Tracking Hurricane Michael Disaster Relief
October 12, 2018
Updated: November 16, 2018 - 3:00 PM ET
Hurricane Michael first showed up in early October as a low-pressure area in the western Caribbean. After meandering for a few days, it began to organize itself and then intensified rapidly as it moved past Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a tropical depression on October 7 and a Category 1 hurricane just twenty-four hours later. By Tuesday, October 9, it had strengthened into a Cat 3 with winds of more than 120 mph, and by the time it smashed into the Florida Panhandle near Mexico Beach on Wednesday, October 10, it was a Cat 4 with sustained winds of 155 mph.
For many, the unprecedented nature of the storm — the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. since Andrew in 1992, the third most intense storm in terms of barometric pressure ever to make landfall in the U.S., and the strongest hurricane to strike the Florida Panhandle on record — was disturbing, its rapid intensification and the path of destruction it carved across four states cause for alarm, coming as it did just days after the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report warning of dire consequences if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut dramatically over the next decade. As of October 30, the death toll had risen to forty-five, including thirty-five people in Florida, and estimates of the damage were holding steady at between $8 billion and $30 billion.
As we did with Florence, Foundation Center will be tracking institutional pledges and commitments for relief and recovery efforts here on PhilanTopic. To make sure your company or organization's pledge have been included in the total, or for questions about methodology or sources, please contact Andrew Grabois, manager of corporate philanthropy at Foundation Center.
(Photo credit: Reuters)
TOTAL: $35,780,272
Organization Type (pledges and commitments)
| Corporate Direct Giving/ Company-Sponsored Foundations |
$25,280,272 | 59 orgs. |
| Private Foundations | $500,000 | 2 org. |
| Public Charities | $10,000,000 | 9 orgs. |
Top Recipients (Total Received to Date)
| 1. | Unknown Recipient(s) | $14,800,000 |
| 2. | American Red Cross (national) |
$7,947,272 |
| 3. | Multiple recipients | $7,200,000 |
| 4. | Florida Disaster Fund | $2,850,000 |
| 5. | Volunteer Florida | $500,000 | 6. | United Way Worldwide | $375,000 |
| 7. | Team Rubicon | $325,000 |
| 8. | Salvation Army | $275,000 |
| 9. | Samaritan's Purse | $250,000 |
| 10. | Center for Disaster Philanthropy | $250,000 |
Source: Foundation Center & Center for Disaster Philanthropy
Check out Philanthropy News Digest for the latest coverage of
the philanthropic response to Hurricane Michael.
And for more data on philanthropic giving for disasters since 2011, check out
our Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy mapping platform.
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