Disaster‐related giving far outpaced by long‐term recovery needs, experts say

• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30419

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(See DISASTER on page 2)

Groups work to boost

corporate volunteerism

VolunteerMatch, a leading volunteer engage-

ment network that matches individuals with vol-

unteer opportunities at nonprots, is partnering

with corporate giving platform Forward It On to

expand the number of employees available to drive

social change through volunteerism.

By integrating Forward It On’s corporate client

base with VolunteerMatch’s network of volunteer

opportunities, the two groups hope to increase the

number of meaningful volunteer opportunities

for employees and, in turn, bolster on-the-ground

impact for nonprots.

VolunteerMatch claims it has openings for 3.2

million volunteers on any given day, spanning a

range of causes, time commitments and skills.

Forward It On will help ll those positions through

the new partnership, the group said.

“We are excited to offer our corporate clients the

ability for their employees to further increase their

impact in the communities they serve,” said Forward

It On CEO Walker Morrow in a statement. “Our

partnership with VolunteerMatch enables us to do

just that—on a national level. Now, corporations

can easily search, nd, schedule and manage vol-

unteer events with a few clicks of a mouse button.”

The partnership will leverage VolunteerMatch’s

network integration feature, which enables corpo-

rate giving platforms of all stripes to coordinate

their own in-house technology platforms with

VolunteerMatch’s network of volunteer opportuni-

ties, which derive from some 113,000 participating

nonprots, the group said.

For more information, visit http://www.

volunteermatch.org. ■

Disaster-related giving far outpaced by long-term

recovery needs, experts say

“That’s not nearly adequate,” Ottenhoff said. While the amount of cash and in-kind contribu-

tions to disaster relief from the corporate and non-

prot sectors might seem signicant—it can routinely

stretch into the hundreds of millions, domestically—it

is nonetheless far too low to adequately address the

long-term challenges faced by communities stricken

with major disaster events, experts say. And the results

of this gap can be seen quite clearly in Puerto Rico,

where—as of press time, several months after Hur-

ricane Maria devastated the island—some 40 percent

of its residents are still without power and much of

the country lacks basic services.

According to Bob Ottenhoff, CEO and president of

the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the total chari-

table commitment to relief efforts following the series

of storms that struck the U.S. mainland and Carib-

bean in late summer/fall of 2017 topped $600 million.

Some $335 million went to Harvey relief, $128 million

went to Irma-related relief and $65 million went to

efforts related to Hurricanes Maria and Jose.

Vol. 342 March 2018

Also in this issue

Conferences and events: The 2018 IMPACT Conference;

the Grant Managers Network Annual Conference; the

Washington Nonprot Legal & Tax Conference ...........4

Fundraising: Tax reform to decrease donations, trigger

new giving strategies, experts say ................................... 5

Industry News: GuideStar partners with Mission

Measurement to improve charity proles ......................6

IRS revises Form 1023-EZ with eye toward small

charities ........................................................................ 6

Foundations: Study shows top-ranked funders go extra

mile to listen, understand their constituents .................. 7

Resources: Charityhowto.com webinar looks at direct

mail campaigns; Webinar explores common budgeting

mistakes; Foundation Center webinar tackles program

planning ........................................................................ 9

Employment Law: Legal cases that impact nonprots .10

News: Briefs from around the sector ........................... 12