It’s not just you: Natural disasters are increasing around the world. In the U.S. alone, the frequency of billion-dollar disasters has increased dramatically, from three events a year in 1980 to an average of 20 events a year. And globally, over 400 natural disasters occur each year.
In an increasingly global workforce, what was once a rarity now has to be part of your employee operations strategy. Employers need to invest in programs that demonstrate care and commitment to their employees in need and go beyond a typical benefits package.
One example of this type of people-centered approach is Employee Assistance Funds (EAFs). EAFs provide financial relief to employees in times of crisis, from natural disasters to personal emergencies.
We recently partnered with the Conference Board and CAF America to publish Disaster Philanthropy Practices 2026, a new report to better understand how companies design their overall disaster strategy, how they incorporate employee assistance, and what their primary drivers are for responding to a crisis event.
Here are the top things we learned:
Companies say employees drive their disaster response, but most don’t offer an EAF.
Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents reported that their employee presence determines whether they respond to a disaster, the leading decision factor — yet only 49% say that an employee relief/hardship fund is currently part of their approach. That’s a nearly 20% gap between companies that say their employees matter most in a crisis, yet don’t offer direct financial support to them.
Some respondents may have never considered an EAF as an option to support their workforce in their time of need. But there are also a lot of factors to consider when launching an EAF, including budget, administrative burden, tax and governance implications, and more; the right choice will depend on your company’s particular priorities.
Most companies strive for strong governance, which is why they partner with a third party.
Forty-three percent of surveyed executives report increasing the formality of their disaster philanthropy strategy, decision criteria, and governance. Partnering with a third party to plan and administer your programs, especially a public charity, can provide more flexibility, less administrative burden, and the greatest tax benefits for your company and your employees.
When you work with Global Impact, we host an initial discovery call to better understand the goals of your EAF, learn how this program fits into your overall CSR or benefits strategies, and build a custom governance framework that ensures IRS compliance. Our focus on customization allows companies to cover a unique set of personal hardships, disasters, and crisis events and set specific grant amounts, while eliminating any tax burden on the affected employees.
Our clients appreciate our ability to fully customize programs, our international reach and expertise, and our people-centered approach to EAF management. Because ultimately, an EAF isn’t just about meeting your CSR goals or adding to your employee benefits package — it’s about providing a helping hand to an employee during their lowest moment.
Companies need a multi-pronged approach, and employee engagement should be a major component.
Though most companies say that employee presence is the number one factor that affects their disaster response, not all prioritize direct employee support. Companies say that their top tools for disaster-response efforts are matching employee donations (90%), direct corporate grants (87%), and employee volunteering (66%), all ranking higher than an employee relief/hardship fund (49%). Many miss that these tools can work in tandem with direct employee relief, providing a multi-pronged approach to disaster response.
Global Impact has 70 years of experience distributing funds to those in need across the globe. We seamlessly process assistance funding, offering non-taxable income to affected employees and tax-deductible contributions to EAF programs. But beyond EAFs, we work with a Charity Alliance of over 75 respected international charities that are on the ground responding to emergencies across the globe, from the earthquakes in Venezuela to the conflict in the Middle East. With our partnerships and experience, we offer our consultation on employee giving and volunteering programs and our recommendations on building philanthropic partnerships. Our clients set the vision, and we manage all of the program operations and distributions.
We pride ourselves on putting people at the center of strategy, encouraging our clients to embed their EAFs into their existing workplace giving programs, accepting multiple funding sources to support their EAFs, and leveraging our expertise in fundraising to benefit their employee engagement programs overall.
Although primary funding to launch and maintain an EAF program tends to come from the company, we quickly launch fundraising or matching gift efforts when a disaster strikes, empowering employees to support colleagues in crisis or the nonprofits leading on-the-ground relief.
Whether you’re ready to launch a new EAF, strengthen an existing program, or consider grants to nonprofits working on disaster response, we’re here to help every step of the way.
Looking for more information?
To learn more about launching your own Employee Assistance Fund, visit our page or reach out to [email protected]. We’d be thrilled to work with you!
