When disaster strikes around the world, the first inclination many of our donors and community members have is, “How can I help?” This outpour of generosity is a hallmark of the San Diego Way, and The San Diego Foundation has several opportunities for donors to facilitate charitable giving to those in need after a disaster.
San Diego Regional Disaster Fund
Domestic Disaster Response
International Disasters
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San Diego Regional Disaster Fund
The San Diego Regional Disaster Fund, a supporting organization of The San Diego Foundation, accepts charitable donations following a natural or manmade disaster in the San Diego region and makes grants to support disaster response, recovery, rebuilding, and preparedness activities. Following a disaster, the San Diego Regional Disaster Fund is a resource for survivors, community members, nonprofit organizations, government entities, and donors for information on disaster impact and recovery. It is also a source of grant funding for nonprofit organizations working in recovery and rebuilding.
The San Diego Foundation has responded to the 2003 and 2007 wildfires. In each instance, the San Diego Regional Disaster Fund stewarded millions of dollars towards long-term community recovery and rebuilding and touched thousands of lives.
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Domestic Disasters
Across the country, community foundations are playing an increasingly larger role in disaster response, recovery and rebuilding. As the leading charitable institutions responsible for safeguarding the quality of life in the communities which they serve, community foundations are uniquely positioned to both steward gifts from generous donors and facilitate strategic grants with trusted community partners to ensure that funds are directed where they will do the most good. Furthermore, community foundations are often the only nonprofits in a community that focus on long-term disaster recovery – meaning, they work far beyond the initial emergency response phase and, instead, often work for years after the disaster to ensure complete recovery and rebuilding of survivors and communities. They are typically the only institution in a community to have such breadth and longevity in disaster response.
When disasters strike communities here in the United States, The San Diego Foundation recommends that donors give to recovery funds at community foundations serving the areas affected by the disaster. This is the best way to ensure that decisions about recovery are being made by local experts, and for your recovery dollars to have the most long-term focus on rebuilding.
For information on how to give to community foundations serving areas in the Midwest, Southeast and South affected by recent tornadoes and floods, please visit the Council on Foundation’s giving resource page.
International Disasters
Natural and manmade disasters seem to be happening with more and more frequency and severity around the globe. Many of our donors and community members want to reach out to support these communities around the world. Thus, The San Diego Foundation created the Global Disaster Relief Fund to facilitate charitable giving to foreign countries after a disaster. International grantmaking is often more difficult because appropriate charities can be hard to find given language barriers and lack of information. Furthermore, the IRS requires cumbersome paperwork to ensure that foreign charities are equivalent to US-based charities, for tax-deduction purposes; and donations to foreign charities require additional due diligence to ensure the organization does not support terrorism. The burden of proof lies with the donor, which can be a significant deterrent to international grantmaking. The Global Disaster Relief Fund takes on this responsibility on behalf of our donors to ensure that all IRS regulations are met and that the fund supports worthy, vetted organizations in the communities affected by the disaster.
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Please note that the Global Disaster Relief Fund and giving to community foundations are just a few of the options for our donors. The San Diego Foundation also provides objective suggestions on other worthy organizations during disasters. For more options, contact our Donor Experience & Engagement team at 619-235-2300.