Direct Relief

This humanitarian aid organization delivers medical aid and other support after natural disasters, both in the U.S. and around the world. In 2018, it completed a new 155,000-square-foot headquarters to make it easier to store and quickly ship out medical aid. It also pioneered using Facebook data to help track the movements of people after a disaster, to better know where to send supplies, and began to develop a system to use drones to complete that delivery. Besides medical aid, the organization also helped transition Puerto Rico’s health centers to a solar-powered smart grid, as part of an effort to use renewable energy to keep vulnerable healthcare facilities running during storms.

Lists

2019: Not-for-Profit

2015: Not-for-profit

Direct Relief On The Web

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Stories about Direct Relief

Impact

A year of disaster relief shows how important cash is in helping to rebuild

More and more, disaster relief agency Direct Relief is finding that just giving cash is an important part of helping communities recover.

Impact

How Facebook’s Disaster Maps is helping aid organizations serve people affected by Florence

The social network tracks where people evacuate to after a disaster–and then helps organizations figure out in real time where to bring food and supplies.

Impact

These maps show the low-income communities that Florence will hit hardest

In places where people already lack resources, it’s much more difficult to recover from a storm. These maps of the neediest places in the hurricane’s path could help.

Impact

How Terrorist-Hunting Software Saved Lives During Hurricane Sandy

After the storm, nonprofits working on relief used predictive Palantir software–best known for its use by the CIA and FBI–to coordinate disaster response, rescue, and logistics.

Direct Relief

Stories about Direct Relief

A year of disaster relief shows how important cash is in helping to rebuild

More and more, disaster relief agency Direct Relief is finding that just giving cash is an important part of helping communities recover.

How Facebook’s Disaster Maps is helping aid organizations serve people affected by Florence

The social network tracks where people evacuate to after a disaster–and then helps organizations figure out in real time where to bring food and supplies.

These maps show the low-income communities that Florence will hit hardest

In places where people already lack resources, it’s much more difficult to recover from a storm. These maps of the neediest places in the hurricane’s path could help.

How Terrorist-Hunting Software Saved Lives During Hurricane Sandy

After the storm, nonprofits working on relief used predictive Palantir software–best known for its use by the CIA and FBI–to coordinate disaster response, rescue, and logistics.

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