About the Network

WHO WE ARE

The Oregon Disaster Funders Network leverages philanthropy’s ability to reduce the negative impact of disasters on communities—particularly historically underserved and disinvested communities and places—by supporting, communicating, and coordinating within, across, and beyond the philanthropic sector, with public entities, and with local initiatives to support all phases of the disaster lifecycle: preparation, response, and recovery.

The Network also creates shared resources and strengthens relationships to improve systems within the sector and beyond. This relationship-building is critical to establishing the long-term preparedness and resiliency necessary for successful post-disaster community recovery.

By empowering communities through increased and better coordinated funding, they, in turn, are more equipped to keep focus where it belongs––mobilizing resources, resolving disaster trauma, removing barriers to recovery access, and building resiliency to reduce a disaster's impact.

NETWORK STRUCTURE

Oregon Disaster Funders Network is managed by The Ford Family Foundation and Roundhouse Foundation with contracted facilitation and management support provided by Kelley & Co. (previously Kelley Nonprofit Consulting LLC) via an annual Scope of Work. The Network has a Steering Committee with representatives from Roundhouse Foundation; Oregon Community Foundation; The Ford Family Foundation; Meyer Memorial Trust; Benton Community Foundation; and United Ways of the Pacific Northwest. Anyone interested in deepening their engagement, please contact Kristin at kristin@kelleynonprofitconsulting.com.

Network membership is open to all philanthropic organizations and those providing community support via formalized corporate giving or community giving channels. Members are encouraged to participate at whatever level suits their capacity and interest, from attending monthly meetings to simply receiving the Network’s email updates and accessing the cloud-based assets it maintains. Meetings emphasize relationship-building, resource sharing, and are generally topic based, with a new topic visited monthly in addition to the standard rhythm of small-group breakouts, funding need updates, reporting out on legislative and other public agency updates, and “activating” in times of disaster. Activation includes a period of more frequent communication as community needs are collated, shared, and then resources distributed generally peer-to-peer or through other avenues facilitating swift, trust-based distribution. During “blue-skies” times, the Network also works on building the resources and relationships necessary for successful activation.

CRITICAL NEEDS

Oregon Disaster Funders Network listens to our communities to fully understand their needs—in the short- and long-term—and prepare for future disasters using a resilience, relationship-centered lens.

Food, water, shelter: Our established relationships with the nonprofits and CBOs on the ground in communities across Oregon ensures that we know exactly who to contact when disaster strikes.
Case management, resource allocation, mental health resources are all part of the process.
We understand that when the initial media attention quiets down, there is still so much to be done. The ODFNetwork has long standing relationships with Long-Term Recovery Groups and other key providers of case management and individual survivor and community needs throughout the state.
We work with disaster resilience educators, community organizers, survivors, and professionals from the public and private sectors who share the same goal - making a more resilient Oregon.

How We Work

The Oregon Disaster Funders Network (ODFN) gathers critical information from communities and our member organizations during, after, and in anticipation of disasters in Oregon. ODFN then shares related funding needs, resources, and community connections with its members to encourage collaboration across the sector, and increase disaster philanthropy.

All of this is undertaken with a goal of reducing the impact of disasters on historically marginalized communities.

NETWORK ACTIVATION

Network Activation is an intense period of communication that, if the Network is officially activated, includes coordinated funding and other resource sharing. Network Activation has three parts:

During this time, the Network’s management team connects with known and unknown organizations in the area, incident command centers and/or the County Emergency Manager, stays apprised of local social media channels and pages, and attends community meetings as available.
The Network is “activated” when all three are true: (1) a disaster is a threat to lives, health, homes, structures, infrastructure; (2) a disaster is clearly exceeding a community’s ability to respond or provide resources to community members; (3) the Network’s management team is able to connect directly with impacted community members and organizations to verify information and needs (all measures are taken to reduce burdens on community members during this time - i.e., conversations are kept brief, any independent due diligence is conducted prior to community contact, etc.).
The Network’s management team then provides frequent and collated updates on the above situations, which organizations are providing responsive and culturally relevant services (especially locally-led efforts), what funding needs are urgent, and preferences of recipient organizations. Funding is not pooled, rather funders maintain full autonomy over their resources and determine if, when and how much to contribute to any disaster-related needs - activated or not. To support this, however, the Network’s manager helps coordinate, matchmake, conduct due diligence and other efforts as called upon by Network members and in alignment with members’ focus areas, geographic preferences, values and more.

Although not required, Network members usually share details of their contributions with the Network’s management team so the team can report out on impact and also alert members when a disaster-specific goal has been achieved. In the past two years, over $2M has been leveraged by Network members during periods of Activation and coordinated initiatives.

ACTIVATION PROCESSES AND PROTOCOLS

The Network has processes and protocols that dictate and support "activation" defined as intense periods of in-community coordination of information, resources and funding, and while working with community-based organizations, public sector, and philanthropy. These protocols help ensure:

Information is gathered efficiently
Detailed shared with members are accurate
Funding recommendations are vetted and sound
All aspects of the process are undertaken equitably
Needs shared center community voice and experience

COORDINATING WITH PUBLIC SECTOR & JURISDICTIONS

To reduce redundancies, and fill gaps as needed, the Network connects with a variety of public sector partners and jurisdictions both during periods of activation and throughout the year.

Just a few of the Network’s Public Sector and Jurisdiction partners include:

Tribal Emergency Managers and Public Safety Personnel
Oregon Department of Emergency Management
Oregon Department of Health Services

ELEVATING COMMUNITY NEEDS

In addition to sharing a variety of local needs through many Network channels, the Network also occasionally welcomes special guests during Network meetings to share more about a specific topic or organization, specifically highlighting the needs of underresourced populations and disinvested areas.

Just a few of the recent special guests or featured organizations include: