As the plight of animals came into focus, with thousands of them trapped in homes and stranded in New Orleans and other communities, we moved as quickly as we could to meet the demands of the crisis. One of the things I remember most about Katrina is that it was all hands on deck across our entire organization. It didn’t matter if you were a wildlife scientist, a lobbyist, a graphic designer, an IT specialist, a state director or an accountant. For weeks and in some instance months, you were a responder.  

Virtually overnight, as the extent of the disaster became evident, we turned ourselves into a full-scale, round-the-clock animal rescue operation. We sent dozens of staff members—wave after wave—into the field in Louisiana and Mississippi, and reassigned dozens of others at our headquarters to related response work. 

My daughter was a toddler then, so I wasn’t able to deploy. Instead, I worked long hours at a center where we took calls from people desperate to tell us about the animals they were forced to leave behind, to let us know where their pets could be found and to plead for our help. Those calls were heartrending. 

Two decades have not dimmed my memory of an older man who reached out to us. He had left his dog in the house with food and a bathtub full of water. Like others who were ordered to evacuate New Orleans, he thought he would be permitted to return to save her. But he wasn’t because government officials subsequently restricted access to the area in which his home was located. He was broken, sad, full of guilt and, like countless others subject to a mandatory evacuation order, helpless.  

I’ll never forget the elation I felt after hearing that our responders on the ground, who were authorized to carry out rescues in restricted areas, went in and got his dog, and eventually the two were reunited.  

We will never know how many animals perished. But we know that because of our efforts, the efforts of an army of skilled and devoted people from local animal shelters, animal rescue groups and other organizations and our donors’ support, we were able to bring thousands of animals to safety at an events center in Gonzales, Louisiana, and other locations in the region. Many were reunited with their families, and many others went out to shelters across the country for placement in new homes. Ultimately, it became one of the largest animal rescue deployments in history. 

All too often, it takes a disaster of great magnitude to spur needed change. Long before Katrina, for years and years, we had been making the case for the inclusion of animals in preparedness planning, with only limited success. After Katrina, we had no trouble making the point. There were a lot more people, and a lot more decision-makers, ready to listen and ready to act. The storm and its aftermath had shown dramatically how the fates of people and the animals they love are intertwined. 

Twenty years later, this single disaster remains emblematic of government failure, environmental injustice and a fateful lack of appreciation for the centrality of animals in our lives. The forced abandonment of thousands of them in New Orleans and the inability of most disaster response entities to grasp the importance of animal-related preparedness strategies compounded the tragedy.  

Still, Katrina was a true catalyst of change. Within two years, we had helped to secure passage of legislation in the U.S. Congress, the PETS (Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards) Act, which incentivized the inclusion of animals in disaster preparedness planning by linking it to disaster funding. On several occasions, the bill’s primary sponsor, the late Rep. Tom Lantos, stated that the image of a child being separated from his dog outside of the Superdome in New Orleans was the driving factor: “The dog was taken away from this little boy, and to watch his face was a singularly revealing and tragic experience. This legislation was born at that moment.”  

The PETS Act carries with it an implicit recognition that pets are not just part of our families but a part of society and deserving of civil protection in their own right. However, the PETS Act was not the end of anything. It was the beginning of something. Namely, it kickstarted the drive to embed awareness of animals and concern for their welfare into all facets of disaster planning, at all levels, in both the private and public sector, worldwide. Helping communities to prepare for animals’ needs in disaster is a signature element of our global outreach work today. 

The outpouring of generosity from supporters enabled us to help to rebuild the animal protection infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region, providing millions of dollars for construction of new animal shelters and the establishment of shelter medicine programs at two veterinary schools, among other commitments. 

Over the decades, we have built one of the strongest disaster response teams in the world, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to help animals and the people trying to care for and protect them in moments of crisis. We’re witnessing the adoption of more enlightened disaster response and preparedness policies, not just in the United States but worldwide. Today, the whole world knows that animal rescue is a crucial component of effective response, not a sideshow distraction in a disaster scenario.  

Without question, Katrina exposed some weaknesses in our field which we’re still trying to address. In its aftermath, we carried out a series of spay and neuter initiatives with local partners, using advanced research concerning public attitudes that helped us to sharpen our approach to increasing access to veterinary care and other pet services in underserved communities. This was the seedbed of today’s access-to-care movement, including our Pets for Life program and our More Than a Pet campaign. 

So many years later, the images we associate with Katrina still produce an inevitable sadness. Failing levees and floodwalls. Whole neighborhoods submerged. Markings spray-painted on homes to indicate the presence of animals in need of rescue, and the presence of victims, human and animal. Panicked animals stranded on the streets of so many communities, in the sweltering heat of a Gulf Coast summer. All the tears and heartbreak.  

But we did not stand by as the crisis unfolded and neither did our supporters and donors, Together, we stood up for animals, just as we stood up for the people who loved them and were trying to help them. And today, we’re standing by them still, in community after community, in country after country, changing the conversation about animals in distress, changing the approaches taken to their plight and changing the outcomes for more animals and people than we could ever count. 

This is the true legacy of Katrina, the one we guard so carefully and the one we keep close to heart. 

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Emergencies and natural disasters can happen without warning and are occurring more frequently. We know that almost 44% of people who did not evacuate during Hurricane Katrina kept themselves in harm’s way because of their companion animals. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we developed a proactive response model to better support communities facing natural catastrophes. This model is centered on clearing animal shelters ahead of storms to ensure local facilities have the space and resources to care for displaced pets. ART removes animals from immediate danger, provides on-site medical care, and transports them to safe locations where they receive the care they need until they can be permanently rehomed.

Click Here to Donate to the Emergency Animal Relief Fund!

The Critical Need

The increasing frequency of catastrophic weather events, driven by climate change, has made ART’s work more urgent than ever. Since 1980, the annual occurrence of floods and damaging rainfalls has quadrupled, and extreme weather events such as droughts, forest fires, and severe storms have doubled in the last 40 years. These disasters create dangerous conditions for animals and people alike. In the past three years alone, hundreds of thousands of animals have perished in floods, fires, and other natural disasters.

Animal Rescue Team proposaBeyond these climate-related catastrophes, cases of neglect, cruelty, abandonment, and hoarding continue to pose a serious threat to animals. While HSUS has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness and bring perpetrators of animal cruelty to justice, many areas across the U.S. still lack the resources and knowledge needed to address these issues.

Expanding and strengthening ART’s response capabilities is critical to meeting these challenges. ART is fully equipped to respond to any large-scale animal emergency, mobilizes specialized assets, such as transport vehicles and a mobile veterinary unit, and delivers shelter supplies in extreme cruelty or neglect situations.

When called upon, ART delivers a comprehensive response that includes:

• Preemptive Action: Clearing local animal shelters before a catastrophe to ensure space for displaced pets, keeping them close to their communities to facilitate family reunions.
• Rescue and Care: Removing animals from immediate peril, providing medical care on-site, and transporting them to safe locations where they receive ongoing shelter, medical treatment, and eventual placement in permanent homes.
• Technical Rescue: Our dedicated team of expert responders is certified in swift and slack water rescue. This means that in times of flooding, if animals have been left behind or their owners tried to stay but then had to leave, the team can respond to the floodwaters and safely remove them.
• Legal Support: Assisting law enforcement in investigating severe cases of animal abuse and aiding the prosecution of those responsible. ART brings significant expertise in dealing with crime scenes for animal cruelty and is the go-to source for law enforcement.
• Logistical Assistance: We deliver essential supplies, including pet food and other necessities, to shelters and families affected by disasters.
• Relief Grants: Providing financial support to local clinics and shelters for veterinary care and boarding of displaced animals.
• Emergency Planning: Collaborating with local, state, and national authorities to develop and implement disaster management plans that include animal provisions.

With the generous support of partners, we can continue to enhance ART’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to any crises, strengthening our emergency response and rescue capabilities.

Rehabilitation and Recovery

The recovery process for rescued animals varies, with some requiring special care or long-term rehabilitation before they can be adopted. The HSUS rehabilitation facility, a 47,000- square-foot space equipped with state-of-the-art kennels, an in-house clinic, and outdoor areas, is designed to meet these needs. Here, up to 400 animals receive the care they need to recover from trauma and medical issues, ensuring they can be placed in loving homes.

Long-Term Strategy

A critical aspect of our program is working with local governments and stakeholders to integrate animals into disaster management plans. We proactively engage with high- risk communities to expand or develop disaster plans to protect the most vulnerable animals. Our commitment extends beyond immediate relief, focusing on long-term recovery and building resilience to future disasters.

Catastrophe Deployments

2017: The 2017 hurricane season required an unprecedented response. Thanks to the federal Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, passed in Katrina’s wake at the urging of the HSUS, there were more resources to keep pets and families together, but the needs were still massive here and abroad. ART assisted in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. After the storms, we provided search and rescue capacity, wildlife expertise, and support to pet owners in impacted communities. We assisted over 15,000 animals and provided thousands of pounds of human and animal supplies.

Hurricane Harvey – Texas: We evacuated 1,007 adoptable animals from Texas, which freed up space in local shelters for the influx of displaced and lost animals who arrived in the storm’s wake. We conducted 16 transports out of Texas by air and ground to partners nationwide. We coordinated the delivery of 8 tons of feed, 1,500 bags of shavings, and 2,554 hay bales to the Delta Equine Center in Galveston. After the storm, we worked with local officials to conduct search and rescue operations, helping local authorities recover 138 animals stranded in homes. ART also conducted an aerial assessment of stranded cattle in Southeast Texas, providing their coordinates to the Texas Air National Guard, who could drop hay to feed the cattle until the water receded. Expense: $1,516,863

Hurricane Irma—Florida: We transported more than 900 adoptable animals out of harm’s way and provided 10,000 pounds of donations to shelters and human service agencies in impacted areas as the storm approached. Our own South Florida Wildlife Center was caught in the crosshairs of Irma; it sustained significant damage and lost power for days. But that didn’t stop our staff from opening the day after the storm and taking in more than 400 injured wildlife while simultaneously working on repairs. Many of the animals taken in were injured and young orphaned, and they had been blown from nests. Expense: $316,193

Hurricane Maria – Puerto Rico: Through our Humane Puerto Rico program, the HSUS has close relationships with animal welfare organizations on the island. With the cooperation of the Puerto Rican government, we launched a transport to evacuate 2,000 adoptable dogs and cats, placing them through our networks with help from St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center. With help from the South Florida Wildlife Center, we organized dozens of relief flights and shipments, delivering 300,000 pounds of human and animal supplies to hard-hit neighborhoods on mainland Puerto Rico and the island of Vieques. Expense: $3,469,170

2018: When two major Atlantic hurricanes landed a one-two punch on the Southeast U.S., ART deployed, saving animals before, during, and after Hurricanes Florence and Michael. We coordinated and funded transports of hundreds of animals from area shelters and deployed to some of the hardest-hit areas to help stranded and abandoned animals, organize food deliveries, carry out field rescues, and help storm-damaged shelters recover. All told, we directly helped more than 650 animals and transported more than 1,000 to safety. Expense: $394,728

2020: ART was deployed several times for extreme natural disasters, and nearly 600 animals were transported out of shelters to provide space for incoming animals affected by storms. After Hurricane Sally walloped Florida, we helped in Escambia County by delivering food and supplies to impacted shelters and transporting animals for veterinary care in storm-hit communities. Expense: $61,397

2021: ART deployed to Kentucky to assist the Mayfield-Graves County animal shelter with search and rescue and shelter operations after devastating tornadoes. We remained on the scene to help reunite lost pets with their families, distribute resources to pet owners, and transport surrendered animals to shelter partners for adoption. Expense: $45,766

2022: Before Hurricane Ian, the HSUS funded and facilitated the safe transport of more than 150 adoptable dogs, cats, and guinea pigs from Florida shelters to our shelter partners, freeing capacity for lost animals after the storm. In the weeks following the storm, we ran a pet food/supplies distribution center and a pop-up veterinary clinic offering free vet services in Port Charlotte, Florida. Expense: $203,209

2023: In Florida, we transported dozens of shelter animals out of the path of Hurricane Idalia and distributed free pet food and farm animal feed in the aftermath, reaching 872 families and 9,083 animals. Expense: $114,770

In Maui, after the devastating wildfires, we sent urgent and critical supplies such as pet food and crates to the Maui Humane Society and helped staff process the influx of reports about lost and found pets.

ART has rescued over 55,000 animals from cruelty and catastrophes. In 2024 alone, ART already has four non-catastrophe deployments, assisting law enforcement in rescuing 1,217 animals.

• 55,000+ Animals recieved care from our animal rescue team after being saved from cruetly and disasters
• 350+ Shelters Animal across the country allow us to call on them when rescued animals need a safe place to go; they are known as our Shelter and Rescue Partners.
• 30,000+ Hours are spent annually by animal rescue volunteers.

Critical Enhancements for Immediate Action

Our Animal Rescue Team’s disaster work extends far beyond boots-on-the-ground response. We work year-round with communities across the U.S. to prepare for increasingly severe storm seasons. For instance, last November, we partnered with the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies to safeguard shelter animals during storms. We also collaborate with local

governments and partners to incorporate animal welfare into their disaster preparedness plans, providing essential training and helping develop robust protocols. Recently, the HSUS hosted disaster preparedness training for 21 law enforcement officers in Indiana.

When disasters strike, our support doesn’t end with immediate relief. After Tropical Storm Debby caused severe flooding and power outages in the Southeastern U.S., we provided critical supplies and funding to the affected counties. Our work continues long after the initial crisis, offering long-term support to help animal caretakers and communities recover and build stronger resilience for the future.

Our team depends on specialized equipment to access remote areas and perform reliably in extreme weather conditions. As we continue to provide essential support and help communities recover after disasters, we must enhance our operational capabilities to serve those in need better. To achieve this, we have identified several capital improvements that will significantly strengthen our response efforts.

Immediate Needs for Enhanced Rescue Readiness:

1. Dodgen Mobile Technology Specialty Vehicle – Replace our aging 2012 Dodgen catastrophe response vehicle, which has experienced multiple breakdowns during recent deployments, to ensure we are equipped for rapid and reliable response in future disasters. ($175,000)
2. Mobile X-ray Unit – Improve medical and diagnostic capabilities, reducing dependency on external clinics and ensuring faster, more cost- effective treatment for rescued animals. ($85,000)
3. Transit Sprinter Van – Enable efficient regional transport of animals, including airport runs and emergency deployments, reducing reliance on Penske vehicles. ($80,000)
4. Facility Improvements – Install Karunda dog beds and add a new roof over exercise patio, allowing for year-round, all-weather use to improve animal comfort and rehabilitation conditions. Purchase four “evapfans” to better regulate temperature in the rehabilitation center, ensuring a stable and comfortable environment for animals recovering from crises. ($75,000)

We invite you to partner with us in this critical, lifesaving mission. Our rescue team’s readiness and success depend on the continued support of compassionate individuals and organizations like yours.

By working together, we can dramatically increase our ability to save animals from life-threatening situations, and we are eager to explore impactful ways to collaborate on catastrophe response.

Our Mission

The Humane Society of the United States aims to create a better world for all animals. The Humane Society family of organizations works around the globe to protect companion animals and wildlife, improve farm animal welfare, promote animal-free testing methods, and reform industries that harm animals. Through our rescue, response, sanctuary work, and other direct services, we help thousands of animals in need. We also work to end the cruelest practices toward animals, care for animals in crisis, and build a more robust animal protection movement worldwide.

Contact:

Steve McVeigh: Vice President Business Development, 301-548-7730, smcveigh@humanesociety.org

Erin Jackson: Senior Foundation Relations Manager, 717-715-4012, ejackson@humanesociety.org

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We need only to look at the increasing number of a wide range of natural disasters to see the impact of climate change. In 2022, the United States experienced 18 separate weather and climate disasters costing at least $1 billion. Among the disasters that caused this destruction were a winter storm / cold wave; a wildfire event, which included multiple fires; a drought and heat wave; a flood; two tornado outbreaks; three tropical cyclones; and nine severe weather / hail events.

Unfortunately, 2022 was not an anomaly. Both 2021 and 2020 featured 20 or more weather and climate disasters, signaling that this becoming the new normal.

But before you lace up your boots to help those who are impacted by a natural disaster, consider these actions instead:

Prepare if you’re in an area that could be impacted. The first job for anyone in a disaster is to not become someone in need. The fewer people that need help allows emergency crews to focus on the truly desperate. One thing to do is pack a “go bag” ahead of time. You’ll need first aid supplies, food, and water for several days as well as identification, prescriptions, and more. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help you create kits for your home and car, too.

Send money. Volunteers who rush to the scene of disasters can often become hurt or stranded themselves. Supplies – even donations like food and water – can get delayed in transit and cause storage and distribution issues in troubled areas. Consider a monetary donation, which can get to individuals quickly, and can be used to purchase what’s needed when it’s needed. Monetary donations can also assist both in the immediate aftermath as well as through the rebuilding process. The America’s Charities team can help you get started with these types of fundraising campaigns.

Give blood now. Blood is always needed, especially in the years after the height of the pandemic. The pandemic kept many regular blood donors from giving because they were afraid of contracting the coronavirus. The number of blood donors has not returned to pre-COVID levels. Without an adequate blood supply, life-saving surgeries may be cancelled and individuals who would normally be able to survive the car accidents that often occur alongside natural disasters may not make it.

House displaced friends and family members. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, housing can be nearly impossible to find. One way to assist is to open your home to friends or family members while they wait to assess the damage to their homes or find suitable alternative housing. 

Foster a furry friend. Animal shelters in disaster areas must often be emptied quickly. Consider fostering one of the shelter’s dogs or cats to ensure that they remain safe during the worst of the crisis. You can also assist a friend or family member by housing his or her pet, which may not be welcomed at a temporary shelter or hotel where your friend or family member may be living.

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You never know when a disaster or tragedy will strike, nor do you necessarily know when an employee has hit a financial rough patch and needs a little help. 39% of Americans can’t cover a $400 unexpected emergency expense, or would need to borrow or sell something to do so – and the impact of financial stress on workers costs employers 13-18% of annual salary costs. 

As we approach #GivingTuesday, a worldwide movement that celebrates the generosity and collective impact of charities, businesses, and individuals, consider pointing your corporate giving inward this year by making a commitment to support your staff in times of hardship and emergencies. 

How exactly do you establish an EAF (also known as an Employee Relief or Crisis Fund) and should you manage it in-house or outsource the program to a nonprofit partner? While there are a few different ways you can establish an EAF, the following are key reasons more than 150 companies have chosen America’s Charities as their EAF partner.

Employers who Choose America’s Charities as their EAF Partner benefit by:

Mitigating Risk: Outsourcing management of the sensitive application review and appeals process to America’s Charities minimizes your company’s risk and legal ramifications.

Reducing Overhead and Administrative Burden: America’s Charities provides consistent, objective application review, conducts necessary follow-up, approves grants or makes recommendations, and answers employee questions, allowing your team to focus on program promotion and utilization, rather than administration.

More Flexibility and Tax Advantages: With America’s Charities’ 501c3 status, grants are tax-free, and working through a public charity reduces the amount of restrictions, providing additional flexibility to defined disaster and emergency hardship categories to be covered.

Confidentiality and Uniformity: Having America’s Charities serve as point of contact throughout entire application process, provides anonymity, protecting employees’ privacy and reducing their reluctance to apply. Employees know who to ask questions to and can depend on a knowledgeable response and timely grant determination. 

Request a Call With Our Team:

If you are an employer interested in hosting an EAF to help your workforce, please complete this form and our team will follow up with you soon. Thank you.

 

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Through its Operation Sharing Program, CAP partners with over 1,300 nonprofit organizations, community-based agencies, churches, and schools across all 13 Appalachian states, as well as Arkansas and Missouri, to collect and deliver donated goods throughout the region. In nearly 40 years, Operation Sharing has delivered more than $2 billion worth of donated materials to more than 1.5 million people.

CAP exists to reduce the impact of devastating generational poverty which means that many struggle with having enough nutritious food to eat while others also deal with living in substandard housing. These are areas that CAP seeks to address.

The projected food insecurity rate in CAP’s service area is 20.74% overall and 24.5% among children. It is not much better seniors. An average of 72% of school-age children CAP serves qualify for free or reduced rate lunches. CAP currently operates two food pantries and partners with another community pantry to support Appalachian for children, their families, and seniors.

Last year alone, CAP’s Home Repair Program help repair or rebuild over 200 houses making these homes safe, warm, and dry. This included homes for a growing number of grandparents raising grandchildren.

Recurring, sustainable gifts are critical to CAP’s ability to continue to offer these comprehensive services. The steadfastness of our donors helps CAP fulfill our mission to build hope, transform lives, and share Christ’s love through service in Appalachia. We know that the health of our region and the nation begins with the provision of adequate support to enable people in impoverished communities to seek, see, and secure new opportunities. You can make that happen. CAP works toward a time when each person we serve can be either self-sustaining or be engaged in communities of care so that their neighborhoods and communities can thrive.

Support Christian Appalachian Project through your employer’s workplace giving program! If you are a Federal or Postal employee/retiree, or military personnel, click here to donate through the Combined Federal Campaign donation portal to Christian Appalachian Project (CFC #11102). If you work in the private sector, or work for a State government or municipal agency, please contact your HR for a link to your donation portal. 

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International Firefighters’ Day — each year on May 4 — is a time where the world’s community can recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible. It is also a day in which current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions.

In commemoration of International Firefighters’ Day, America’s Charities and its member National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) ask you to celebrate firefighters by:

• Lighting your home in red on May 4, 2022
• Posting a picture on your social media platforms of a firefighter who is important to you with the hashtag #ThisIsMyFirefighter
• Drawing, coloring, crafting and sharing your thank you with NFFF using #WeThankFFs 
• Promoting the day in your community using the NFFF’s downloaded, ready-to-use resources 

The NFFF’s mission is to honor and remember America’s fallen fire heroes, to provide resources to assist their families in rebuilding their lives, and to work within the fire service community to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries.

Honor the Men and Women Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice

In recognition of International Firefighters’ Day National Firefighters, we encourage you to donate to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation here or through your workplace giving program to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their communities and neighbors. 

One of the most cost-efficient ways you can support nonprofits is to donate to them via payroll deduction through your employer’s workplace giving program. As the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help your company implement a program centered on supporting their work – through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, matching gifts, and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Don’t have a program? Click here to have your employer contact our team to get started.

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How can you help?

Make a donation to provide nourishing meals, relocation assistance, medical attention, emergency supplies, and support short and long-term projects that foster and promote democracy and opportunities for Ukrainians to prosper.

Below is a shortlist including America’s Charities nonprofit members, as well as other reputable 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that our clients have been including in their employee giving disaster relief campaigns. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather is intended as a starting point for individual donors interested in nonprofits to support and for employers deciding which charities to include in employee disaster relief campaigns. While immediate humanitarian aid is important, ensuring long-term support through your company’s workplace giving campaign is crucial to effectively helping the affected communities. 

• Amnesty Internation USA (America’s Charities member)
• Fòs Feminista (America’s Charities member)
• Humane Society International (America’s Charities member)
• Good360
• Americares
• ChildFund International
• Direct Relief
• Habitat for Humanity International
• International Medical Corps
• Project HOPE
• Save the Children
• UNICEF USA
• World Central Kitchen
• World Food Program USA
• World Relief

For help setting up a disaster relief campaign at your company, please contact our team here. If you have employees who have been impacted by the Ukraine conflict, click here to speak with our team about how our employee assistance fund services might help you provide assistance.

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Workplace giving programs, matching gift campaigns, corporate grants, volunteerism, employee assistance relief funds, and employee-directed giving are all great vehicles for supporting your employees and communities in times of crisis.

If you have been charged with getting a disaster relief campaign off the ground pronto and need a simple fundraising tool that can quickly be deployed within days, we can help you with that. According to the Conference Board Environmental, Social & Governance Center’s report, Disaster Philanthropy Practices 2021, the top priority of 73 percent of responding companies was immediate relief and short-term recovery. Only 22 percent of respondents from that same survey prioritized disaster preparedness and just 3 percent prioritized long-term recovery and reconstruction, yet the report’s authors note that “funding preparedness would actually reduce the need for relief and help build trust with communities, while funding long-term recovery and reconstruction would reduce the time it takes for communities to return to normal.”

While immediate humanitarian aid is important and certainly has its place, disaster giving tends to be reactive with the bulk of money donated going to immediate relief efforts. Ensuring long-term support is crucial to effectively helping affected communities rebuild and fully recover. That’s where sustainable, unrestricted funds from workplace giving programs and support from strategic partners play a tremendous role.

Efficient and effective disaster response and employee emergency relief calls for proactive, strategic planning. In addition to finding a giving platform that can support your team’s immediate disaster aid campaigns, we encourage you to take a more thoughtful approach to how your program can support-long-term disaster giving needs. America’s Charities can help you put the infrastructure in place for a more integrated program that automates and manages your disaster giving alongside your other types of giving and granting initiatives on one platform, and in addition to the out-of-the box reporting and dashboard capabilities we offer, we can also work closely with your team to configure custom reports and dashboards as well to help you monitor your impact and progress. Plus, by putting the proper infrastructure in place now, your team can more easily launch and “press go” for any future immediate disaster response campaigns and your employees will know they can go to that same giving platform each time a new disaster occurs (which helps make employee communications easier and more streamlined).

Regardless of whether you need a new disaster-giving platform ASAP or have time to put a more strategic program in place, there are some basic questions your team will need to answer.

Below is a shortlist to provide your team with some basic direction. To dig deeper into specific topics, we invite you to download the guides and toolkits available in our free resource library, and of course our team is happy to chat with you to discuss your needs further.

Who:

• Who will have access to participate in your program?
  • Will all full-time and part-time employees be invited to participate or will some employees be excluded, such as contractors?
  • Will your program focus on employees only or will you also invite external people to participate (e.g. board directors, partner companies, customers, family members of employees)?
• Your answer to “who” will participate will be closely connected to how you grant platform access (e.g. single sign-on (SSO) connection, login credentials based on unique identifiers, etc.).
• Who will manage your giving program? Do you have a dedicated team to handle things like employee donor questions, charity write-in requests, and program communications, or do you need outside support?
• If you plan to provide financial assistance to employees facing personal financial hardships through an EAF program, who will manage the application review process, maintain the funds, and handle reporting and compliance?
• If you’re focusing on a disaster relief campaign, who will be the recipient nonprofits and who will vet those organizations for you to ensure donations are going to a reputable charity?

What:

• What do you hope to achieve?
  • Make sure you take time to speak with key decision-makers to ensure you choose a strategic partner and platform that offer the right tools to accomplish your goals. The things a procurement officer will focus on may differ significantly from the criteria your program manager has in mind. Taking a moment to obtain team input and consensus can help your team avoid some common pitfalls.
• Are you looking to facilitate donations in support of nonprofits, employees facing hardships, or a combination?
• What donation and giving methods do you want to offer?
  • For immediate disaster response campaigns, credit/debit card giving tends to be most popular and efficient for getting donations to those impacted by a disaster. Charitable dollars, however, typically wane within the initial three to six months after a disaster, as media (and donor’s) attention moves on to other stories. A recurring payroll deduction donation can provide a disaster-related charity with much-needed sustainable resources to support long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts long after the funding from immediate relief runs dry. Perhaps your team would like to get out and volunteer or hold a drive to support a local community disaster. Not all giving platforms are setup to facilitate all types of giving and donation methods, so you’ll need to think about both your immediate and long-term program interests.
• Will your company match employee gifts? If so, what are the eligibility criteria and match ratios?
• What’s your budget for doing all of this?
  • If you’re just starting out and need to make the case to leadership for more investment, it might make sense to start with a pilot program and expand your program with more of a phased approach. If you already offer a bunch of different giving methods (e.g. grants, volunteering, workplace giving), but have been using multiple platforms to manage everything, you might be able to save money and run your program more efficiently by consolidating to an all-in-one giving platform like America’s Charities Engage CSR Solution.

Where:

• Are your employees and other eligible contributors located in one city, several states throughout the U.S., or multiple countries worldwide? This question is particularly important to think about if your program involves volunteerism or local community donation drives.
• Where will contributions be directed? To 501c3 charities, employees, or both? Where are recipient charities and employees located?
  • Disbursing charitable funds internationally is a completely different ballgame than what’s involved domestically within the United States. In addition to vetting nonprofits that are legitimate and will use donor funds responsibly (which is important for domestic or international giving), with international giving you need to consider the nuances of different currencies, tax laws, and even payroll systems (if you have multiple business units around the world).

When:

• How soon do you need to deploy your giving platform? Some donation methods and giving programs can be set up in days whereas others involve more legwork, so you’ll need to build in enough time for planning and setup depending on what your initiative entails.
• Will you keep the platform open year-round? If so, will some donation methods be available during finite campaign periods while other methods remain available all the time? For example, some employers offer employees a limited timeframe in which they can enroll in payroll deduction giving, while they allow employees to make credit card donations anytime throughout the year.

How:

• How will you measure success? Your team likely has some specific goals you want to accomplish through this program. Are there specific reports you will need or metrics you’ll want to closely monitor to track your progress towards meeting those goals?
• How personalized do you need the platform to be? Are you looking for a platform with basic branding and out-of-the-box content, or are you looking for something more configurable and personalized?
• How much staff time do you have to devote to administer the program? Some aspects of your program might make sense for your team to handle if you have the internal capacity, but there’s also an opportunity cost that must be considered. Every hour you spend on internal staff time costs your company money (as the company in this case study found), so it might be less costly to go outside for help.

Having an agile technology platform and trusted partner to disburse charitable funds efficiently and securely is of the utmost importance when it comes to disaster response and emergency assistance. Thinking through the questions above and working with an experienced partner like America’s Charities will help your company and its employees respond with greater speed, as well as ensure your impact is strategic and effective. In addition to benefiting from our more than 40 years of experience distributing charitable funds and managing these types of programs, you’ll get to work with a very passionate and knowledgeable team (40% of our staff have been working here for nearly a decade or longer) who can set you up for success from the very start and help grow your program for long-term collective impact across all of your CSR initiatives.  

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Thanks to the kindness and generosity of Humane Society International (HSI)’s partner, family-owned Mars, Inc., HSI is in a position to respond right away to the needs of Ukraine’s animals and those seeking to help them. In previous collaboration with Mars, Inc., a worldwide COVID-19 relief effort, HSI was able to help more than 280,000 animals in 36 countries on five continents, providing desperately needed food, veterinary care and other support. 

With no time to waste, HSI is prioritizing support to shelters, rescue groups and veterinary clinics in Ukraine. It is vitally important to sustain these institutions in their efforts to maintain operations and services. In many cases, they are helping individuals and families who cannot flee but are trying to hold onto and care for their pets and other animals. In addition, some groups are caring for animals on the streets. The demands and needs of the moment are substantial and will continue to be significant in the future.

To assist these organizations, HSI is collaborating with a partner in Ukraine, UAnimals, to assess and prioritize the needs of shelters and clinics actively engaged in relief. HSI in Germany is working with Berliner Tiertafel to provide refugees with pet food and necessary supplies for their animals as well as veterinary care if needed.

HSI is also planning to support animal groups in neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania as they assist refugees arriving from Ukraine with their pets. The groups trying to provide relief are going to need food, carriers, medicines and critical supplies. 

The same is true for zoos and wildlife rescue centers in Ukraine, and HSI will do their best to help them meet their needs, too.

Read more here about HSI’s plan for taking action and make a donation to support their work.

If your company has a workplace giving program, please consider featuring Humane Society International as a charity to support alongside other Ukraine crisis relief funds.

The post How Humane Society International is taking action for Ukraine and its animals—and how you can help appeared first on America's Charities.

This article outlines six ways to engage your employees, all while giving back to help your community. Please note that each of these methods can be scaled up or down, depending on the size of your workforce.

(1) Volunteering together

Whether a short project of a couple hours, a full day, or even a week-long series, volunteering together enables workers to enhance their teamwork and bring new enthusiasm back into the office.

Case in point: After Austin’s Salesforce team celebrated Global Volunteer Week by sorting produce at the Central Texas Food Bank, almost 5,000 meals went to feed those in need of donated food.

The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas, which helps entrepreneurs and their teams build corporate cultures and employee engagement for success, sponsors two days of service each year. During the spring they mobilized 24 of their companies with over 575 team members working for 12 nonprofits over two weeks in May to support the homeless in Austin.

There are countless other opportunities for team projects such as preparing and serving lunch or breakfast to the homeless, walking as a team in a charity event, beautifying a park, or stuffing and delivering backpacks to low income students.

(2) Paid time off (PTO) for Volunteering

Employees these days love to have time to go volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice. Even better if the time they spend is paid time off from their employer.

Employees have been volunteering for years, teaching classes for Junior Achievement, making meals at the Ronald McDonald House for resident families, or bell-ringing for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. There are 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. so there is no end of opportunities for volunteering.

Says one employee of Principal Financial Group (PFG) based in Des Moines, Iowa, “I LOVE working here. One thing I really appreciate about PFG is that it provides us with volunteering time off so we can help in our communities.”

(3) Volunteering at the Office

Arranging for activities that can be done at the office provides an easy way for workers to volunteer, especially those for whom it is difficult to leave during the workday. For example, National Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, named a Best Places to Give Back in Fortune magazine, established a Red Cross blood donor center in the building so that associates could take time off to go give blood. Build-A-Sign, a sign maker in Austin, Texas, developed the CANville competition. Local companies were invited to compete by creating an Austin landmark entirely of cans of food. Winners were chosen, giving the participating companies pride in their teamwork, and the cans used in the sculptures donated to the local food bank.

(4) Employee fundraising

Employees love teaming up for a good cause and organizing fundraisers at work let their creativity shine. From car washes to bake sales to go-fund-me campaigns, employees working together toward something meaningful enhances their teamwork and their job loyalty.

Trulucks, an iconic Texas restaurant, has supported their staff for years to band together for the ‘Bad Pants Open’ golf tournament, benefitting autism. Two of the executives who have family members on the autism spectrum determined that having fun together as a team, raising money and raising spirits was a great way to not only support this cause but also enhance their teamwork.

(5) Disaster relief

When disaster strikes, offering the opportunity to help the victims provides a great service for many employees. Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceuticals company from New Jersey, makes it their priority to respond to disasters such as the tornado clean up in Alabama, hurricane relief in New Orleans, blood donations after the Pulse Nightclub terrorist attack in Orlando, and more recently providing life-saving medicines to those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

(6) Nonprofit learning

Employees appreciate being given the opportunity to learn about community needs and the various nonprofit organizations which support these causes.  This education can take many forms. South Texas Money Management, a Texas-based wealth management firm, each quarter invites a nonprofit to come to their office for lunch, tell their story, and receive a small donation while their staff learns more about the community need being addressed by their guest. Or it can be more elaborate such as the United Way for Greater Austin’s scavenger hunt to learn about the needs of the community. Mason Ayers, CEO of iconic Kerbey Lane Cafés, says “… it … brought the members of our executive team closer together as we discovered things about the city of Austin we never knew before. It was a great team-building experience …”. 

Hopefully, one of more of these ideas will work to engage your own employees, fueling their interest in the community, feeling good about themselves and being proud of the business where they work.

Debbie Johnson is a Principal with Successful Giving which helps businesses figure out their highest and best philanthropy to enable them to give back with meaning and effectively engage their employees. She was formerly an executive with AT&T/Lucent Technologies.     

What to Read Next:

• The Business Case for Employee Volunteer & Skills Giving Programs
• 5 Keys to Attracting — and Keeping — Socially Minded Employees
• Fun Ideas for Engaging Employees and Raising Money for Charity
• Making Employee Volunteers Matter
• [Guide] 5 Key Steps to Starting an Employee Volunteer Program
• [Report] What Employees Think about Workplace Giving, Volunteering, and CSR

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The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS) Animal Rescue and Response team is currently on the ground in Mayfield, Kentucky to search for and rescue animals after the recent devastating tornado. The team will be stationed at the Mayfield-Graves Animal Shelter after being called in to provide critical aid and expertise. They are going through the rubble and searching for animals who were lost or separated from their families. They’ve rescued dozens of animals thus far and are continuing to search day in and day out, doing their part to help this community heal.

Please support these lifesaving efforts by donating to the HSUS’s Emergency Animal Relief Fund. Your gift today will ensure that their team can continue to answer the call during times of emergency wherever, whenever and however animals need help. (Find out how your one-time donation will be used.) Monthly gifts support their rescue and response efforts as well as their critical work to protect all animals.

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As a donor, you can support Humane Society International by donating to them through your employer’s workplace giving program. While there may be multiple donation options depending on your employer-sponsored charitable giving program, payroll deduction pledges in particular are a cost effective and near effortless way to support Humane Society International and have a big impact.

For instance:

• $15 (57 cents x 26 pay checks) = Cost for food for a small or medium dog for one week  
• $100 ($3.85 x 26 pay checks) = Cost to provide initial basic medical care to ready rescued dogs, cats, or small animals for placement into a new home  
• $390 ($15.00 x 26 pay checks) = pays for expert medical and behavioral treatment of dogs rescued from Korean Dog Meat Farms  

If you are a Federal or Postal employee/retiree, or military personnel, click here to donate through the Combined Federal Campaign donation portal and search for CFC# 67938.

If you work in the private sector, or work for a State/county/local government or municipal agency, please contact your HR for a link to your organization’s workplace giving donation site. 

Are you an employer? As Humane Society International’s workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help your company design and implement a program centered on supporting their work – through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, cause-focused signature programs, volunteerism, donation drives, matching gifts, Dollars-for-Doers, In-Kind Giving and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Click here to request a demo and learn how we can help you do this.

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