Announcing Round Nine of COVID-19 Grants Totaling $2.4 Million

With this ninth round of grantmaking from the CDP COVID-19 Response Fund, we funded domestic and international organizations to support the response to and recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Community needs continue to evolve, and this round of funding reflects the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s (CDP) commitment to meet those needs, with a particular focus on recovery programs.

The CDP board approved two rapid response grants before the New Year to support COVID response in Central America in areas hit hardest by Hurricanes Eta and Iota. Those were for $250,000 each to Americares and CORUS/Lutheran World Relief. For the rest of round nine, we funded seven additional organizations for a total of $1.9 million, bringing the grand total for this round to $2.4 million to nine organizations. The full breakdown includes $1.2 million in domestic grants (four organizations) and $1.2 million in international grants (five organizations).

Here are the details:

• Americares – $250,000 in response to the compounded devastation of Hurricanes Eta and Iota on Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia and Florida amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Americares is engaged in emergency response activities in these areas to ensure that survivors in emergency shelters and the local organizations providing relief have the medicines and supplies, particularly infection prevention and personal protective supplies, needed to restore and retain health and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS) –$200,000 to help 500 vulnerable households in the municipality of Prinzapolka in the Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast in Nicaragua cope with and overcome the food security crisis exacerbated by hurricanes Eta/Iota while preventing the spread of COVID-19.
• CERF+ Artists’ Safety Net – $200,000 to actively respond to the relief and recovery needs of artists through grants, information and education; expand availability and access to emergency relief programs for artists through advocacy and policy changes; to provide and promote readiness resources for artists to mitigate the impact of future disasters on creative careers; and to strengthen the network of organizations that have studio-based artists at the center of their work.
• Equal Justice Works – $250,000 to support the Disaster Resilience Program, which mobilizes public interest lawyers (“Fellows”) to deliver critical legal services to populations severely impacted by natural disasters, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds will support Fellows providing direct disaster legal aid in Texas and Florida and pandemic preparedness education nationwide. This grant will also help mobilize more Fellows to other location severely impacted by COVID-19.
• GOAL – $250,000 to enable the most vulnerable households in Iraq, especially women and children, affected by secondary effects of COVID-19 to survive the crisis. The resilience of targeted families will increase as they are able to meet their basic emergency needs and reduce negative coping mechanisms.
• Good360 – $250,000 to support nonprofits focused on response and long-term recovery due to COVID-19’s detrimental effects on communities, including those impacted by natural disasters and all communities facing more challenging conditions due to the effects of COVID-19. This involves procuring donations from manufacturers and retailers, matching relevant gifts with nonprofits, and warehousing and shipping those goods in a timely manner.
• International Medical Corps (IMC) – $250,000 to support needs in Gaza, which was already at-risk before the impacts of COVID-19 and now is facing further stretched systems, including concerns around malnutrition and growing psycho-social distress. Additionally, International Medical Corps will reserve 20% of funds for flexible funding to address surging COVID-19 needs due to compounding acute disasters or support vaccine needs for a country whose infrastructure for distribution is not well-developed.
• Lutheran World Relief – $250,000 to support the immediate survival and early recovery of vulnerable families displaced by the Hurricanes Eta and Iota while reducing the further spread of COVID-19 in Honduras. By working closely with local partners on the ground, LWR will address the displaced population’s basic needs while also helping them maintain safe surroundings with appropriate WASH/Hygiene protocols. Additionally, psycho-social needs will be addressed as the country manages recovery from multiple, layered disasters while already suffering from broad economic and social vulnerabilities.
• ProPublica – $500,000 to publish investigative reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, including the provision of essential information to keep readers informed on how to stay safe during the immediate health crisis, deep-dives into how the situation developed, investigations into who is profiting from the crisis and who is bearing the brunt, as well as accountability coverage of vaccine deployment. ProPublica will also focus on stimulus spending and what will most likely be a prolonged economic downturn.

With this latest round of grants, the CDP COVID-19 Response Fund has awarded a total of $21.8 million to 137 grantees. This includes several grants made in collaboration with the CDP Midwest Early Recovery Fund and the CDP Global Recovery Fund.

As more vaccines become available, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though ensuring equitable distribution and access to these vaccines will be critical to ending the pandemic. Our focus now turns to equitable recovery from the effects of the virus on communities across the world – securing access to the vaccine for those most disproportionately affected, stabilizing the capacity of health care systems to respond to the virus and other community health needs, supporting economic recovery and providing psycho-social support for those who have experienced the traumatizing effects of this deadly virus.

Until we can declare this pandemic over, please do your best to stay safe. Let’s be patient with one another and continue to keep a safe distance, avoid crowded spaces and wear a mask. And when it’s available to you, please get the vaccine to protect yourself and others.