A Reflection on Philanthropy’s Role One Year after Helene
Technically, Helene was a tropical storm” when it crossed the Great Smoky Mountains and curled up the Blue Ridge Parkway, dumping 40 trillion gallons of water and causing more than $60 billion in damages. While its meteorological category was downgraded, I think we all know it was more than worthy of its full title as “Hurricane Helene.”
In my role here at the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers (NCNG), I can confidently say that the philanthropic response to Hurricane Helene has been unprecedented – more than $80 million from NCNG’s 115 member organizations alone – yet the needs far exceed the capacity of private philanthropy.
As the rain and cliff sides fell, the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors responded immediately. The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina – without electricity or internet in their offices – set up at a downtown hotel to begin receiving and distributing donations within the week. Dogwood Health Trust and WNC Bridge Foundation dug deep to provide additional resources for the community. The Community Foundation of Henderson County received contributions from 46 states and one Canadian province. Staff at the Polk County Community Foundation were literally out helping with rescues.
Foundations from across the state opened their bank accounts and gave generous and flexible dollars to partners in Western NC. They joined NCNG and their peers on weekly calls to share information and resources and hear from community leaders throughout the affected areas.
It has been extraordinary, and I’m proud of the way philanthropic organizations stepped up with core mission support for hundreds of key nonprofit partners. The coordination and work continue, as the North Carolina Community Foundation takes the lead in long-term recovery and funds distribution, and other funders align their strategies to support additional WNC work and disaster preparedness.
There are many other foundations I could name here, but I don’t want an important message to get lost in the tales of remarkable generosity:
You could liquidate every foundation in North Carolina, every last asset, and still fall more than $35 billion short of the expected recovery bill.
For the southern US, North Carolina is a fairly well-resourced state, with about 3,500 foundations based here representing about $25 billion in assets. In 2023, they gave approximately 80,000 grants totaling $2 billion.*
It sounds like a lot of money, and in many respects, it is, but at an average grant size of $25,000 to nonprofits and partners ranging from environmental clean-up to animal rescues, to after school programs to community development, the needs far outpace our available dollars.
State and Federal dollars are the primary source for recovery in our state, and our friends in the West deserve an investment in their future. The philanthropic community acted urgently and generously, and will continue to partner with communities as they recover. It is my hope that state and federal agencies can use the deep community connections and work in partnership with the social sector to bring additional funds to bolster the community efforts on the ground.
* foundationsearch.com query, private, community, and company-sponsored foundations Located in North Carolina – 9.24.2025
** foundationsearch.com query, grants to NC nonprofit organizations from NC private, community, and company-sponsored foundations- 9.24.2025
Sunflowers photo taken on 9/18/2025 in Asheville, NC.