CDP California Wildfires Recovery Fund
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s California Wildfires Recovery Fund supports communities across the state as they work to rebuild and recover from wildfires.
Since its inception, CDP has awarded grants to nonprofits and community groups throughout California to help families and communities recover through equitable grantmaking that prioritizes medium- to long-term recovery.
Communities affected by wildfires face a long road to recovery. As these fires can happen at any time and their severity intensifies, support before and after wildfires can better position communities to prepare for and respond to future fires while enabling them to recover stronger and thrive.
To effectively address the growing wildfire threat in California, our team works directly with local nonprofits to identify specific needs and gaps in funding. We consult with many in-state partners, such as the Governor’s Office of Emergency Service (Cal OES) and other agencies, to assess the long-term needs of affected communities and build collaborative partnerships.
This fund supports preparedness and mitigation efforts throughout the state and recovery from:
Increasing destruction from wildfires
In 2017, the Tubbs Fire destroyed more than 5,600 structures and claimed 22 lives in Napa and Sonoma counties. In 2018, we witnessed the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history when the Camp Fire took 85 lives and destroyed more than 18,800 structures. In 2019, more than 6,800 fire incidents in California burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, including the Kincade Fire that forced over 185,000 to flee from their homes in Sonoma County. In 2020, close to 10,000 fires burned more than 4.2 million acres, resulting in 33 deaths and damage or destruction to nearly 10,400 structures.
2021’s Dixie Fire is the second-largest wildfire in California’s history, behind only 2020’s August Complex, which destroyed more than a million acres.
So far in 2024, the largest fire has been the Park Fire, which started near Chico and has burned nearly 430,000 acres. Burning for more than a month now, it is not yet fully contained.
Funding focus areas
Areas of focus for this fund include:
- Advocacy for equitable recovery. This includes support for those advocating for wage earners and workers who lost their income as a result of the wildfires, affordable housing, housing repair and utility assistance.
- Social services. We fund programs for disproportionately affected populations, such as older adults, undocumented and mixed-status families, people with physical or mental health challenges, and people living in poverty, to strengthen existing social services and address the additional needs that arise with disasters.
- Access to food. We support initiatives that address food insecurity, including food sovereignty and agricultural support programs.
- Leadership accountability and trustworthy information. We support efforts to ensure those holding leadership positions are accountable for systems failures. We also fund organizations working to disseminate accurate information about existing challenges.
- Mitigation and preparedness. We support building response capacity and improving infrastructure to mitigate risks to the most marginalized communities affected.
- Affordable housing. We support programs for uninsured homeowners and renters to rebuild and/or find affordable housing.
- Long-term recovery groups. We provide funding to long-term recovery groups supporting community recovery and resilience.
With support from our California Wildfires Recovery Fund, our grantee partners are helping affected communities rebuild stronger.
Supporting Indigenous-led fire management
More stories
Fight fire with mental health services
Latino Community Foundation
Thank you to the following donors for their generous support of the CDP California Wildfires Recovery Fund.
- Libbie F. Gerry Foundation
- Caterpillar Foundation
- Bright Funds Foundation
- The Crown Family
- The Gap Foundation
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund
- Sozosei Foundation
- UKG
- The Wallace Foundation
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of California
Your support has a direct and significant impact on our efforts to help survivors and communities rebuild stronger than before the wildfires.
Connect With Us
For more information on the situation and to learn about available resources, contact our Domestic Funds Team.
To make a gift or learn more about the Fund, please contact our Development Team.
Fund updates
More than $2.6 million in grants from several domestic funds to support disaster recovery
Announcing $780,000 to support wildfire and flooding recovery and resilience in California
