— Government Accountability Office. September 11: More Effective Collaboration Could Enhance Charitable Organizations' Contributions to Disasters. GAO 03-259. Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2002. (PDF file) Surveys suggest that as many as two-thirds of American households donated money to charitable organizations to aid in the response to the September 11 disasters. To provide the public with information on the role of charitable aid in assisting those affected by the attacks, GAO was asked to report on the amount of donations charities raised and distributed, the accountability measures in place to prevent fraud by organizations and individuals, and lessons learned about how to best distribute charitable aid in similar situations. — Morley, Elaine, Carol J. De Vita, and Nancy M. Pindus. An Assessment of Services Provided Under the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Grants Program. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, June 2006. This report examines the implementation of grants issued in 2004 under the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Grants Program. The report discusses six critical lessons that can inform planning for future long-term recovery programs: (1) the stigma attached to receiving mental health services, (2) the need for culturally appropriate services, (3) the importance of outreach efforts, (4) the special challenges of providing services to children, (5) mechanisms for minimizing staff burnout, and (6) establishing simple and effective reporting systems. |
<< Disaster Planning and Preparedness for Nonprofits |
— The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington. A Blueprint for Emergency Preparedness by Nonprofits. Washington, DC: The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, September 2003. (PDF file) The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region formed a Task Force, composed of people from greater Washington nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, an intergovernmental coordinating body, the business community, media outlets, and a communications firm, to develop a "blueprint" for improved emergency preparedness. Task Force members also articulated five specific criteria for the blueprint's design. Against the overall goal of victim relief and recovery, they agreed that the blueprint's proposals should — build on and reinforce collaboration among nonprofits,
— ensure coordination with other sectors and geographies,
— create transparency and ensure accountability throughout the nonprofit sector,
— be flexible enough to respond to changing needs and to innovations in service delivery and resource intermediation, and
— be generic enough to apply to a variety of communities. — Tucker, Phebe, Betty Pfefferbaum, Robert Vincent, Sharron D. Boehler, and Sara Jo Nixon. "Oklahoma City: Disaster Challenges Mental Health and Medical Administrators." Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 25, no. 1 (February 1998): 93. This article focuses on the response of mental health and medical administrators to the Oklahoma City bombing to meet community needs through cooperative and overlapping efforts. These include immediate rescue response, establishment of crisis hotlines, offer of counseling services for bereaved families and victims, debriefing of rescuers; and planning of longer term treatment. |
