--- title: Disaster Response Guide group: For donors order: 11 summary: What responders and researchers advise about giving after a disaster, a planner that splits one gift across relief, recovery and preparedness, and a calendar reminder to give again when the news has moved on. status: live conditions: [story-bias, restriction-reflex, short-horizon] help: - Challenge a planner default or improve a point with a pull request to src/data/disaster-guide.json that cites a source. - Add guidance from responders outside the United States, where the registries and agencies differ. - Find a sourced estimate of how much disaster giving arrives in the first weeks compared with later, and propose it as a new point. related: [/tools/charity-lookup/, /diagnosis/restriction-reflex/, /diagnosis/story-bias/] sources: - title: Volunteer and Donate publisher: Federal Emergency Management Agency year: 2026 url: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/volunteer-donate - title: 'Cash: The king for disaster donations' publisher: Patricia McIlreavy, Center for Disaster Philanthropy year: 2023 url: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/cash-the-king-for-disaster-donations/ - title: When In-Kind Donations Are Not Kind publisher: Regine A. Webster, Center for Disaster Philanthropy year: 2017 url: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/kind-donations-not-kind/ - title: Disaster Recovery publisher: Center for Disaster Philanthropy year: 2026 url: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/cdp-resource/disaster-recovery/ note: Undated resource page, accessed October 2026. - title: 'From relief to recovery: A strategic approach to disaster philanthropy' publisher: Patricia McIlreavy, Center for Disaster Philanthropy year: 2024 url: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/from-relief-to-recovery-a-strategic-approach-to-disaster-philanthropy/ - title: 'New Center for Disaster Philanthropy Report: Disaster Giving Declined Slightly in 2023, But Support for Long-Term Recovery and Resilience Efforts Increased' publisher: Center for Disaster Philanthropy year: 2025 url: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/press/new-center-for-disaster-philanthropy-report-disaster-giving-declined-slightly-in-2023-but-support-for-long-term-recovery-and-resilience-efforts-increased/ note: Source of the 12.7% (recovery) and 6% (resilience, risk reduction and mitigation) shares of 2023 disaster giving. - title: Help the people affected by flooding in Texas — not a scammer publisher: Federal Trade Commission year: 2025 url: https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/07/help-people-affected-flooding-texas-not-scammer - title: Donating Through Crowdfunding and Fundraising Platforms publisher: Federal Trade Commission year: 2025 url: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/donating-through-crowdfunding-social-media-and-fundraising-platforms - title: Before Giving to a Charity publisher: Federal Trade Commission year: 2025 url: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/giving-charity - title: 'Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2019 Report' publisher: National Institute of Building Sciences year: 2019 url: https://nibs.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/mitigationsaves2019_complete.pdf - title: 'Protecting Against Natural Disasters: NIBS Unveils New Report on Mitigation' publisher: National Institute of Building Sciences year: 2020 url: https://nibs.org/protecting-against-natural-disasters-nibs-unveils-new-report-on-mitigation/ note: Source of the $6 benefit for every $1 of federally funded mitigation grants. - title: One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster publisher: Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) year: 2005 url: https://www.msf.org/one-year-after-indian-ocean-tsunami-disaster - title: The Grand Bargain – A shared commitment to better serve people in need publisher: ALNAP, hosting the agreement signed at the World Humanitarian Summit year: 2016 url: https://alnap.org/help-library/resources/the-grand-bargain-a-shared-commitment-to-better-serve-people-in-need/ - title: News Droughts, News Floods, and U.S. Disaster Relief publisher: Thomas Eisensee and David Strömberg, Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(2) year: 2007 url: https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.122.2.693 --- ## How it works The guide opens with six points drawn from disaster responders, regulators and researchers, each with its sources. Then the planner splits one amount across three phases: **relief now**, **recovery later** and **preparedness** for the next disaster. Move any slider and the other two rebalance, so the total stays at 100%. The reminder makes a calendar file for a date you choose, six months out unless you change it, so the part of your gift meant for recovery has a moment to happen. The file is built in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere. ## Why the planner splits by phase The three phases sit at different depths on the [depth scale](/method/#depth): relief meets the need today, recovery repairs what was lost, and preparedness prevents the next disaster from hurting as much. All three are needed. Disaster giving follows attention. Thomas Eisensee and David Strömberg found that U.S. government disaster relief depended partly on whether other news crowded a disaster out of the headlines. That is [the Story Bias](/diagnosis/story-bias/). Gifts surge in the first days, but recovery can take years, which is [the Short Horizon](/diagnosis/short-horizon/). In 2023, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Candid, reconstruction and recovery received 12.7% of tracked disaster giving and resilience, risk reduction and mitigation received 6%. The default split is 50% relief, 30% recovery and 20% preparedness. It is an editorial starting point, not a finding: it puts a larger share toward recovery than disaster giving does today and keeps a real share for preparedness, so no phase is left out. Change it to fit what you know. If responders say their needs are met, give flexibly rather than to one disaster, which is [the Restriction Reflex](/diagnosis/restriction-reflex/) in reverse. ## What it isn’t It isn’t a recommendation of any organization, and it doesn’t know the details of a particular disaster. Responders on the ground do, so follow their requests when they differ from the defaults. The guidance comes mostly from U.S. sources, and the scam checks point to U.S. registries. Calendar apps treat reminder files differently, so check that the event and its alert appear where you expect.