How SpringFour Helps Organizations Provide Much-Needed Support to Those Affected by Hurricanes and Other Natural Disasters
We can help with your disaster response and long-term disaster recovery for consumers.
Whether you need to get started with SpringFour for the first time, create a dedicated disaster relief deployment, strengthen communication with consumers surrounding natural disaster relief, or update the categories on your current deployment, we’re here to help.
Our hearts are heavy as we watch the news of historic natural disasters that have occurred this season. We are thinking of the numerous people impacted by disasters such as Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton — and our clients are thinking of them, too.
We’ve received a number of inquiries from our clients asking how they can leverage SpringFour’s financial health resources to support their customers through natural disaster response and recovery. We’re here to show you all the ways SpringFour can bolster your disaster response and recovery offerings to support consumers with vetted, nonprofit and government resources that help them regain a sense of stability in the response phase and create a long-term recovery plan for managing income, expenses, and debt.
Natural disasters can be shocking and life-altering, especially when the impact becomes far greater than expected or those who were unable to adequately prepare. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, our expert Resource Integrity Team knew how to respond by monitoring, adding, and updating recovery resources that continued becoming available for years afterward. We’ve been doing this for a long time and we know what resources to trust, to recommend, and what people might need.
Start Your Response Now — And Continue Providing Support Through Recovery
While organizations need to respond quickly to these types of events, it is imperative that they continue to support consumers as their need grows in the coming weeks and months.
In the wake of a natural disaster, most consumers in the response phase are looking to solve for their immediate needs. Many are still without food, water, shelter, power, internet, cell service, and other basic necessities. They are not checking their emails or doing financial planning; they are still taking inventory of available resources for survival, assessing damages, and working to regain access to immediate needs before transitioning to long-term recovery efforts.
A recent statement by SBP, a nonprofit organization that helps disaster victims, states:
“The overwhelming majority of disaster relief donations are funneled into immediate response, but long-term recovery deserves equal spotlight. Media outlets and philanthropists must shift their focus to ensure that rebuilding efforts receive the attention they urgently require.”
Organizations must reflect on what support they have to offer consumers and determine whether those resources will meet their consumers’ needs — not only right now, but also as consumers develop a long-term recovery plan, which can take weeks, months, or even years to execute.
At SpringFour, we understand that different resources are needed during disaster response and recovery. We work to ensure those valuable resources are available and easy to find for your consumers, so that all you have to do is connect the consumer to SpringFour. Our expert Resource Integrity Team closely monitors resources to determine which are the most helpful and keeps them updated so you don’t have to keep track of them.
Long-Term Recovery Must Be Prioritized in Addition to Immediate Response
People may not be calling their financial institutions for help yet, but organizations need to be prepared for how to respond when consumers inevitably reach out looking for more support in the coming weeks and months.
Luckily, this gives organizations time to implement innovative solutions to support consumers who need help through disaster recovery. They need to ensure that their employees understand the organization’s response and recovery offerings so that employees can successfully deliver tangible support to consumers in their time of need.
Here are several key components to successful long-term disaster recovery that SpringFour can help with.
Preparing a plan for managing income, expenses, and debt
Recovering from a natural disaster requires building a long-term plan for how to manage income, additional expenses, and debt due to the natural disaster. SpringFour’s resources help consumers reduce their expenses and access other valuable financial health support so they can focus their energy on recovery.
Providing a source of truth with reliable resources
Our finger is on the pulse of trending consumer needs and our resources are continuously updated, so no one searching for SpringFour’s disaster recovery resources is led to a dead end or a resource without available funds.
Preventing misinformation, scams, and malicious actors
SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team vets and curates every available resource, leaving our clients assured that their consumers will never be directed to misinformation, scams, or malicious actors looking to take advantage of those recovering from a natural disaster.
Elevating vulnerable communities
The SBP statement also says:
“It’s not just about recovery; it’s about equity. Survivors without financial means face unimaginable hardship and increasing cycles of poverty. We cannot allow this systemic issue to go unaddressed. Targeted support must be prioritized for the most vulnerable among us.”
Organizations must consider their most vulnerable populations and build a path forward to help connect those consumers with the financial health resources they want and deserve when they’re needed most.
What you should be doing and how SpringFour can help
While our collective attention moves on from disaster coverage and relief in the coming months, the need for recovery resources is just beginning.
Immediately following a disaster, resources generally come from national organizations and the federal government to address immediate needs. In the weeks and months after the disaster, as damage and resource needs have been assessed, local nonprofits and foundations get more involved and provide additional resources.
SpringFour’s Resource Integrity Team is full of industry experts who know what resources to look for and which resources are trustworthy. We continuously monitor for additional resources as they come online and update our resource database to ensure that every search surfaces relevant, trusted, nonprofit and government resources that support consumers with their type of financial need in their local area.
SpringFour never charges the consumer to receive financial health resources, which increases accessibility for underserved communities and empowers consumers to make payments, grow savings, and build financial health. SpringFour’s self-serve solutions are accessible digitally 24/7, allowing consumers to search for the resources they need, anytime they need them.
Provide Consumers with SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category
SpringFour’s Disaster Relief Category includes a variety of resources that can support consumers who are responding to or recovering from a natural disaster.
Our expertly-authored Financial Health Resource Guides provide money-saving tips on a variety of topics. The Disaster Relief Financial Health Resource Guides include information and resources on recovery from different natural disasters such as fires, floods, and tornados. The Guides also offer tips for navigating the application for federal assistance from FEMA and other disaster benefits that survivors are eligible for. These Guides surface when any search is made for SpringFour’s Disaster Relief resources.
As FEMA disaster declarations are issued, we add those at the county level when a county is eligible for Individual Assistance. We add the declaration as a resource so that the application for assistance from FEMA is easy to find with a quick search for Disaster Relief resources.
There are also referrals to city and county emergency management agencies. The emergency management agencies provide the most up-to-date information about disaster response efforts in their immediate area.
We add other resources as they come online, especially as they assist with the recovery and rebuild phases. That can be weeks (and months) after the disaster initially occurred, but that is when people have moved past the initial phase of damage assessment and need support with preparing a plan for financial recovery and rebuilding.
In Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023, SpringFour saw a 40% increase in demand for Disaster Relief resources, and we know demand will continue as those who have been affected recover from the natural disaster they experienced.
Offer Other SpringFour Categories That Support Disaster Relief Efforts
At SpringFour, we also know that long-term recovery needs will expand beyond the resources strictly dedicated to disaster relief. Many categories of SpringFour’s financial health resources can help with disaster recovery efforts.
Many have lost their homes or will need significant home repairs. Heating and utility expenses may be higher due to using a generator or other appliances that use more energy than normal. Places of business have been destroyed, leaving people out of work, stripping people of community gathering spaces, and creating unexpected challenges for small businesses. Medical and healthcare expenses add even more load. More people will need access to financial and housing counseling services to create a path forward.
SpringFour provides nonprofit and government resources in essential categories that address these needs and more, including food savings, healthcare savings, heating & utility costs, home repair, housing counseling, mental health services, rental resources, small business support, transportation savings, employment services, financial counseling, and more.
Take action today to support your consumers through the long and difficult disaster recovery process
Develop a Disaster Relief Landing Page
Creating a dedicated disaster relief landing page that links to SpringFour helps consumers know where to go to access resources that support their disaster recovery efforts — on their own time, when they need them most.
Update the Categories of Resources You Offer
If you already work with SpringFour and would like to update the categories available in your SpringFour solutions, we can help you do that quickly. To update your categories, reach out to your Client Success manager or impact@springfour.com.
Build a Dedicated Disaster Relief Deployment
Whether you’re a current client or brand new to SpringFour, we can help you quickly build a SpringFour deployment that is geared directly toward those affected by natural disasters. Once built, you will be able to provide effective, reliable financial health resources to anyone affected by a natural disaster now and in the future.
To get started on your disaster relief deployment, reach out to sales@springfour.com or let us know here.
Phylicia Clifton
Senior Manager, Client Success & Impact, SpringFour
Awards and Recognition
