FEMA Fact Sheet

December 2022

Disaster Resource Identification

Disaster resource identification includes periodic research and analysis of state, federal 

and philanthropic resource opportunities. Information for grants, loans or technical 

assistance for restoration and recovery is often available at no cost. 

Sources of Recovery Resources

Jurisdictions often establish contingency reserves or rainy-day funds for positive cash flow during disaster 

response.

State and federal annual grant programs are usually not designed with disaster timelines in mind. 

Jurisdictions should consider annual grant programs as complementary sources of disaster recovery funding.

States have limited disaster funding programs for recovery such as for emergency costs or cost shares. Links 

to individual state agencies can be found by referencing the primary state or territorial government webpage. 

Some federal disaster support goes directly to the locality (recipient), while some goes through the state, 

territory or tribe (recipient) to the locality (subrecipient). Cost shares may be required. A recipient should 

quickly pass each Notice of Funding Opportunity to any subapplicant as the timeline to apply is often short.

Congress may pass a supplemental spending bill to allocate additional funds to existing federal programs. 

Supplemental funding creates a disaster-specific version of existing programs with disaster-specific timelines. 

Nongovernmental, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations provide both disaster-specific and annual 

resources, often to other nonprofits and quasi-governmental entities, for various activities. 
Private-Public Partnerships Support Equitable Outcomes for Risk Reduction

Learn more at fema.gov December 2022

How to Search for Disaster Recovery Resources

Recovery resource research is best done pre-disaster or as quickly as possible post-disaster. A single source of 

funding may not be enough to address all elements of a disaster recovery project. It is important to identify multiple 

sources of potential funding and encourage applicants to create a plan to leverage resources. Identifying recovery 

resources includes various funding opportunities, technical assistance and information support. 

 For more information, visit the Effective Coordination of Recovery Resources for state, tribal, territorial and local

Incidents at https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_effective-coordination-recoveryresources-guide_020515.pdf.

 For identifying federal resources for pre-disaster planning and for disaster recovery strategies, visit the Recovery

and Resilience Resource Library at https://www.fema.gov/my/emergency-managers/practitioners/recoveryresilience-resource-library.

 To conduct targeted research by issue (challenge), visit the Roadmap to Federal Resources for Disaster

Recovery Web Tool at https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/roadmap-resource-library.

 For more information on federal grants, subscribe to the daily Grants.gov opportunities bulletin at

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html, view the Federal Register at

https://www.federalregister.gov/ and monitor direct agency notifications and press releases. To learn more

about grants visit https://www.grants.gov/learn-grants/grants-101.html.

 Philanthropic resources are from foundations, non-profits, and the private sector, and include both national

opportunities as well as grants that may be available for specific localities. Independent research is supported

through newsletters from various philanthropic players such as the Council on Foundations, Center for Disaster

Philanthropy, Foundation Directory Online, and GrantStation. For information on philanthropic opportunities,

subscribe to the free weekly Requests for Proposals (RFP) Bulletin from Philanthropy News Digest by visiting

https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfps/.

Disaster Recovery Resource Management

Disaster financial management begins with building a disaster finance management team to include the finance 

manager, grants managers, recovery manager and ideally a legal advisor. Recovery resource management includes 

the right organizations or individuals for planning and strategy development, grant research, the authority to apply 

for recovery resources and practicing portfolio management. For more information, visit 

https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/disaster-financial-management-guide.pdf.