Since January 2025, we have seen a plethora of disasters occur in the United States. From storms and tornados taking lives in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana and Mississippi to California wildfires that added up to over $1 billion dollars in damage, it is important for arts organizations to think about disaster preparedness as well as disaster recovery and where fundraising fits into this already stressful process. Amid disaster, how do arts organizations continue to fundraise with donors?

InsideCharity recommends six key ways to engage donors after a disaster:

1)    Check on your donors

One of the key elements of development is developing and maintaining relationships with your donors. It is important to remember in a disaster that your arts organization and community is not the only one impacted, but those who are donating to your mission are also likely local and affected. Before making the ask, check up on your donors and make sure they are okay. At the end of the day, people connect with people. Times of crisis and reaching out to donors shows how your organization and you are not all talk, but action. This is a time to live your mission of helping others, and this starts with the “family” you have built in your donor base.

2)    Tell the stories

How is your organization helping amid disaster? We know that the arts and culture sector make a large impact in disaster recovery. The arts can provide hope in the aftermath of disaster while also helping communities grieve and handle loss. There is even an argument that artists could be seen as secondary responders: “culture workers who bring arts engagement practices to disaster-impacted communities after first responders are called to emergency sites.” Creating art with and for those impacted, both young and older, helps people work through their anger, sadness, and frustration. When helping your community, document your progress and use it as a means of storytelling. While meeting with your donors, show them how your organization is working with your community to help in the wake of disaster. Think about the ways that organizations use the arts to bring people together. For example, the use of benefit concerts (Concert for Carolina, Los Angeles FireAid) as a way to increase donations. Not only do these tell the stories of those impacted by disaster, but they use music as a way to bring people together. How can nonprofit arts communities do this for their community and include their donors in the process?

Chances are your donors are feeling a variety of the emotions discussed above as well. That is why rage donations, or “a donation driven by an emotional response to a recent event,” occur. Utilizing these rage donations and the emotions that are driving donors can help create trust between the donor and the organization through a symbiotic relationship. While the donation benefits the organization in a variety of ways, the organization is now given a chance to create a meaningful relationship with the donor through this emotional outlet. While storytelling is one way to elicit an emotional response, so is bringing donors in to see first-hand what organizations are doing to help the community.

3)    Invite your donors to volunteer or see your efforts

Donors want to be a part of your organization, that’s why they donated in the first place. Create a taskforce made up of your most committed volunteers and have them meet with your arts community and talk with the people your organization is directly impacting. This can be hands-on work, such as making phone calls to artists or patrons, or giving them a tour to show the recovery efforts your organization is currently involved in. Having them see your local contributions with their own eyes shows them not only the importance of their donation, but what their contribution will be going to.

 

One way to see how to include your donors is to look at past disasters. How have organizations who have previously experienced disasters, whether similar to yours or not, included their donors? Talking to other organizations or other funders can shed insight on best practices of including donors on the ground during times of crisis. History shows that communities come together to help after a disaster. After Hurricane Helene hit multiple states, these states saw an influx of volunteers.

4)    Be specific about where money is going

Using data, give donors a quantified report of where exactly the money is going. Was there physical damage to your space? Were props or costumes destroyed? Using tools such as Performing Arts Readiness’ Loss Calculator, there is no reason to provide donors with a broad, general pitch. Asking donors for a specific gift, for example, a $10,000 donation to help fix the rehearsal room to provide space for arts classes for youth impacted by the local wildfires, gives your donor a direct call-to-action and provides an opportunity to invite your donor into your Youth Education program (give them a tour, as suggested above!)

Disasters can be a time of confusion, for everyone involved. Donors often do not know what the best way to help is and this can lead to providing donations that may not be helpful. Being specific in your ask alleviates this confusion and allows donors to know that what they are providing will actually be beneficial in the recovery of the organization. It is also important to think about organizational needs that may not be “immediate.” While you can ask some of your donors for help with immediate needs, for example, building damage, save some of your asks for needs that are not immediate. This could be a program to help those impacted in your community to help bring the community together.

For example, The Community Foundation of Sarasota County, based in Sarasota, Florida, experienced an increase in donations after three back-to-back hurricanes that occurred in 2024. Kirsten Russell, vice president of community impact, noted that “We also know from experience that needs will emerge over time that must be addressed in an ongoing manner… Recovery is a long journey.” They mention having set aside a disaster fund each year, but the extreme weather required more funding than was initially set aside.

5)    Increase Communication

Do not let the disaster be a time for you to go silent. More than ever, donors will want to be met with transparency from your organization. What is actually happening? This is a time to meet with donors and remind them of your mission because disaster recovery is not a futile time for an ask (unless your donors are going through their own recovery, which makes checking in on your donors so important). Post-disaster is also a time when your donors will be receiving lots of calls for action, especially from some of the larger disaster relief organizations such as the Red Cross. Don’t let your communications be buried under other asks. Your donors believe in your mission as evident in their prior donations so keep them in the loop!

It is also important to continue to communicate with your donors in the midst of disaster because all funders are disaster philanthropists. As the Center for Disaster Philanthropy notes, “If you focus on education, health, children or vulnerable populations, disasters present prime opportunities.” There is always a way to tie disaster recovery into your mission. Plus, donors want to help. There are a plethora of resources, including the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisor’s Giving Strategically guide, to lead donors on how to donate when disasters occur. If you reach out to donors before they begin looking into how to help, you are not only saving them time but also can be saving them from the decision of where to donate.

6)    Stay Positive

During disaster recovery, chances are people are going to be looking to you for how to respond. In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Liv Moe, the executive director of Verge Center for the Arts in California, stated that “No [funder] wants to sign on to a rain cloud.”  Your donors, volunteers, patrons, and staff will remember how you handle yourself after a disaster. While it is okay, and very normal, to feel angry, sad, hurt, or frustrated, your key players are going to remember the positive outlook you bring during this time. Neuroscience shows that a smile is not only helpful for your own stress-level but contagious.

With this knowledge, the conversation around disasters and arts organizations should change from “if a disaster occurs,” to “when a disaster occurs.” Along with this shift in thinking needs to be disaster preparedness, including development and fundraising plans amid disaster. Thinking proactively on how we as arts organizations are going to handle development during crisis allows us to be strategic when the time comes.

Written by Justice Greene, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech.