Dogwood Trust releases Helene response playbook for future disasters

Dogwood Health Trust is asking Western North Carolina to treat Helene less as a memory than as a test. The Asheville-based foundation released a Hurricane Helene disaster response playbook on June 8, paired with a downloadable checklist for funders, nonprofits and civic leaders who will be expected to move faster when the next storm hits.

The point is not just to look back. Dogwood says the playbook is meant to help organizations stabilize communities immediately after a disaster and set up longer-term recovery, with a focus on communication, coordination, grantmaking and the support systems that matter when roads, housing and local services are under pressure. Dogwood described Helene as “a systems disruption,” noting that communities were cut off for weeks from power, clean water, cell service and safe road access.

For Buncombe County, that framing lands against a blunt record of damage. The county’s after-action report said Helene killed 43 people locally, damaged more than 60% of county properties, destroyed 372 homes and left more than 11,000 needing significant repairs. Asheville’s municipal water system was disrupted for 53 days, a reminder that disaster response in this county is measured not just in dollars but in whether families can flush a toilet, fill a prescription or get across a closed road.

Dogwood’s checklist says most philanthropic and community organizations are not built for disaster response and argues that quick action depends on relationships, communication, equity and internal alignment. That is where the playbook becomes more than a retrospective: it is a readiness tool that could be used to judge whether the region has clearer decision-making, stronger partner networks and faster distribution channels before the next emergency. The hard questions now are practical ones: who is in charge when cell service fails, how grants will move to housing, food and medical access, and how the public will know whether those systems work.

Dogwood says it moved more than $80 million in immediate relief grants within five months of Helene and that its total 2024 and 2025 investments in annual grants, impact investments and Helene relief topped $365 million. In December 2024, the foundation said its Helene commitments had passed $70 million, including support flowing through the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and WNC Bridge Foundation via the Emergency and Disaster Response Fund.

In an October 2025 interview, Dogwood CEO Dr. Susan Mims said philanthropy’s role includes collaboration, flexibility and sustained long-term recovery work. The new playbook turns that philosophy into a public test: whether Buncombe County, Asheville and their partners are any better prepared for the next disaster than they were for Helene.