Our work · response model
Speed is a warehouse, not a miracle
Most of a fast response happens before the disaster: stock counted and shrink-wrapped at three hubs, standby freight agreements signed, and partner organizations who already run the last mile. When the alert comes, the work is execution — not invention.
Just as important: who leads. In every response we work under the direction of local and national organizations. They know which houses are occupied, which roads flood, and what dignity looks like in their own community. Our job is to make their plan move.
Standard operating model
The first 72 hours
This model is public on purpose. After every response we review it against what actually happened and publish the differences in the situation report.
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H+0–12
Alert & activation
Roster members are alerted and confirmed. We call our local partner first — they know the roads, the leaders, and what's actually needed. Pre-positioned stock at the nearest hub is manifested.
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H+12–24
First dispatch
Trucks or charter space are loading from the nearest hub while an advance coordinator joins the partner team. The manifest is published internally — every pallet accounted for.
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H+24–48
Arrival & handover
Partner-led distribution begins. A joint needs assessment runs alongside it, led by community representatives — what families say they need outranks what we assumed.
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H+48–72
Scale & adjust
The second dispatch is packed to match the assessment, not the first guess. Cash feasibility is checked against local markets. Situation report no. 1 goes public.
Median alert-to-dispatch across the last 12 responses: 31 hours (illustrative)
Pre-positioned stock
Three hubs, one promise
Shelter kits, safe-water kits, and hygiene supplies sit counted and ready within a day's reach of the regions we serve. Monthly donors fund this quiet layer — it's the least photogenic, most decisive thing we do.
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HUB-NBO
Nairobi
East & Horn of Africa
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HUB-MNL
Manila
South & Southeast Asia
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HUB-PTY
Panama City
Latin America & Caribbean
The local-partner approach
Aid works when the people closest to the problem hold the pen
Local partners lead — we resource them
In FY2025, 64% of our response funding moved through local and national organizations (illustrative). Our target is 70% by 2028. They lead; we bring logistics, stock, and money.
Buy close, not far
Regional procurement first. A tonne of rice bought two provinces away arrives sooner, costs less, and keeps local markets standing.
Cash where markets work
When shops are open, cash beats cargo. Families set their own priorities, and every dollar passes through the local economy on its way to help.
Communities set the priorities
Feedback lines in local languages, community committees in distribution planning, and responses that change when people tell us we got it wrong.
Drawing the line
What we don't do
An honest response model is defined as much by its refusals. Ours are modeled on the sector's shared standards — the Core Humanitarian Standard and the Sphere handbook — and they're non-negotiable.
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We don't fly in unrequested goods. Unsolicited donations clog ports that working responses need.
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We don't bypass local leadership. Aid that ignores the people organizing their own recovery isn't aid.
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We don't invent deadlines. We will never tell you a family will die if you don't give in the next hour — we'll tell you exactly what the next truck costs.
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We don't photograph despair. People appear in our materials with informed consent, leading their own recovery.
Ways to give
Fund the unphotogenic part
Warehousing, freight agreements, partner grants — the machinery that makes 'fastest' true. That's what your gift buys.