Hurricane Sandy Recovery Funds

Philanthropy New York compiled information about organizations that established designated funds for Hurricane Sandy recovery and rebuilding.


American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) is collecting donations and supplies for Hurricane Sandy relief.

The Asian American Federation has created a Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund to assist individuals and families in need in the New York City metro region's Asian-American communities:

The Breezy Point Disaster Relief Fund, Inc. will assist the residents of Breezy Point, NY through financial means, based on need, in the following important areas: assistance for residents to maintain their financial obligations during the rebuilding of their community; assistance for residents toward new financial obligations for temporary housing costs during the rebuilding of their community; assistance for residents towards the new costs incurred during the repair or rebuilding of their homes in Breezy Point; and assistance for other new and miscellaneous costs incurred as a result of the hurricane.

Brooklyn Community Foundation Recovery Fund: The Brooklyn Recovery Fund is a joint effort between the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to create a pooled fund to provide support to Brooklyn’s nonprofit organizations working with the communities and individuals most affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Catholic Charities is providing emergency food, shelter, direct financial assistance, counseling and support “regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds” to Sandy’s victims. You can make a contribution here.

Center for Disaster Philanthropy Hurricane Sandy Fund: The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has established the CDP Hurricane Sandy Disaster Fund to help maximize the impact of philanthropic support. Its program board and, , staff will recommend the allocation of funds for both immediate and longer-term recovery efforts that may arise from Hurricane Sandy. These resources will be directed strategically and efficiently to help communities recover more quickly and become more resilient. ,>

Community Foundation of New Jersey: The Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Rebuild Fund is a joint effort between local and national foundations, New Jersey corporations and individuals to provide support to New Jersey’s communities and nonprofit organizations that are affected by or responding to Hurricane Sandy. The Fund seeks to address the intermediate and long-term impacts of this natural disaster, serving as a flexible source of financial support to local organizations and communities as they lead and participate in rebuilding efforts throughout the state over the coming months and years. The Community Foundation of New Jersey has announced the guidelines for the New Jersey Recovery Fund, established in the days following Hurricane Sandy to support the nonprofit sector and its long-term recovery work. The focus is on five overarching areas:

  • Public information and community engagement
  • Reframing the conversation: policy reform to support resiliency and sustainability
  • Innovative community/regional planning demonstration projects
  • Environmental protection and restoration
  • Community-driven/participatory arts projects

The deadline for application is February 25, 2013.

The Disability Funders Network Rapid Response Fund is being activated to help nonprofit organizations meet the immediate and long-term needs of people with disabilities in Northeastern regions impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The DFN Rapid Response Fund will offer mini-grants to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations to meet specific needs such as transportation, shelter, medication, medical equipment and assistive technology for people with disabilities. Grants from the DFN Rapid Response Fund will be disbursed directly to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations with the capacity to affect the greatest need among hurricane victims and/or evacuees with disabilities. Initially, grants from the fund will focus on immediate needs of people with disabilities. Eventually, awards will be made to address long-term needs as well. For more information on this fund and/or to make a contribution, please contact khutchinson@disabilityfunders.org. The Disability Funders Network Rapid Response Fund for People with Disabilities is now accepting applications. For more information, go to: http://www.disabilityfunders.org/news_events. Grants will continue to be awarded until funds are depleted. The average amount of any one grant is $5,000. Multiple requests from a single organization are not encouraged.

Donors Choose Fund to Help Schools Impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Many classrooms in New York, New Jersey and beyond, were devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Donate to support these classrooms directly at www.donorschoose.org/hurricane-sandy.

The Empire State Relief Fund was announced by Governor Cuomo on November 9. The ESRF is focused on the restoration of long-term residential housing and "bridging the gap between the amount covered by FEMA and insurance companies and the amount that our fellow New Yorkers truly need to restore their civility and their livelihood." The fund's site—with suggested donations of $10 to $2,500 or more—also has a Flickr stream. The Empire State Relief Fund will focus on long-term residential housing assistance to help fill the funding gap and ensure that New Yorkers can continue to call New York home.

GlobalGiving has set up a Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund that also includes victims in the Caribbean: “This project will disburse funds to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims, including International Medical Corps and Save the Children.” The money will go to local organizations and GlobalGiving will report back to donors on how it’s used. You can give here or text SANDY to 80088 to donate $10.

Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. Governor Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie have organized the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund to aide, comfort and rebuild New Jersey. The relief fund is raising funds and resources to help New Jersey families impacted by the devastation of the storm.

Jewish Federations of North America Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. The Jewish Federations of North America has opened the JFNA Hurricane Relief Fund to contribute to recovery and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Donors are urged to contribute to their local Federation or through the online donation form at http://JFeds.org/SandyRelief or text RELIEF to 51818 on a mobile device to pledge a donation. UJA-Federation in New York announced in January that it received a $1 million grant for Sandy victims from the San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has launched the LISC Emergency Relief Fund to help people in low-income neighborhoods that were affected by Hurricane Sandy get the assistance they need to recover from this disaster: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/08/4971731/lisc-establishes-emergency-relief.html

The Long Island Community Foundation (LICF) has established a fund to help address the immediate and long-term needs of individuals, families and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. The Hurricane Sandy Long Island Relief and Restoration Fund will give support to Long Island nonprofits that have been providing emergency help to families in need and to ongoing efforts to help rebuild Long Island. In addition to other donations that have come in, the Foundation just received a $50,000 matching grant for any contributions made to the fund. All of the funds raised will be granted to Long Island nonprofits that are focused on providing immediate needs as well as the organizations committed to long-term efforts.

The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City is accepting donations to help with Sandy relief efforts. You can give here.

Modest Needs Foundation created a Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund, which will be used to assist low-income households in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut; thus far, they have raised $165,000.

The Network for Good Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund will be distributed across the American Red Cross, AmeriCares and the Salvation Army.

The New York Community Trust has established the New York Critical Needs – Hurricane Sandy Fund to provide support for the immediate and long-term needs of individuals, families and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. The Trust has made $500,000 in emergency grants to 20 New York City groups providing disaster relief.

The New York Council for the Humanities is offering grants of up to $1,500 to defray costs for staff, paid workers and volunteers working on storm-related clean up. When downstate New York was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, many of the state’s cultural organizations sustained major damage: libraries lost collections, historic sites were compromised and museums were forced to close their doors for extensive clean-up.

New York Disaster Interfaith Services: NYC Sandy Unmet Needs Roundtable & NYC Unmet Needs Fund. Since 2002, NYDIS has administered the Unmet Needs Roundtable in NYC. The mission of Unmet Needs Roundtables is to bring together donors, long-term recovery groups and case management agencies to financially assist impacted families with unmet needs beyond those met by all other current programs. Through the advocacy of a case manager, the Roundtables (which are centrally managed and will meet in each borough) will provide emergency cash assistance, recovery grants, loans and discounted/tax-free building supplies to eligible survivor households. Assistance is targeted to ensure and sustain survivors' long-term recovery. This is a fund of last resort, when all other government programs and private sources of recovery assistance have been exhausted.

NYDIS facilitates the NYC Sandy Unmet Needs Roundtable; the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island facilitates the Long Island Sandy Unmet Needs Roundtable; and both agencies administer the New York Unmet Needs Fund. They are seeking donors to the Roundtable funds, as well as donors who wish to sit on the donor panel and distribute their own funds. For more information, download the Roundtable Flyer or contact info@nydis.org.

NYDIS has set a recovery fund goal of $20,000,000 to provide essential unmet-needs cash assistance and appliances, furniture and building supplies for under-resourced Sandy survivors, along with modest coordination staff support. To date, NYDIS has received over $7,000,000 in Sandy recovery donations, grants and pledges. They are grateful for the generosity of their donors as well as grant support from foundations and their National VOAD partners. The majority of these funds are restricted to the administration of or cash assistance for the NYC Sandy Unmet Needs Roundtable. Donate to NYDIS Sandy Recovery.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is administering the NYFA Emergency Relief Fund. NYFA will work closely with its community network, local arts contacts and other organizations in the affected tri-state region. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts allocated $2 million for the fund, half to go to affected visual arts organizations and half to individual artists. The Rauschenberg Foundation and Lambent Foundation will augment the fund. The Warhol Foundation and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation will both address nonprofit organizations in need through info@emergencygrants.org with The Andy Warhol Foundation making grants to visual arts organizations and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation making grants to other cultural organizations. All three foundations will pool their assets to assist individual artists through the New York Foundation for the Arts.

NYC Housing & Neighborhood Recovery Donors Collaborative. Deutsche Bank's Gary Hattem is working with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development in the development of a funding collaborative to address longer-term housing and neighborhood-focused rebuilding challenges in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. For more information on the NYC Housing & Neighborhood Recovery Donors Collaborative at the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC, contact Wendy Fleischer, the administrator of the NYC Housing and Neighborhood Recovery Donors Collaborative, at wendy@wendyfleischer.com.

The New York Times Company launched a special fundraising campaign to assist victims of the storm in New York and New Jersey. Donations can be made through the Times' Neediest Cases Fund, with funds raised to be directed to the seven nonprofits supported by the fund as well as Community FoodBank of New Jersey, the Atlantic City Rescue Mission and City Harvest.

The New York Women’s Foundation Hurricane Sandy Response and Recovery Fund will commit up to $1 million over the next 4 years, as needed. The fund will provide both immediate and long-term financial support to current and former grantee partners so they can restore, enhance and sustain their capacity to work with women and families towards stability and safety in those communities hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy in NYC. The Foundation is committing to immediately distribute $250,000 to provide assistance in this time of great need. Beginning in 2013, The Foundation will assess continuing needs and designate up to $250,000 annually, through 2015, to address the longer-term economic security, safety and health needs that may continue to be heightened for these families due to the lingering and extended effects of Hurricane Sandy’s disruption.

Newsday Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund Raises More Than $1.4 Million: The Robert R. McCormick Foundation has announced that the Newsday Charities Hurricane Sandy Long Island Disaster Relief campaign, in partnership with Newsday and News 12 Long Island, has raised more than $1.4 million for post-Sandy rebuilding efforts. With contributions from more than forty-six hundred donors and $250,000 in matching funds from the McCormick Foundation, the Newsday Charities campaign awarded grants totaling over $1.6 million to thirteen nonprofit organizations providing disaster relief services to Long Islanders in need. The towns along Long Island's South Shore were hit hard by the storm, with many homes destroyed and many more damaged due to extensive flooding. Grant recipients include the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, which received $529,174 in support of its Long Island Superstorm Sandy Unmet Needs Roundtable; the Federation Employment and Guidance Services, which was awarded $150,000 for its Lifting-Up Long Island Hurricane Response initiative; and Catholic Charities, Diocese of Rockville Centre, which received $100,000 for case management services.

North Star Fund's Grassroots Hurricane Relief Fund is helping the most vulnerable residents and communities in our region recover. This special appeal will put all funds raised to immediate use supporting grassroots organizations and activists who are aiding disenfranchised families and communities coping with this disaster. North Star Fund has made three rounds of grants for hurricane relief. More information is available on its grantees and priorities here. In January, North Star Fund led a Funder Tour on Community Responses to Hurricane Sandy.

Partnerships for Parks Recovery Grants. Partnerships for Parks builds community by helping New Yorkers care for their neighborhood parks. Partnerships for Parks Recovery Grants support community groups dedicated to parks with funding for capacity-building projects focused on storm recovery. Grants will be made on a rolling basis. Applications are considered in the order in which they are received, and grants are made until funds run out. Grants range from $200 to $2,000. Partnerships for Parks will do their best to notify applicants within two weeks.

Robin Hood—New York City's largest poverty fighting organization—announced that the Relief Fund it reactivated in the wake of Hurricane Sandy has received more than $11 million in contributions from generous donors. Initially established after September 11, 2001, the Relief Fund raised and distributed more than $65 million to help survivors and families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The Staten Island Foundation has created the Staten Island Foundation Non-Profit (SIFNP) Recovery Fund. The Staten Island Foundation will match the first $500,000 from other philanthropic sources to this fund. The fund will make grants to nonprofit organizations serving Staten Island in order to meet the long-term challenges caused by this disaster as well as address disaster preparedness planning with lessons learned from this experience. The Staten Island Foundation invites other funders to contribute to the SIFNP Recovery Fund. A community advisory committee will provide input to The Staten Island Foundation regarding funding decisions. Philanthropy New York will provide fiscal administration and checks should be made out to Philanthropy New York, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003-3076.

Stonewall Community Foundation has established The Sandy Recovery Fund for LGBTQ New Yorkers at Stonewall. 100 percent of gifts donated to this fund will go towards helping LGBTQ-serving organizations in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. To support the fund, click here, and under "Gift Options," select the first item from the dropdown menu under "Gift Designation," entitled "The Sandy Recovery Fund for LGBTQ New Yorkers." If you have a Donor Advised Fund with Stonewall, you can recommend grants to any organization that is currently assisting with immediate relief efforts—or if you would like to redirect funds to the Sandy Recovery Fund, the Foundation will make sure your contribution benefits LGBTQ-serving organizations working in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. To make such a designation, click here for Donor Central or email funds@stonewallfoundation.org.

United Hospital Fund’s Hurricane Sandy Health Care Employee Relief Fund has been established to provide direct assistance to employees of hospitals and other health care facilities in the affected communities who have suffered serious personal losses even as they worked to ensure the safety of those in their care. Funds raised for the employee relief fund will be distributed through hospitals and other health care organizations to those in need to help them recover from their losses and rebuild their lives.

The United Way Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund was established to address the near-term and long-term recovery needs of individuals, families and communities along the Eastern Seaboard that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy’s devastation. Contributions to the Fund will be used by local United Ways in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, DC and West Virginia to address hurricane recovery needs in communities that FEMA has declared disaster areas. At the request of and in cooperation with United Way U.S.A., United Way of New York City is leading fundraising efforts and will ensure that all funds are used efficiently and effectively to serve those in need. United Way of New York City will charge no administrative fees. If you have any questions about the fund, please send an email to communication@uwnyc.org. United Way is also collaborating with The TODAY Show and Amazon.com, and has launched a new initiative to bring desperately needed supplies to the communities that need them most. In wish lists developed by United Ways in New York City, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey, goods like tools, space heaters, sheets and school supplies can be purchased to help families rebuild their homes and return to a sense of normalcy. United Way will ensure the distribution of these goods through our best-in-class network of community-based organizations.