What a Year...Unfortunately

The Patterson Foundation’s (TPF) partner, Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP), recently completed a very active year. I say, unfortunately in the title because CDP’s activity is a function of the number and power of natural disasters in our country. 2018 certainly had its fair share, and CDP describes its year in this blog by CEO, Bob Ottenhoff: “Reflections on 2018: Gratitude, Hope, and Optimism.”

As a partner and supporter of CDP for the past six years, TPF has watched with pride as CDP has eloquently managed an increased workload and the challenges that come with organizational growth:

Highlights of the TPF|CDP relationship in 2018:

Earned Income
Throughout 2018, CDP continued to leverage the earned-income coaching and consulting provided by TPF through its partner, No Margin No Mission. Beginning in late 2016 and still continuing today, CDP has aggressively leveraged its disaster expertise to build a consulting practice which is benefitting its clients and earning revenue for itself.

Connective Impact
As CDP grows through its consulting and other work in the disaster space, it has developed a marketing communications strategy with the help of TPF partner, MagnifyGood. TPF engaged MagnifyGood to help CDP build its capacity for marketing communications. The result has been an ability to use rich, meaningful email content to recruit new donors and supporters.

Disaster Support
When hurricanes Florence and Michael hit landfall this year, CDP immediately began the process of engaging in the mid-to-long term recovery process — usually 3 – 18 months after the event. The irony is, to have the resources (money) to assist victims over a long period of time, and to help the victims rebuild, CDP must raise the money in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Disaster funding is emotionally driven, and the majority of dollars are raised within two weeks of the disaster. To this end, TPF has affirmed its role as a catalytic funder providing immediate funding with the caveat it be used for longer-term recovery. For both hurricanes, TPF immediately donated $250,000 (total of $500,000) through CDP. With this commitment from TPF, CDP was able to approach other funders using the TPF donation to gain momentum.

Enterprise Support
Finally, TPF understands that operating a nonprofit organization costs money. CDP needs unrestricted operating dollars just to stay in business. To this end, TPF provided $50,000 in unrestricted financial support to CDP. This amount does not cover the entire cost of the human and operational capital necessary for supporting a rapidly growing organization, but it is meaningful and helpful.

Many partnerships exist on paper only. These are transactions. TPF, on the other hand, views partnerships as a deep connection and commitment where both (or all) organizations involved in the work help to fill each other’s gaps so that a common objective can be achieved.