Harvey makes history
Nearly $1 billion was raised for recovery efforts, exceeded by only hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.
By Todd Ackerman STAFF WRITER
Hurricane Harvey went down not only as one of the costliest storms ever, but it ranks as one of the top disaster-related fundraising causes.
In just a few months, corporations, foundations and individuals donated nearly $1 billion to help the Texas Gulf Coast recover after the 2017 storm, more than university campaigns raise in five or more years. Among natural disasters, only Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012 elicited more philanthropic dollars.
“It certainly felt like an overwhelming generosity that came forward,” said Ann Stern, executive director of the Houston Endowment, which contributed $5.6 million toward the cause. “It caught everyone by surprise — such a large amount of money. It behooved managers of the money to use it well.”
To that end, the endowment convened meetings of major groups collecting Harvey relief money to help coordinate priorities and strategies. The Greater Houston Community Foundation, which operates the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund set up by Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, enlisted Rice University’s Kinder Institute to identify areas of greatest need, vulnerable populations.
Together, the Harvey relief groups took in roughly $967 million. That includes $522.7 million by the Red Cross; $114 million by the Greater Houston Community Foundation; $100 million by the Rebuild Texas Fund, which was seeded and created by the foundation of computer magnate Michael Dell; $87.5 million by the evangelical group Samaritan’s Purse; $61.4 million by United Way; $37 million by J.J. Watt’s campaign; $30 million by the Salvation Army; and $14 million by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
The One America Appeal, a relief effort spearheaded by former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, raised more than $41 million following Harvey in Texas and Hurricanes Irma in Florida and Maria in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Texas, money from the presidents’ effort went to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and the Rebuild Texas Fund.
The overall total was three times more than that collected for Hurricane Irma and six times more than for Hurricane Maria, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Center officials note that Harvey was more dramatic, inflicted more damage and occurred amid more people and corporations. It also was unaffected by the “disaster fatigue” that probably set in with the two subsequent hurricanes and the Mexico earthquake and California fires.
The Harvey philanthropy was marked by a broad donor base, experts said — more grass roots, less double-digit million-dollar gifts. The Greater Houston Community Fund, for instance, received gifts from 127,000 donors, and the average amount was $100.
The fund was the quickest to distribute its funds, given to a variety of local nonprofit organizations in four rounds between October and March. The funding’s emphasis evolved from temporary housing and food, clothing and other basic necessities initially to legal assistance and behavioral health later. Throughout the distribution rounds, home repair was the most funded area.
Despite the infusions of donor dollars, Harvey is still impacting lives: People still live in temporary housing because of damage to their homes; people remain emotionally wrecked by the losses they incurred.
Fortunately, there is still ample funding remaining. Roughly $293 million of the nearly $1 billion was held back intentionally for long-term recovery needs.
Bob Ottenhoff, executive director of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, has a reply for people who ask if that’s a bad thing. “No,” he says, “it’s the smart thing, the strategic thing, the effective way to allocate disaster donations.”
Ottenhoff adds that $1 billion may seem like an enormous amount of money, but it pales in comparison to the tens of billions of dollars provided by FEMA.
“That’s why it’s so necessary to be smart with philanthropic dollars,” Ottenhoff said. “They’re important to fill in the gaps government funding leaves.” todd.ackerman@chron.com twitter.com/chronmed