b'LESSONS FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPYFunding for Resilience (NEW)When asked about the main lesson learned from their experiences during the pandemic, a recurrent theme in the responses of charities is that they see a pressing need for funding and planning to weather unexpected crisis events. This need for resilience is a topic already approached by a report from our partner office in the United Kingdom. This study examines the effectiveness of resilience building strategies and support, and shows the effects of these actions on charity operations.One key element uncovered in this publication is the idea of resilience funding. In the words of the report: Resilience funding is all inclusive. It is used to free up a charitystime, energy and attention so that the charity can give appropriatefocus to building its strength and flexibility. It is about enablingthe creation of space and time for the charity to reflect and achieve change, alongside facilitating support through the skills and networks required to develop resilience.Unrestricted grants for the purpose of building infrastructure and capacity play a crucial role in enabling charities to both survive and provide meaningful community support during disaster events. Creating this in advance often allows for much greater immediate response to crisis than a last moment grant once a calamity has already taken place.Unfortunately, this is not available to a large proportion of charities. Only 54.6% of charities surveyed in Volume 6 said they had any reserves at all.So what does this mean for donors? Knowing that more resilient grantees are better prepared to help their communities weather the storm, both literally and metaphorically, funders will need to consider factoring this into their strategy for disaster philanthropy. There are two dynamics of this strategy that may be challenging.First, that many grantees will need support for programs beyond just disaster response. Resilience takes on many forms, and though funding may be part of a broader disaster and crisis response strategy, these organizations will likely need more support than just the funds needed to maintain crisis deliverables in the short term.Second, that funding wont necessarily have an immediate, visible impact. Traditionally, impact measurement for disaster response work is based on the number of people served, age groups, and similar metrics. Resilience funding has no direct measurable impact, instead building capacity for more effective use of disaster funding in the long term. Your impact measurement and reporting approach may need to adjust to reflect the changes to your strategy.PAGE16CAF AmericaSurvey, Volume 8 | Lessons in Disaster Philanthropy| cafamerica.org'