Does your organization help out during a crisis? You may be wondering how you can take advantage of your volunteer management software during an emergency. That's where the Disaster Dashboard comes in! This module can be enabled or disabled depending on your organization's needs.

The Activate: Disaster Dashboard allows you to keep track of important data during times of emergency. You may wish to enable the dashboard when your organization responds to local, state, or national states of emergency—e.g., hurricane cleanup and relief efforts.

Don't have an existing emergency to support? No worries! There are actions you can take when there isn't an emergency to respond to, for example:

It's important to prepare your volunteer community so they're ready to respond when disasters strike. Help them prepare by encouraging them to:

One thing you can do is share information with your volunteers. Here are just a few suggestions we recommend:

Share what ways volunteers may be asked to help in the event of a disaster. These can be tasks like clearing brush, providing medical aid, passing out food and supplies, etc.

Share their impact. Let volunteers know how their involvement makes an impact. Be specific to encourage engagement. You can also let them know what benefits their support has on the community or themselves.

Share what your organization's role is during times of disaster. Is it a support role like setting up stations, providing medical care, requesting donations, etc.? Let them know!
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You can set up space on your site to highlight this information and share resources or past experiences so they know what is involved in the process. This can be done with a spotlight or through a custom page.

Run through our help resources to understand how you can set up your dashboard and manage those features. Staying informed about how the dashboard works and your role can help mitigate any stress if an emergency or crisis takes you by surprise.