Charitology
Tool · For donors

Disaster Response Guide

What responders and researchers advise about giving after a disaster, a planner that splits one gift across relief, recovery and preparedness, and a calendar reminder to give again when the news has moved on.

Live

Give well after a disaster

Six things to know, a gift planner and a recovery reminder.

What responders and researchers advise

  1. Give money, not goods

    Money lets responders buy what is needed when it is needed, often from local businesses, which helps the local economy recover. Goods nobody asked for have to be shipped, sorted and stored, and that work pulls people away from survivors. Send goods only when a relief group asks for them.

    Sources: FEMA, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, CDP on in-kind gifts.

  2. Give through experienced responders and local groups

    Choose organizations with a record of disaster work and people on the ground. Look for local ones too: the Center for Disaster Philanthropy notes that marginalized people often turn to schools, community nonprofits and faith groups. Your state’s Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and its emergency management agency can point you to trusted groups. In the 2016 Grand Bargain, major aid donors and agencies committed to support local and national responders.

    Sources: FTC, FEMA, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, The Grand Bargain.

  3. Recovery takes months and years

    Gifts surge in the first days, but recovery can take months or even years, and rebuilding can take decades. In 2023, reconstruction and recovery received 12.7% of the disaster giving tracked by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Candid. Consider keeping part of your gift for later.

    Sources: FEMA, CDP on recovery, CDP on the first days, State of Disaster Philanthropy 2025.

  4. Check before you give

    After disasters, the FTC warns donors to watch for scams. Check that a charity is registered with the IRS and with your state. Be careful with crowdfunding: the money goes to the organizer, not straight to the people named, and gifts to individuals aren’t tax-deductible. Don’t let anyone rush you, and steer clear of anyone who insists on cash, gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency.

    Sources: FTC on disaster giving, FTC on crowdfunding, FTC on charity scams. See also: Look up a charity.

  5. Fund preparedness and prevention too

    Work that reduces the harm of the next disaster pays off. A National Institute of Building Sciences study estimated that federally funded mitigation grants produce about $6 of benefit for every $1 spent. Yet in 2023, resilience, risk reduction and mitigation received 6% of the disaster giving tracked by CDP and Candid. On the depth scale, relief meets today’s need, and prevention stops the next disaster from hurting as much.

    Sources: NIBS, Mitigation Saves 2019, NIBS summary, State of Disaster Philanthropy 2025. See also: The depth scale.

  6. Skip strings you don’t need

    Earmarking a gift for one disaster, place or item can strand money where needs are already met. Less than a week after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Doctors Without Borders stopped accepting gifts for it. It went on to receive about €110 million against a forecast need of €25 million for 2005, and asked donors to let it use the rest for other emergencies. Only 1% asked for a refund instead. Unless you have a reason to restrict a gift, let responders put it where it is needed most.

    Sources: Doctors Without Borders, The Grand Bargain. See also: The Restriction Reflex.

Plan your gift

Split one amount across the three phases of a disaster. Moving one slider rebalances the other two so the total stays at 100%. The defaults are a starting point, not a rule: they put more toward recovery than disaster giving does today and keep a share for preparedness.

The first days and weeks. Depth: Relief.
Months to years from now. Depth: Repair.
Before the next disaster. Depth: Prevention.

  • Relief now

    Experienced responders with people on the ground, and local groups helping survivors today.

  • Recovery later

    Local organizations rebuilding homes, livelihoods and services, and funds that make recovery grants to them.

  • Preparedness

    Preparedness, risk reduction and mitigation in places likely to be hit next.

Remind me to give to recovery

Recovery needs money long after the news moves on. Choose a date and download a calendar file. It is made in your browser, and opening it adds the reminder to your calendar app.

Six months from today unless you change it.

Charity as a system · relief, recovery and preparedness

A dated view of reported needs and recovery

Not live. These attributed source reports do not establish current worldwide needs or independent verification.

As of this capture: . Captured at .

Incident lifecycle, operation or appeal status, editorial placement and review freshness are separate. These records do not rank disasters, responders or named charities.

Edition exports preserve this capture’s factual closure. They are not complete history or a live feed. Original publisher bodies are external-only.

Normalized CSV is a reversible record table. Every data cell uses j: followed by a JSON string, then RFC 4180 CSV quoting. Decode those layers to recover the exact strings and explicit null values; do not treat them as cleaned spreadsheet numbers. Edition and selected packets are not history restore files.

What this capture covers and leaves out
Geography covered
County of Maui recovery introduction · Türkiye: named IFRC MDRTR004 operation context
Hazards covered
wildfire · earthquake
Sectors covered
unclassified
Worldwide current coverage
Not established
Current needs verification
Not established

Omissions and limitations

  • Worldwide disaster coverage and current-needs verification.
  • Financial totals, beneficiary counts, needs estimates and comparative rankings.
  • Individual Maui projects, categories, progress and completion.
  • The full geographic and temporal extent of either incident.
  • Evidence that the end of MDRTR004 means all recovery ended.
  • Independent source verification, institutional review and provider recommendations.
  • Changes after these four retrieval attempts.
  • A curated slice of four issuer sources, not comprehensive disaster coverage.
  • Publisher self-report; no independent or human review has been completed.
  • Maui reports recovery; IFRC supplies only an ended named operation period.
  • Originals and full text remain external/private, with no original reuse permission established.
  • Archive placement and the seven-day review interval are editorial choices, not facts about current need.
  • Selected factual closure only; predecessor, omitted-member and change-reference boundary pins are external provenance, not evidence or a restorable history.
  • Original HTML/PDF/JSON bodies and private planner values are excluded.

Source access checks retained

wildfire · editorial draft

Maui wildfire recovery

Lahaina · Maui County

Coarse place names come from the county recovery introduction. Publisher country codes and geographic boundaries are uncollected.

Incident lifecycle
recovery · source-reported incident scope

The county describes long-term recovery; current needs and an incident-wide end are not established by this capture.

Editorial placement
follow-up · decided

Editorial follow-up for the county's recovery introduction; this placement is not a measure of need or effectiveness.

Review as of this capture
Review not due at capture

Checked ; recheck after . Seven days is an editorial reminder to reconsider this bounded source capture. It is not a needs expiry, publisher update or independent verification.

Incident period
Start: Unknown (not collected in this capture)
End: Unknown (not collected in this capture)

Source period text: August 2023

  • Only the county recovery introduction is collected; individual projects, categories, progress and completion are uncollected.
  • The source reports a month phrase; no incident start or end day is invented.
  • Draft publisher self-report, without independent or human review.
Incident identity and history

maui-wildfires-2023 · version 1

SHA-256: fe891b9e0b321b632a858bf2656a0b8927404e354e1ee5d8544cd1ab8f6fac35

First retained version.

Attributed statements

Incident-wide statement

status · standing: reported · publisher self-report · editorial draft

The County of Maui describes long-term recovery from the August 2023 wildfires.

Standing reason: Attributed to the captured issuer source; no independent or human review is claimed.

Reported incident lifecycle: recovery

Sector: unclassified (editorial classification); source wording: unknown. Only a scoped status statement is collected; no sector allocation is inferred.

Geography: Lahaina · Maui County. Coarse place names come from the county recovery introduction. Publisher country codes and geographic boundaries are uncollected.

Statement period start: Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Statement period end: Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Source period text: August 2023

  • This is a source statement about recovery; it does not establish current needs or completed projects.
  • The month phrase is retained without inventing an incident start or end day.
Claim version and provenance

maui-recovery-statement · version 1

SHA-256: e63f7634378464a4bc2bc5f5ce00ed285f0deb6946e36a2b4c84919f79657a13

First retained version.

Optional planner handoff: copy this label, then open the existing gift planner. Copying or opening it does not fill, save or change a gift. Pasting is your separate ordinary planner edit and does not retain source provenance.

Open gift planner

earthquake · editorial draft

Türkiye earthquakes: MDRTR004 context

Türkiye

Named context of the reviewed IFRC MDRTR004 report. Publisher country codes, incident boundaries and wider regional coverage are uncollected; no Syria-wide scope is asserted.

Incident lifecycle
unknown · not established by this capture

The ended MDRTR004 operation does not establish an incident-wide end or the state of all recovery.

Editorial placement
archive · decided

Editorial archive of a historical named IFRC operation. Archive placement does not assert that the incident or all recovery ended.

Review as of this capture
Review not due at capture

Checked ; recheck after . Seven days is an editorial reminder to reconsider this bounded source capture. It is not a needs expiry, publisher update or independent verification.

Incident period
Start: Unknown (not collected in this capture)
End: Unknown (not collected in this capture)
  • Only the named IFRC operation context is collected, with no incident-wide end claim.
  • The printed issue day and document metadata dates remain separate; neither establishes current needs.
  • Draft publisher self-report, without independent or human review.
Incident identity and history

turkiye-earthquakes-2023 · version 1

SHA-256: f133370f0690fb96a5d12420a64cc73d0bf5f91583587f4a750b530c6f1ba4e1

First retained version.

Attributed statements

Response operation: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies · MDRTR004

status · standing: reported · publisher self-report · editorial draft

Original operation link. This status and period do not establish the incident’s end.

The IFRC final report gives February 28, 2025 as the end of the MDRTR004 operation period.

Standing reason: Attributed to the captured issuer source; no independent or human review is claimed.

Reported operation status: ended

Sector: unclassified (editorial classification); source wording: unknown. Only a scoped status statement is collected; no sector allocation is inferred.

Geography: Türkiye. Named context of the reviewed IFRC MDRTR004 report. Publisher country codes, incident boundaries and wider regional coverage are uncollected; no Syria-wide scope is asserted.

Statement period start: 2023-02-07 · reported day; source text: 07/02/2023; mapping: day-month-year
Statement period end: 2025-02-28 · reported day; source text: 28/02/2025; mapping: day-month-year
Source period text: 07/02/2023 to 28/02/2025

  • Applies only to the named MDRTR004 operation; it does not establish that all recovery ended.
  • The printed issue day and file-metadata dates differ; neither is a current-needs check.
Claim version and provenance

mdrtr004-operation-ended · version 1

SHA-256: 3426f6b4dd35acbc81e0521bf2d2ca2cf68a617a2910b9d4d8538e0df2cfafc0

First retained version.

Optional planner handoff: copy this label, then open the existing gift planner. Copying or opening it does not fill, save or change a gift. Pasting is your separate ordinary planner edit and does not retain source provenance.

Open gift planner

Sources and authored locator notes

County recovery projects

County of Maui · source version 1 · publisher self-report · editorial draft

Access attempt: retrieved; HTTP status: 200; retrieved/attempted at .

Requested original
https://www.mauirecovers.org/recoveryprojects
Observed final URL
https://www.mauirecovers.org/recoveryprojects
Published
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Publisher source update
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Document created metadata
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Document modified metadata
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Date discrepancy
None recorded; unknown dates remain unknown.
Original body evidence
265740 bytes; detected kind: text/html; exact HTTP Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
SHA-256: 1c87a4c6b255f868abdfd0b7369109c3fc7fcbb65371839791cc7fc76eeab03f

Original bodies remain external-only. Reuse is not granted by this project. No general republishing grant was found. Only an authored factual note and source metadata are public.

Attribution: County of Maui · Original terms

  • reported-incident-month: August 2023
  • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
  • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
  • Only the recovery introduction is collected; project categories, progress and completion details remain uncollected.
Charitology-authored factual note · editorial draft

Only this authored note is republished. A locator is not a public copy or reuse license for the original.

recovery · Incident-wide statement

The county describes long-term recovery from the August 2023 wildfires.

Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: status · period.

Typed status observation: incident · recovery

HTML headings: From Plan to Progress; paragraph 1

  • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
  • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
  • Only the recovery introduction is collected; project categories, progress and completion details remain uncollected.
Exact source identity and preceding version

maui-projects · version 1

Source SHA-256: 505b6f24f9852d24541fba1e32c8e9c06db21ebfc9b7f8d924ed8cf22f19e18b

Authored note: notes/maui-projects/v1.json; 924 bytes; SHA-256 71d5e8f69d099c4654b0f98e6fd5cae33e9ba6f1df35c7ad9f7af130d41b275b

First retained source version.

Maui Recovers official website

County of Maui · source version 1 · publisher self-report · editorial draft

Access attempt: retrieved; HTTP status: 200; retrieved/attempted at .

Requested original
https://mauirecovers.org/
Observed final URL
https://mauirecovers.org/
Published
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Publisher source update
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Document created metadata
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Document modified metadata
Unknown (not collected in this capture)
Date discrepancy
None recorded; unknown dates remain unknown.
Original body evidence
154560 bytes; detected kind: text/html; exact HTTP Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
SHA-256: 997eb606c7a15164d9fb9a41188ec33705daa0c7011108bb153289ee17a34d2d

Original bodies remain external-only. Reuse is not granted by this project. No general republishing grant was found. Only an authored factual note and source metadata are public.

Attribution: County of Maui · Original terms

    • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
    • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
    Charitology-authored factual note · editorial draft

    Only this authored note is republished. A locator is not a public copy or reuse license for the original.

    official-identity · Incident-wide statement

    The website identifies itself as the official County of Maui recovery website.

    Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: identity.

    HTML headings: (none); paragraph 222

    • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
    • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
    Exact source identity and preceding version

    maui-home · version 1

    Source SHA-256: db69f8d7790bd3ae55629170048e416af4adfd2603d6cecac45aa3fe9ee0aa52

    Authored note: notes/maui-home/v1.json; 749 bytes; SHA-256 9022772c19a86ffeb76c51d4a79040cd7175b8001cc6bfe11593ac0d884c2604

    First retained source version.

    Maui Recovers terms and conditions

    County of Maui · source version 1 · publisher self-report · editorial draft

    Access attempt: retrieved; HTTP status: 200; retrieved/attempted at .

    Requested original
    https://mauirecovers.org/termsandconditions
    Observed final URL
    https://mauirecovers.org/termsandconditions
    Published
    Unknown (not collected in this capture)
    Publisher source update
    Unknown (not collected in this capture)
    Document created metadata
    Unknown (not collected in this capture)
    Document modified metadata
    Unknown (not collected in this capture)
    Date discrepancy
    None recorded; unknown dates remain unknown.
    Original body evidence
    75403 bytes; detected kind: text/html; exact HTTP Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
    SHA-256: 56c69361630b7460c916f5af4e0814f749d8a4d053725419f20f0b226fe6b04a

    Original bodies remain external-only. Reuse is not granted by this project. No general republishing grant was found. Only an authored factual note and source metadata are public.

    Attribution: County of Maui · Original terms

      • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
      • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
      Charitology-authored factual note · editorial draft

      Only this authored note is republished. A locator is not a public copy or reuse license for the original.

      terms · Incident-wide statement

      County terms describe contributed listings and disclaim endorsement and accuracy assurances.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: rights.

      HTML headings: Maui Recovers Terms & Conditions → NO ENDORSEMENT:; paragraph 5

      • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
      • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
      Exact source identity and preceding version

      maui-terms · version 1

      Source SHA-256: eef51042f1c8dc91f371e5f45fcf9d97c4fbc40998bfeab3df3a7ffa31fb147e

      Authored note: notes/maui-terms/v1.json; 800 bytes; SHA-256 33ff5df51749e4b36a2eaffe588680ca76070e45ba191ab2922f9b2f619abfc2

      First retained source version.

      IFRC MDRTR004 final report

      International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies · source version 1 · publisher self-report · editorial draft

      Access attempt: retrieved; HTTP status: 200; retrieved/attempted at .

      Requested original
      https://go-api.ifrc.org/api/DownloadFile/83904/MDRTR004far
      Observed final URL
      https://go-api.ifrc.org/api/DownloadFile/83904/MDRTR004far
      Published
      2025-11-03 · reported day; source text: 03/11/2025; mapping: day-month-year
      Publisher source update
      Unknown (not collected in this capture)
      Document created metadata
      2026-06-01T13:20:49.000Z · reported instant; source text: 2026-06-01T15:20:49+02; reported offset: +02:00; mapping: pdf-metadata
      Document modified metadata
      2026-06-01T13:20:49.000Z · reported instant; source text: 2026-06-01T15:20:49+02; reported offset: +02:00; mapping: pdf-metadata
      Date discrepancy
      The printed issue day and PDF file-metadata dates differ. File metadata is not a publisher update.
      Original body evidence
      3011232 bytes; detected kind: application/pdf; exact HTTP Content-Type: application/octet-stream
      SHA-256: cf8f025d3066f295508fbad92953843f3090d93d2cedd3eb0483096b27c9c20e

      Original bodies remain external-only. Reuse is not granted by this project. The report is marked Internal. The original and its extraction remain private; no redistribution permission is established.

      Attribution: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

      • printed-issue-day: 03/11/2025
      • reported-operation-period: 07/02/2023 to 28/02/2025
      • document-marking: Internal
      • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
      • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
      Charitology-authored factual note · editorial draft

      Only this authored note is republished. A locator is not a public copy or reuse license for the original.

      operation-period · Response operation: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies · MDRTR004

      The final report gives an operation period from February 7, 2023 through February 28, 2025.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: status · period.

      Typed status observation: response-operation · ended

      PDF page 1; printed page: unknown; headings: FINAL REPORT; row: Operation timeframe; column: (none)

      issue-day · Incident-wide statement

      The final report's printed issue day is November 3, 2025.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: statement.

      PDF page 1; printed page: unknown; headings: FINAL REPORT; row: Date of issue; column: (none)

      file-created · Incident-wide statement

      The PDF creation metadata differs from its printed issue day.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: date-discrepancy.

      Metadata field: pdf-created; parser: pdfinfo version 26.05.0; observed literal: 2026-06-01T15:20:49+02

      file-modified · Incident-wide statement

      The PDF modification metadata is retained separately from publication dates.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: date-discrepancy.

      Metadata field: pdf-modified; parser: pdfinfo version 26.05.0; observed literal: 2026-06-01T15:20:49+02

      internal-marking · Incident-wide statement

      The publicly accessible PDF is marked Internal; no redistribution permission is established.

      Basis: Publisher self-report; roles: rights.

      PDF page 1; printed page: unknown; headings: FINAL REPORT; row: Internal; column: (none)

      • Publisher self-report, with no independent current-needs verification.
      • Original body and full extraction are excluded from public output.
      Exact source identity and preceding version

      ifrc-mdrtr004-final · version 1

      Source SHA-256: 55ce6c98c99d87918a1249b70e52f4df407418e2bcf9bcbf230d9b2b582e595d

      Authored note: notes/ifrc-mdrtr004-final/v1.json; 2606 bytes; SHA-256 c98f45b64209920084467d4c1a0788ce68de92183d30d943c132877e1eab970c

      First retained source version.

      Changes recorded in this edition

      1. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: method bounded-issuer-note · version 1 · 2ddd8446460b4c4c6fd5ed14696dfe967d4270e9c06730f51c9f0663df536141

      2. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: source maui-projects · version 1 · 505b6f24f9852d24541fba1e32c8e9c06db21ebfc9b7f8d924ed8cf22f19e18b

      3. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: source maui-home · version 1 · db69f8d7790bd3ae55629170048e416af4adfd2603d6cecac45aa3fe9ee0aa52

      4. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: source maui-terms · version 1 · eef51042f1c8dc91f371e5f45fcf9d97c4fbc40998bfeab3df3a7ffa31fb147e

      5. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: source ifrc-mdrtr004-final · version 1 · 55ce6c98c99d87918a1249b70e52f4df407418e2bcf9bcbf230d9b2b582e595d

      6. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: incident maui-wildfires-2023 · version 1 · fe891b9e0b321b632a858bf2656a0b8927404e354e1ee5d8544cd1ab8f6fac35

      7. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: incident turkiye-earthquakes-2023 · version 1 · f133370f0690fb96a5d12420a64cc73d0bf5f91583587f4a750b530c6f1ba4e1

      8. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: claim maui-recovery-statement · version 1 · e63f7634378464a4bc2bc5f5ce00ed285f0deb6946e36a2b4c84919f79657a13

      9. added: Initial bounded source capture; retained as draft issuer evidence and explicit editorial context.

        Before: None
        After: claim mdrtr004-operation-ended · version 1 · 3426f6b4dd35acbc81e0521bf2d2ca2cf68a617a2910b9d4d8538e0df2cfafc0

      Retained edition history and interpretation

      Edition navigation preserves exact capture IDs. Source dates, retrieval dates and editorial checks have different meanings.

      1. initial-bounded-capture · as of ; captured · editorial draft

      Edition SHA-256: 1772d938df28bbdf5455343d302200cf5aa13173e05f2696afffb938ec671e11

      Interpretation: bounded-issuer-note version 1; source commit 6559193bdac7499c434e5703ad9cd77866d49f0e.

      • Interpret only the four reviewed source descriptors with bounded-issuer-note-v1.
      • Treat publisher statements as source self-report, with review status draft.
      • Keep incident lifecycle separate from response-operation and appeal status.
      • Retain reported source dates, literal strings and file metadata separately.
      • Keep original bodies private; publish only authored notes, locators and metadata.
      • Use one fixed asOf for HTML, API and exports; device clocks cannot change facts.
      • Preserve immutable source versions and exact historical artifact bytes.
      • Treat archive placement and review intervals as editorial choices, never need expiry.

      How it works

      The guide opens with six points drawn from disaster responders, regulators and researchers, each with its sources. Then the planner splits one amount across three phases: relief now, recovery later and preparedness for the next disaster. Move any slider and the other two rebalance, so the total stays at 100%. The reminder makes a calendar file for a date you choose, six months out unless you change it, so the part of your gift meant for recovery has a moment to happen. The file is built in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.

      Why the planner splits by phase

      The three phases sit at different depths on the depth scale: relief meets the need today, recovery repairs what was lost, and preparedness prevents the next disaster from hurting as much. All three are needed.

      Disaster giving follows attention. Thomas Eisensee and David Strömberg found that U.S. government disaster relief depended partly on whether other news crowded a disaster out of the headlines. That is the Story Bias. Gifts surge in the first days, but recovery can take years, which is the Short Horizon. In 2023, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Candid, reconstruction and recovery received 12.7% of tracked disaster giving and resilience, risk reduction and mitigation received 6%.

      The default split is 50% relief, 30% recovery and 20% preparedness. It is an editorial starting point, not a finding: it puts a larger share toward recovery than disaster giving does today and keeps a real share for preparedness, so no phase is left out. Change it to fit what you know. If responders say their needs are met, give flexibly rather than to one disaster, which is the Restriction Reflex in reverse.

      What it isn’t

      It isn’t a recommendation of any organization, and it doesn’t know the details of a particular disaster. Responders on the ground do, so follow their requests when they differ from the defaults. The guidance comes mostly from U.S. sources, and the scam checks point to U.S. registries. Calendar apps treat reminder files differently, so check that the event and its alert appear where you expect.

      Sources

      1. Volunteer and Donate · Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026
      2. Cash: The king for disaster donations · Patricia McIlreavy, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2023
      3. When In-Kind Donations Are Not Kind · Regine A. Webster, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2017
      4. Disaster Recovery · Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2026 · Undated resource page, accessed October 2026.
      5. From relief to recovery: A strategic approach to disaster philanthropy · Patricia McIlreavy, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2024
      6. New Center for Disaster Philanthropy Report: Disaster Giving Declined Slightly in 2023, But Support for Long-Term Recovery and Resilience Efforts Increased · Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2025 · Source of the 12.7% (recovery) and 6% (resilience, risk reduction and mitigation) shares of 2023 disaster giving.
      7. Help the people affected by flooding in Texas — not a scammer · Federal Trade Commission, 2025
      8. Donating Through Crowdfunding and Fundraising Platforms · Federal Trade Commission, 2025
      9. Before Giving to a Charity · Federal Trade Commission, 2025
      10. Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2019 Report · National Institute of Building Sciences, 2019
      11. Protecting Against Natural Disasters: NIBS Unveils New Report on Mitigation · National Institute of Building Sciences, 2020 · Source of the $6 benefit for every $1 of federally funded mitigation grants.
      12. One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster · Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), 2005
      13. The Grand Bargain – A shared commitment to better serve people in need · ALNAP, hosting the agreement signed at the World Humanitarian Summit, 2016
      14. News Droughts, News Floods, and U.S. Disaster Relief · Thomas Eisensee and David Strömberg, Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(2), 2007