In December, the Thomas Fire burned 440 square miles of Southern California, making it the largest wildfire in state history. It destroyed more than one thousand structures: homes, businesses, schools, and several nonprofit facilities. A subsequent landslide – the technical term is “debris flow” – added to the destruction and dislocation.

Last month, I visited Ventura County, sponsored by the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at California Lutheran University. My mission: help nonprofits learn how to maintain and improve their fundraising in the wake of these natural disasters.

As climate change continues to generate unpredictable, extreme weather, this scenario may be coming soon to a community near you. Here’s how you can respond.

1. Engage in ways that make sense

Many local organizations – especially those that don’t focus on human services – found ways to participate in disaster relief.

Some nonprofits organized their volunteers to help with clean-up, while others assisted with food drives or found temporary housing for people displaced by the fire.

Rather than “mission drift,” this kind of all-hands-on-deck response defines community and demonstrates nonprofit leadership. Under similar circumstances, you and your organization could do the same.

2. Don’t freak out

When faced with natural disasters and other emergencies, our normal instinct is to keep a low profile. For example, following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, many organizations across the U.S. canceled their fundraising events, mailings, donor meetings, e-blasts, and so forth.

They then reported declining income. Why? They stopped asking.

In an earlier post, Asking When Everyone Else Isn’t, I shared the story of a young fundraiser in New England who conducted 17 major donor visits during the week following 9/11. While her more experienced peers sat in their offices, not wanting to upset donors, she hit the road and collected 16 big gifts – and a lot of praise for her courage.

When disaster strikes, don’t assume that all money flows toward emergencies and away from your mission. In the twelve months following September 11, 2001, only one percent of philanthropy went to 9/11-related charities.

3. Get closer to your donors

In times of uncertainty, people want connection – including connection to their favorite causes and organizations.

You don’t have to twist your mission to remain relevant. Most nonprofits can make the following statement, regardless of their focus: “We build community. At this moment, when we’re all feeling uncertain, community is so important. Let’s recommit to the work we do together.”

4. Avoid freelancing

New crowdfunding technology makes it easy to jump in and raise money yourself. The Thomas fire and its aftermath inspired an increase in individual fundraising campaigns, says Geoff Green of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation.

“For small, immediate needs,” says Green, “GoFundMe and other crowdfunding platforms are useful tools. Problems arise when people reflexively set one up because it’s easy, but without doing the necessary homework.” Among the things that people don’t understand, he says:

• For individual fundraising pages, the income is taxable
• The fee structure – crowdfunding platforms keep a percentage of revenues
• It takes up to two months before the money is transferred
• You need to coordinate, in advance, with the recipient

Worst of all, many people forget that existing, well-established nonprofits are already doing relief work with a high level of accountability.

What’s the solution?

According to Ventura-based Jerusha Schmalzel of Blackbaud, “I encourage nonprofits to take the initiative in deploying peer-to-peer fundraising strategies proactively. If and when disaster strikes, they can use these channels to encourage donors to give through the organization,” rather than creating their own crowdfunding campaigns.

5. Look for shared fundraising opportunities

There are moments – natural disasters may be one of them – where nonprofit can raise more money collectively than they can individually.

Potential shared strategies include joint grant proposals; fundraising events that benefit multiple organizations; and community “giving days.” Indeed, there are major donors – consider the name-brand donors in your community – who would be impressed and delighted if multiple nonprofits approached them as a team to present a joint project.

Shared fundraising can also open the door to deeper conversations about coordination and collaboration.

Never waste a crisis

Over the years, I’ve provided training in several communities affected by natural disasters. I often begin these workshops with two questions:

What’s challenging now? What are the opportunities now?

I’m always impressed at how people use these challenging moments to explore ways to do their work more efficiently and effectively.

Nonprofits are by nature resilient, and the people who run them doubly so. If and when disaster hits, consider it an opportunity for change and respond accordingly.