Humanitarian Relief Supply Chains: The Internal and External Impacts of Corporate Philanthropic Disaster Response

Abstract

Humanitarian relief supply chains are critical to providing necessary aid and support to areas affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes. These relief supply chains remain immobile until funding or donations become available; funding is an imperative component of relief supply chains and can originate from numerous sources, including government assistance, individual donations, donations-based organizations, and corporate donations. Corporate donations are the primary focus of the paper, and can be expanded into three subcategories of donations: monetary donations, employee volunteerism, and employee donation matching. These three forms of corporate donations require a certain level of responsibility and accountability from the receiving organization in order to ensure the donations are utilized in a way that is conducive to a restorative relief environment. Corporate donations not only originate from corporation’s desire to provide assistance in times of need, but are also a main component of a corporation’s strategy; corporate social responsibility is an important, and rather imperative, element of a corporation’s strategy in today’s marketplace, playing a vital role in a corporation’s decision to contribute to humanitarian relief efforts. Careful consideration is encouraged when a corporation is determining which method of corporate social responsibility and corporate philanthropy to participate in; the opinions of both the stakeholders and customers should be considered, while still ensuring the proposed philanthropic efforts support the corporation’s mission and values.