Over the last fifteen years, mid- to long-term recovery programming in response to disasters in the Asia-Pacific region has attracted more funding from international donors than emergency relief efforts, a report from Give2Asia finds.

Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of nearly six hundred grants awarded from January 1, 2005, to September 1, 2019, the report, Trends in Disaster Philanthropy — Examining 15 years of disaster giving to the Asia-Pacific (30 pages, PDF), found that the majority of the $55 million in grants that flowed through the organization in response to forty disasters over those fifteen years was earmarked for recovery activities rather than emergency relief. The report also found that while funding for disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and resiliency initiatives typically tends to be underfunded, funding for such efforts has grown steadily since 2004.

According to the report, infrastructure ($40.4 million) and health ($12.2 million) were the areas that received the most funding, followed by economic security and livelihoods ($7.3 million), disaster risk reduction ($4.3 million), education ($3.9 million), relief supplies ($3.5 million), and advocacy ($1.9 million). The report also found that local organizations received the majority of support (79 percent), with $31.9 million funneled through Give2Asia by U.S.-based multinational companies, followed by crowdfunding initiatives ($14.6 million), gifts from high-net-worth individuals and family foundations ($5.5 million), and crowdfunding by fiscally sponsored partners ($3.5 million).

(Photo credit: Give2Asia)