TFFF was one of the first and remains one of the few on a small - but growing - list of foundations with a set aside or special fund specifically for disasters.

As disasters continue to have an outsized impact on rural, there are increased demands for resources and for all to work more collaboratively, to continue to respond to community needs, and to increase available funding and other resources.

Oregon Disaster Funders Network (ODFN)

TFFF’s RRR work and ODFN are separate but related, and supportive, endeavors. TFFF supports Kelley NPC’s time to manage and coordinate ODFN. Other funders, particularly Roundhouse Foundation, also support a portion of Kelley NPC’s time - working towards a greater diversification of support each year.

ODFN is a collaborative network that coordinates disaster support within, across and beyond the philanthropic sector. ODFN is composed of about 30 funders who participate in diverse ways.

ODFN’s Major Activities include: 

• Providing a singular entry point for disaster grant seekers to submit a summary of their needs which is then distributed to ODFN’s participating funders/members. 

• Accepting and sharing grant requests for support related to all phases of the disaster lifecycle - Response, Recovery, Resilience, and Preparation. 

• “Activation” of the Network during particularly urgent and/or destructive disasters. Activation leverages the most funding possible for a specific disaster or situation. A call for Activation: 

• helps funders prepare to be ready to make grants as rapidly as possible, 

• provides additional due diligence for funding requests made during Activation, 

• keeps funders apprised with additional and more detailed information about what is happening at the local level, and 

• offers multiple direct lines to community-based organizations, state agencies, and other sectors, organizations and individuals working in-community to support those impacted

• Coordinating with other sectors and state agencies like Oregon Department of Emergency Management and the Office of Resilience and Emergency Management as well as the Governor’s office and initiatives. 

• Represent the sector in the State of Oregon’s Emergency Support Function 16 (ESF 16) pertaining to volunteers, community based organizations and philantnhropy.

TFFF coordinates with ODFN several ways: 

• TFFF’s disaster-specific grantmaking is focused on Response and Recovery, whereas ODFN accepts and shares out to funders requests for all disaster-related needs including resilience and preparation support. TFFF can help pass requests received for resilience support (that otherwise would not be funded through TFFF’s disaster grantmaking) to ODFN, along with other TFFF grantmaking opportunities (RCB, Good Neighbor, etc.).

Clarifying Questions 

• Are TFFF’s Response and Recovery grants restricted to requests made through ODFN? 

• No, not at all. While TFFF may identify some “good fits” from the list ODFN maintains, TFFF’s grantmaking is not limited to what is filtered through ODFN. 

• Does TFFF have to share its Response and Recovery grantmaking with ODFN? 

• No. TFFF’s grantmaking is separate and has its own distinct goals, focus areas and restrictions. Although TFFF generally *does* share its disaster-related grants with ODFN (especially those they can only fund partly) this is not expected. 

• Does TFFF have a say over who can or cannot apply via the ODFN model? 

• No. Anyone can apply through the ODFN portal and process. “Applicants” are not applying to a singular, joint Fund. Rather, requests are distributed to participating funders, each of whom have their own restrictions, priorities, funding ceilings, available funds and more. What might be a great fit for one funder, may not even eligible for another. Similarly, a request may receive interest from multiple funders (sometimes as many as five or six!), or it may not receive any interest (in supporting it) from any funder. This is the benefit of ODFN in that it brings these diverse funders together so that “applicants” have the best chance of having their request seen by someone who is interested and can provide support. Because of this, TFFF does not have a say in who applies via ODFN and likewise ODFN (as a whole or as individual funders) does not have a say in TFFF’s grantmaking. That said, if TFFF knows of a disaster-related funding need that is of interest to a field coordinator, the RRR team, or anyone at TFFF - they can recommend to that entity that they apply through ODFN. TFFF may then decide to support it or not. 

• Does TFFF’s grantmaking go through a different process as it relates to ODFN or when an ODFN “request” is involved? 

• No. If TFFF identified something on the ODFN tracker that it wanted to fund, then TFFF would go through the same process it always does for its Disaster Response and Recovery grants: 

• Bring request to the attention of TFFF’s Disaster Core Team 

• Core Team discusses along with input and coordination with field coordinators who have that request/geographic area in their purview or know about the request or organization making it

• Core Team decides to invite the organization to formally apply through TFFF’s Disaster grantmaking

• Organization is sent a customized invitation email, generally sent by the person who first brought the request to the Core Team’s attention and always with Alicia Flory copied to support logistics and processing

• Organization then applies for either a TFFF Disaster Response or TFFF Disaster Recovery grant as invited to do so by TFFF (and at an amount range and for a specific purpose as defined by TFFF) 

• The request is reviewed by the Core Team

• Decisions and the above process is tracked internally 

• If the request originated from the ODFN tracker, then TFFF generally shares with ODFN how much was funded and any insights gleaned during the application process (at a very high level). The actual application is not shared. 

• TFFF continues to coordinate with the grantee as needed.