Community Foundations are uniquely positioned to bring community and resources together during disasters and emergencies. Following the $3.4 million granted from the foundation’s COVID-19 Regional Response Fund, HAF+WRCF has distributed more than $3.7M in disaster funding from its Disaster Response and Resilience Fund, helping local communities respond & prepare for disasters—both as a grant maker and a partner.
When disasters strike, existing local resources are often critically important in the first hours and days of an emergency. Community Foundations like HAF+WRCF can offer outreach, flexible funding, capacity building, and more to understand and support the needs of those on the front lines providing direct services.
“To best understand and meet community needs, we believe we must be more than just a financial transaction” says Craig Woods, Department Director for Programs and Community Partnerships. “Conducting outreach and being in and with community helps us build connections and act as a conduit to appropriate resilience, recovery, and response resources.”
Community foundations also help by building and supporting networks before, during, and after disasters. Working with a wide range of organizations helps deploy resources when emergencies arise. Some of our partners include Humboldt Community Organizations Active in a Disaster (COAD), county and city governments, Tribal nations, and community groups.
“Because we have built trust before a disaster, we don’t have to search around for who we should work with. We already know, because we’ve been developing these relationships for years,” says Ali Ong Lee, Senior Program Officer. The foundation also works to make new connections and hosts an online grants portal where charitable organizations and projects can submit requests.
One way HAF+WRCF supports the community is through the Disaster Response & Resilience Fund (DRRF). The fund was created in late 2020 and was modeled after the foundation’s successful Covid-19 Regional Response Fund that deployed over $ 3.4M. DRRF has granted over $3.7M and is stewarded by the Community Response Team. It supports residents of Humboldt, Trinity, Del Norte, and Curry counties, as well as adjoining Tribal lands during current and future disasters, including public health emergencies such as pandemics, fires, earthquakes, flooding, and other disasters. Grants are made to nonprofit agencies, public benefit organizations (schools, government agencies, federally recognized Tribes, etc.), charitable organizations and groups with a qualified fiscal sponsor.
Read through more of the 2025 Winter/Spring Newsletter story highlights here: Winter-Spring-2025-Newsletter-Final.pdf