evenly distributed across the largest corporate donors. The ten largest donors, each of whom contributed $9.8 million or more, accounted for nearly 32 percent of all documented cash donations by corporate giving programs and corporate foundations. Three corporate contributors - Chevron Corporation Contributions Program (Calif.), Starkey Laboratories Corporate Giving Program (Minn.), and Exxon Mobile Foundation (Texas) - each gave $24 million or more.

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This article is from NPT Instant Fundraising, a publication of The NonProfit Times.

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