Hurricane Helene made landfall in the U.S. roughly one year ago, leaving devastation in its wake. With wind gusts reaching almost 140 mph and inches of rainfall reaching double digits, the Category 4 hurricane led to the deaths of at least 250 people and caused an estimated $78.7 billion in damage. It is the third-deadliest hurricane of the modern era, after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria.
Helene impacted several states, but the worst-hit areas were the southern Appalachian Mountains, which saw “catastrophic flooding” and landslides. More than half of the deaths from Hurricane Helene were in Central Appalachia. The Appalachian region has been disproportionately impacted by climate disasters — in recent years, Appalachia has experienced three 1,000-year floods, meaning there should be a 1 in 1,000 chance of floods of this magnitude happening in any given year. But philanthropy faces the new reality where frequent, more powerful storms have become the norm.
Appalachia, however, receives significantly less philanthropic support than many other parts of the nation. This, alongside economic disparities, longstanding disinvestment and a history of extraction, has made it all the more difficult for the region to recover from climate disasters.
One challenge Appalachian funders have faced post-Helene is having a place to visualize and collect data related to the hurricane. Funders wanted answers to questions like which areas were hit hardest, and where the government stepped in versus where it did not. That’s why the Appalachia Funders Network (AFN) is launching the Appalachian Helene Impact Explorer tool, which compiles datasets and maps to highlight where philanthropic dollars can make the biggest difference in the region.
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to actually put things onto a platform that can visualize both the need in the community, the response and where gaps may exist in between. And that can help … funders make wise decisions about where and how to invest dollars on the ground for the most impact,” said Ryan M. Eller, AFN’s executive director.
The explorer’s data is drawn from publicly available resources, including OpenFEMA, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), as well as AFN’s own research into the region’s foundations and organizations.
AFN is a network of more than 75 funders in Central Appalachia working to improve the region. In the days that followed Helene, Eller and other colleagues traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with leaders at FEMA and other agencies. According to Eller, the agencies promised funders they would collaborate with them and periodically send data. The goal was to create a unified response that would ensure the needs of all affected communities were met.
The collaboration never materialized, however, and funders didn’t receive the data they needed. AFN decided to take matters into its own hands and began developing the explorer.
“And so we finally got to a point… where we’re able to launch this tool and provide the data that so many of our funders have been yearning for in order to make sure that they’re not overlapping, that they’re coordinating more effectively, and, frankly, that we’re not missing entire communities that still need support but may not have the relationships that other communities have,” Eller said.
How the Appalachian Helene Impact Explorer tool works
The tool begins by showing a map of the areas impacted by the storm. There are two main sides to the explorer: a data tab and a stories tab. The data tab compiles information on the assistance FEMA has provided, including assistance awarded to individuals, flood payments and public assistance. Viewers can home in on specific counties to see how much funding each county in the region has received.
The explorer also includes information on philanthropic activity, albeit drawn from 2021 tax data. This includes how many foundations are located in the region, the number of nonprofits serving each county, and an approximation of the grants counties are receiving.
“That’s really helpful for viewing what we’re calling philanthropy deserts — places where there are no foundations or there’s less than $1 per capita flowing into a county. [It’s] really helpful for funders figuring out where money is under-allocated [and] where they could more strategically allocate in the future,” said AFN’s researcher and data coordinator, Melody Lutz, who developed the explorer.
According to Lutz, there are around 30 philanthropy deserts in Central Appalachia where there are no foundations whatsoever, along with 66 counties where philanthropic spending amounts to less than $1 per capita.
Central Appalachia isn’t a monolith, and some parts of the region are both more vulnerable to climate disasters and face greater challenges to fully recover. AFN’s explorer includes critical data on food insecurity, census data and the SVI Index, which takes into consideration 16 U.S. Census variables grouped around four themes — socioeconomic status, household characteristics, racial and ethnic minority status, and housing type and transportation — to identify which communities may need greater support.
Meanwhile, the explorer’s story tab illustrates how the storm progressed, where the fatalities were located, where the storm’s damage was concentrated, and weather trends in the region dating back to 1950. The explorer doesn’t just provide data on Appalachia’s vulnerabilities; it also includes information on the region’s strengths, particularly its mutual aid networks, long-term recovery groups and other initiatives funders are supporting.
AFN’s Appalachia Recovery Response Fund backed the hardest-hit, seeks to fill gaps
Less than 12 hours after Helene reached Central Appalachia, AFN launched the Appalachia Recovery Response Fund at the request of impacted members. The pooled fund is dedicated to providing sustained support to communities that were hardest hit by the storm and offered a convenient, trustworthy place where funders outside Appalachia could direct their donations. The fund received a total of 7,890 contributions totaling $1.68 million, which came from all 50 states.
According to Eller, the fund initially drove donations to mutual aid organizations, then shifted to supporting local, place-based funders, such as the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and the East Tennessee Foundation. AFN and its partners also successfully led a campaign to secure $110 billion in federal commitments for disaster recovery. In time, AFN sought to shift toward long-term recovery efforts and fill gaps in government support. This is of particular importance given massive and ongoing uncertainties around what the federal government will and will not fund going forward.
“We’ve never experienced, at least in our lifetime, a storm of this magnitude among conditions that are so highly volatile and rapidly changing as it relates to the federal government,” Eller said.
One example of what the fund has supported is the Footprint Project, which, alongside Invest Appalachia and Appalachian Voices, is installing hurricane-proof solar panels on houses, schools, community centers and other facilities to prevent outages due to weather. Known as Resilience Hubs, these locations will serve as community anchors to help people stay safe and connected during future storms.
During a recent monthly AFN call, funders announced new and ongoing commitments to support the region. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Truist Foundation’s Western North Carolina Recovery and Resilience Fund made its second round of grants, totaling $6.8 million, to support community-led recovery efforts. Its first round of grants were awarded in June and totaled $3.3 million.
Another AFN member, Mountain Bizworks, announced the Recovery Forward Fund to provide grants and technical assistance for small businesses in communities that were hardest hit. This was made possible thanks to support from Appalachian Community Capital, the WNC Long Haul Fund and the North Carolina Community Foundation.
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AFN aims to drive deeper investment in Central Appalachia
A year after Helene, national attention has faded. Given that philanthropy is often driven by quantitative data, however, the explorer tool has the potential not only to help coordinate local funding, but also assist funders outside the region who may be confused about where and how to give.
“The hope really is that this will serve as an aid to drive investments that our local communities can control, and our local communities get to have more of a voice — the central voice — in defining their future,” Eller said.
He added that although dollars are limited, the people of Appalachia are not limited by their imagination or their will and grit not only to survive after storms like Helene, but to thrive.
“Even where there has been a scarcity of financial resources, we’ve got the strongest mutual aid networks anywhere in the country. We’ve got, I think, some of the most innovative, forward-thinking leaders leading some of our long-term recovery groups in our counties. I would put them against anybody in the country,” Eller said. “We have incredible assets locally, which I think over time is going to serve as an inspiration for national funders.”
He added that if there was ever a time for private philanthropy to coordinate with local funders, corporate partners and individuals from across communities that want to lend their support, that time is now.
