Hurricane
Helene

In moments of crisis, it can be tempting to move quickly without grounding decisions in a clear sense of purpose. Following Hurricane Helene, we saw that organizations are most effective when they stay anchored in their mission, even as they adapt to changing conditions.

Dogwood's response was not built from scratch. It drew on an existing commitment to improving health and wellbeing across Western North Carolina and applied that framework to an emergency context. This made it possible to act quickly without losing clarity around our strategic priorities of housing, education, economic opportunity and health and wellbeing.

Even in the earliest stages of response, funding was directed toward areas that aligned with our long-term priorities, including maintaining critical health services, supporting housing stability and strengthening economic opportunity through efforts like the Western North Carolina Small Business Initiative. This ensured that immediate relief efforts also contributed to longer-term recovery.

Staying true to purpose does not mean staying rigid. It means using your mission as a guide while responding to real-time needs. In practice, this meant actively listening to partners, supporting what was already working and trusting organizations closest to the community to lead.

Over time, this approach helped ensure that resources were aligned not only with immediate needs, but with long-term outcomes and leadership for the region.

One of the clearest lessons from Hurricane Helene is that trust-based approaches are not just values-driven, they are operationally effective.

Providing flexible funding, including general operating support, allowed organizations to respond immediately without waiting for approval or navigating complex requirements. In the early days of relief response, this flexibility made it possible for grantee partners to stabilize staff, maintain services and reach communities quickly.

For example, partners described how having access to flexible funding allowed them to make decisions in real time, whether that meant retaining staff, expanding services or responding to unexpected needs. In many cases, it was not just the funding itself, but the confidence that came with it that allowed organizations to act quickly and effectively.

Dogwood's flexible funding also differed from alternative, public sources of funding, which had greater limitations. Partners consistently described this as a turning point. When organizations are trusted to use resources based on their knowledge of local needs, they can act faster and more effectively than any centralized approach.

Trust also reduces friction. Simplifying processes and reducing reporting requirements allowed organizations to focus on the work itself, rather than administrative tasks.

In a disaster context, this kind of support is not just helpful, but can determine whether an organization is able to continue operating at all. It also offers steadiness so that organizations can look to the future and envision with the community what might come next.

Strong relationships and local knowledge are essential to an effective disaster response. No single organization can respond to a crisis of this scale alone.

Across Western North Carolina, the relief response was shaped by networks of partners working together. Local nonprofits, funders, intermediaries, health providers and community leaders all played a role in identifying needs, coordinating resources and reaching communities that might otherwise have been missed.

For example, Dogwood worked closely with funding partners like The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, WNC Bridge Foundation, AMY Wellness Foundation and Gateway Wellness Foundation to coordinate relief efforts early on, helping to align resources and respond quickly to urgent needs. Earlier pre-Helene Dogwood investments in networks associated with Pisgah Legal Services, Impact Health, WNC Communities and Community Development Financial Institutions also helped deploy resources efficiently and in trusted ways.

These connections also made it possible to bring in additional support over time. By working through trusted partners and established networks, Dogwood helped create opportunities for state and philanthropic funding to flow into the region, reinforcing and expanding the initial response.

At the same time, this work highlighted the importance of proximity. Organizations with deep roots in the community are best positioned to understand what was needed and how to respond.

Building relationships and strengthening networks before a disaster occurs is what makes coordination possible when it matters most.

The speed and intensity of Hurricane Helene required organizations to make decisions quickly, often with incomplete information and rapidly evolving needs.

Dogwood coordinated a response aimed at upholding its equity commitments and ensuring that resources reached the people, places, organizations and small businesses most affected by the storm. This meant designing relief efforts specifically to support the communities and populations experiencing the greatest impacts. Doing so required intentionality, communication and real-time learning, even amidst urgency.

Helene's impacts were not evenly distributed across the 18-county region Dogwood serves. Some communities experienced catastrophic damage, while others faced different levels of disruption and recovery needs. In many cases, the regional economic effects extended beyond the areas that experienced direct physical damage. Response efforts were further complicated when trusted community connectors and local leaders were themselves affected by the storm, slowing communication and access to communities already experiencing disconnection or longstanding barriers to institutional trust. This required intentional decisions about geographic equity and where resources could have the greatest impact.

At the same time, the response reinforced the importance of asking deeper questions about who may not be reached through more traditional systems and networks. In the days, weeks and months after the storm, Dogwood used available data from local partners and institutions to inform our geographic and community-focused equity decisions, drawing on demographics, power outages, school and road closures, fatalities and grants management data. Dogwood also realized a need to deepen and build relationships with immigrant-serving organizations, grassroots groups, faith communities and mutual aid networks before disasters occur, recognizing that many of the people served by these partners may experience additional barriers to access in recovery efforts. For example, the immediate aftermath of the hurricane underscored the importance of language access and culturally responsive communication. In some cases, grantee partners used Dogwood's support to adapt materials and applications in real time-including translating resources into Spanish-to ensure communities could access support as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, the experience highlights that equity is about more than distributing resources evenly; it is about understanding who has been most affected, who was already experiencing disinvestment or disconnection before the disaster and what support is needed to ensure resources reach those communities effectively.

As the response evolved, so did the understanding of where gaps existed and how partnerships, communication and relationship-building could strengthen future recovery efforts across the region.