E0289 Course: State Volunteer and Donations Mangement

This course supports state, tribal, and territorial governments and their emergency management partners in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disaster events at the state, tribal, or territorial level. The course is designed to strengthen states’ abilities to successfully prepare for and handle volunteer and donations management issues that may arise after a disaster event, including managing the offers of things, people, and money and matching them according to donor intent and area of greatest need.

The course content and activities may also serve as a template for procedures, thereby enhancing uniformity among states in addressing areas of unsolicited donated items, unaffiliated volunteers, and undesignated cash. This training also provides information regarding FEMA’s volunteer and donations management responsibilities, which are designed to help build relationships between government and non-government organizations.

Course Goal:

To provide state emergency management personnel and state-level voluntary agency representatives with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and execute (a) an effective volunteer and donations management program and (b) a state volunteer and donations management annex to the state Emergency Operations Plan. With these tools, participants will be better equipped to create a program to effectively manage unaffiliated volunteers, unsolicited goods, and offers of undesignated cash donations.

Course Objectives:

• Identify key organizations and individuals who have a role in managing unaffiliated volunteers, unsolicited donated items, and undesignated cash donations after disasters.
• Identify specific agencies and organizations and how they collaborate to form a Volunteer and Donations Coordination Task Force (VDCTF).
• List the planning considerations for cash donations.
• Identify how to effectively manage the surge of unsolicited donated items.
• Gather information from organizations, agencies, volunteers, media, and others for donations intelligence purposes.
• Facilitate the matching of unaffiliated volunteers with appropriate organizations or agencies during program implementation.
• Develop an effective public education and information structure to support the successful management of unaffiliated volunteers, unsolicited donated items, and undesignated cash donations after disasters.