Since 2000, seven of the top ten most destructive fires in california's history have devastated the state, claiming fatalities and entire neighborhoods in their wake and leaving the state and…

Since 2000, seven of the top ten most destructive fires in california's history have devastated the state, claiming fatalities and entire neighborhoods in their wake and leaving the state and residents grappling with rebuilding communities and lives. As the state lead in volunteer and donations management, calvolunteers (CV) recognizes the important role local businesses, nonprofits, and volunteers play before, during, and after disasters. CV is requesting $187,843, which will be matched by $55,399 in match, for a total investment of $243,242 to launch a strategy that will effectively connect the knowledge and access of the public sector, the resources of the private sector, and the community-driven missions of the nonprofit/faith-based sector to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. After reviewing the after action reports (AARS) and the lessons learned from the recent disasters in california, CV proposes leveraging the volunteer generation fund to build three distinct products that will help california better respond to disaster needs by: 1. Developing a calvolunteers volunteer platform. California community members need to be able to access information about disasters and related volunteer opportunities through web vehicles as well as mobile friendly applications. 2. Creating the california preparedness network (CPN), a network of disaster trained corporate leaders that will educate local nonprofits and faith-based organizations in disaster preparedness and volunteer management, and 3. Building a group of well-prepared nonprofit/faith-based organizations who have continuity of operations plans (COOP) and a baseline understanding of their own operational bandwidth and can pre-identify volunteer opportunities when called to scale their operations.