When natural disasters strike we all want to do what we can. Companies should work out their best response

Super Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Yolanda) and its 200mph winds swept through the Pacific, from Palau to China, leaving the island nation of the Philippines in ruins.

Natural disasters of such scale bring out humankind’s charitable instincts. Donations to relief agencies soar, be they of money, food, shelter materials, water purification or medical supplies. People naturally want to help – and so do companies.

Haiyan is far from the first major disaster after which the corporate world has sought to help. Wal-Mart responded to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with goods and logistics from the company’s large distribution centres across the hurricane-affected region, bringing rapid relief where it was needed.

In 2012, Toyota stepped up in response to Hurricane Sandy with its famous “kaizen” process-improvement expertise, which helped the Food Bank for New York City dramatically improve its service delivery to needy New Yorkers – improvements that continue to help the Food Bank’s clients today.

So how best for the corporate sector to get in on the act? There are three main routes to effective corporate response.

Plan ahead

Patrick Gaston, president of the Western Union Foundation, says the first step is one that takes place long before disaster strikes: preparedness. “In the normal course of business, we need to be thinking about how to leverage our core competencies to provide a resource that really helps in a time of crisis. In densely populated areas, where lots of damage has been done, you need to think about what help people will need, what transportation, materials and so forth. Companies can come together as a community of interest, have discussions around it in advance, and understand their core competencies. Then we can respond more effectively when disaster strikes.”

Contribute your skills

Companies can directly provide skills and resources in times of need. From the Campbell Soup Company’s donation of food products via its Asia -Pacific team, to Western Union’s provision of no-fee money transfers to friends, family and charities working in the Philippines, to Airbus’s humanitarian flights delivering food and sanitation supplies, these are often coordinated through corporate foundations or charitable departments.

Google.org – the philanthropic arm of Google – has launched a Google person finder and Typhoon Yolanda relief map. Part of a suite of response tools, they help spread information rapidly about missing or displaced people, as well as identifying the type and location of a variety of relief services active in the affected areas.

Donate and facilitate

Of course, one of the simplest and most effective corporate responses is to donate money to disaster relief organisations. Companies around the world have found novel ways to help, from Apple’s iTunes donations portal for the American Red Cross, to United Airlines’ incentive of extra frequent-flyer miles for members who donated to the airline’s appeal on behalf of three relief agencies. Corporate-matching programmes, in which the company or its foundation matches the contributions pledged by employees, are very popular.

Business can also help in fundraising. The UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) works with a network of television and radio broadcasters, banks, the Post Office, telecom companies, regional and national press and others, to provide cost-effective ways for the public to make donations, and to publicise them.

For many charities, though, cash donations are still what they prefer. The DEC’s head of communications, Brendan Paddy, says: “The DEC does not accept goods as donations because our member agencies who deliver aid find it quicker and more effective to purchase goods locally or from specialist suppliers who can provide exactly the right products for the circumstances.”

Company plans  corporate disaster relief  disaster relief  Natural disasters