Foundations can improve equity in humanitarian response to natural disasters - by strengthening nonprofit tech
Imagine you’re a nonprofit leader in a community hit hard by Hurricane Ian. Your organization has deep cultural knowledge and community connections that would uniquely equip you to respond—yet at the moment when needs are greatest, your organization is immobilized. Flooding and a power outage mean you can’t access your database, your phone system, even your emergency contact list (which is saved on your stranded computer).
Nonprofits led by and serving folks who are disadvantaged, people of color, people with disabilities, queer people—these nonprofits are closest to the communities we seek to serve, and are too often the ones least prepared for a crisis. They have disproportionately high barriers to accessing funding, expertise, and other help needed to weather a storm.
By the time the storm hits, it’s too late. Their communities suffer, and the equity gap widens, and what they’ve worked hard to achieve gets swept away.
Each of us has a responsibility to make this better, and there are lots of ways to do that, but today I want to focus on the opportunity for foundations.
When a crisis happens, I see foundations responding in three ways.
“Wow, that really sucked. I’m glad it’s over. Let’s go back to doing things the way we’ve always done them.” This is not helpful.
“Wow, that really sucked. Let’s try to eliminate the root problem.” Great, let’s fix climate change. But in the meantime, can’t we do something to make it slightly more tolerable?
“Wow, that really sucked. Let’s make sure we’re better prepared next time.” Because there will be a next time. Whether it’s a natural disaster, or a pandemic, or a shooting, or a war, there will be a next time, and we can work together to strengthen nonprofits, making them more resilient and responsive in times of crisis.
Technology and Disaster Response Go Hand in Hand
Technology has a starring role to play if we are to achieve resilience in the communities we serve and be responsive as philanthropy in times of crisis.
First, by streamlining and automating grantmaking tasks, foundations can get money out the door faster and with less paperwork.
Second, by investing in basic IT infrastructure, such as cloud computing and business continuity solutions, foundations can ensure systems stay up and running no matter what, and that organizations can continue services without interruption.
And third, by supporting leadership development—specifically development of technology leadership skills—foundations catalyze nonprofit leaders to deploy technology in more innovative ways, improving their overall crisis response.
Targeting this support toward disadvantaged leaders and organizations might even help to correct the imbalance and get a more equitable result.
Now imagine again that you’re the nonprofit leader in the aftermath of a hurricane…but this time
All your systems are in the cloud.
Failovers worked smoothly.
Because you are very tech-savvy and connected with other innovative organizations, you were able to quickly spin up a mobile app that provides real-time information about availability of community services at pop-up locations.
This agile, real-time humanitarian response at the local level is the kind of future we must steer toward.
Not a future free of crises, but one in which we are all prepared, and no one is excluded.
