Data reported to date show that global corporate, individual, private, public, and multilateral funding in response to major disasters and humanitarian crises declined significantly in 2019, from $76 billion in 2018 to nearly $30 billion, an analysis by Candid and Center for Disaster Philanthropy finds.

Based on data from Candid and eleven other sources, the eighth edition of the annual report, Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy 2021: Data to Drive Decisions (20 pages, PDF), found that giving by foundations and charities in support of disaster relief totaled $352 million, down from $468 million the previous year. Of those grant dollars, 55 percent supported efforts to address natural hazards and severe weather (including epidemics, storms, floods, and wildfires), 41 percent to disasters in general, and 4 percent to complex humanitarian crises. In terms of strategy, 51 percent of grant dollars from foundations and public charities funded response and relief efforts, 17 percent supported disaster preparedness, 6 percent went to reconstruction and recovery, and 4 percent funded resilience measures. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was the top funder in 2019, awarding thirty-four grants totaling more than $72.6 million, while the American Red Cross was the top recipient, with eighty-seven grants totaling more than $36.3 million.

"It's critical to fund for response and relief. Yet, it's also crucial that philanthropy funds preparedness and mitigation, which helps reduce the impact of disasters," said Candid director of research Grace Sato. "Communities also require sustained funding to support the long road to recovery."

According to the report, individual donors contributed $20.5 million through donor-advised funds managed by Fidelity Charitable and $6 million through DAFs at Vanguard Charitable and gave $11.3 million through Network for Good and $5.1 million through GlobalGiving.

The report also found that official development assistance from the thirty governments that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee totaled $22 billion, while non-DAC government donors and multilateral organizations contributed an additional $2.8 billion. In the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed $3.2 billion, down from $11.2 billion in 2018; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $1 billion in recovery efforts in 2019 for disasters that took place in 2017; and the U.S. Economic Development Administration invested approximately $381.7 million in disaster-related projects.

The report's authors note that the analysis is based on 2019 data to date and that the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected data collection on disasters that predated the pandemic. With the pace of the Internal Revenue Service's release of IRS 990 and 990-PF filings further slowed by pandemic restrictions and the issuing of COVID-19 stimulus payments, as of August 2021 Candid had received only a third of filings expected for 2019 overall.

"Disaster philanthropy might be a drop in the bucket compared to government funding," said CDP vice president Regine A. Webster, "but it plays an essential role in helping communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from global disasters and humanitarian crises."

(Photo credit: American Red Cross)