NetHope, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition representing more than 60 international nonprofits, has announced a $15 million grant from Cisco in support of the group’s Digital Breakthrough Initiative focused on capacity, resiliency, and cybersecurity.

The five-year initiative will be funded by the network technology company’s donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Efforts will be focused on evolving connectivity-as-aid for people affected by climate change-related emergencies, enhancing shared nonprofit cybersecurity capabilities, and bolstering capacity in the face of cybercrime to help preserve program continuity for the 1.2 billion vulnerable people in the more than 190 countries served by affiliated organizations.

“We see the Digital Breakthrough Initiative and our partnership with NetHope…as critical to building the capacity of the sector to respond to the growing number of cyber threats, natural disasters, and refugee and humanitarian crises,” said Cisco Crisis Response senior manager Erin Connor.

“This funding from Cisco enables NetHope to evolve and expand our flagship Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Resiliency Program,” said NetHope CEO Lance Pierce. “NetHope and our members will be able to reduce the time it takes to reconnect life-saving digital networks so that hard-hit communities are more resilient and recover faster from climate-driven extreme weather emergencies and related disasters. These funds will help NetHope reorient our emergency work around localization and resiliency and facilitate a new wave of climate-focused partnerships and action across the relief, development, and conservation sectors.”

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