Report finds nonprofits underprepared in DC area | 10.27.2008 | 08:18:24 | Views: 14853 | ID: October 27 '08: In a report that is being considered a first of its kind for the DC area, the Washington Post reported a new collaboration between the Nonprofit Roundtable and Deloitte to look at the ability of nonprofit groups to coordinate and respond to a disaster. Philanthropy News Digest reported, "Following on the heels of a recent Government Accountability Office study which found that a large-scale disaster would overwhelm the American Red Cross and other groups, the new report found that the region's 4000 human services organizations have a capacity to deal with just 5 percent of the likely need for food and shelter and no comprehensive communication system to coordinate efforts in the event of a disaster." The Post reported, "Considered by its authors to be one of the first regional efforts to spell out a role for nonprofit organizations, the plan is a broad blueprint to fill gaps in the disaster readiness ... It calls on relief organizations to expand their mass care capacities, develop methods to care for pets, better manage volunteers and strengthen mental health services." Officials told the Post that the current state of disaster preparedness among the organization's was better today than in the past but that there was still more work to do. The report was a two-year study and it emphasizes the necessity for public-private partnerships with federal, state and local governments. "The plan's authors said it can be used as a model for other metropolitan areas," the Post reported.
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