Snapshot of Philanthropy's Response to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes

Among the 26 named storms tracked in 2005, two hurricanes—Katrina and Rita—will be remembered for the unprecedented devastation they inflicted on the Gulf Coast region. Through the destruction and flooding they left in their wake and, in the case of Katrina, the failure of the New Orleans levee system, these storms caused damage that may take many years to repair. Beyond their physical impact, these storms also revealed grave shortcomings in the nation’s ability to respond to large-scale emergencies and placed in broad relief the dire impact of persistent poverty and racial inequality in this country. In response to the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, foundations, corporations, and other institutional donors have once again provided substantial funding for short-term relief and recovery and made commitments to support long-term rebuilding efforts. Following the model established in tracking the institutional response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Foundation Center has also made a commitment to tracking foundation and corporate giving in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes over the next several years. As the Center continues to collect and refine its data on donors and recipients, this preliminary documentation of the institutional response will be followed by more extensive and detailed analyses of giving in late 2006 and 2007. We wish to thank the Annie E. Casey Foundation for their generous support of the Foundation Center’s Gulf Coast Hurricanes Philanthropic Response Project. Foundation and Corporate Gulf Coast Hurricane Response Funding as a Share of All Private Giving