Disaster Activity Response Database

Corporation for National and Community Service

Disaster Activity Report Instructions

To better collect information on national service activities supporting communities impacted by disasters, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) established a Disaster Activity Report to help standardize the information collected, establish common units of measure, and provide better information to FEMA and other national service stakeholders on the impacts of this important work.

Organization Name- The name of the deployed organization supported by CNCS on the disaster activity.

Point of Contact- The person who serves as the liaison between CNCS and your organization.

Address/City/State/Zip- The mailing address for your organization.

Phone/Fax/E-mail- The contact information for the Point of Contact.

Mission Assignment Number- Assigned by FEMA.

Project Title- Generally a combination of the year, location and type of event (ex. 2007 Groundhog Day Tornadoes- Florida, 2005 Hurricane Katrina- Alabama).

FEMA POC- For FEMA Mission Assignments, the person who serves as the on-the-ground liaison between FEMA and your project.

Phone/E-mail- The contact information for the FEMA POC.

Project Start Date/Project End Date- Used to track the duration of your program’s deployments. This should include travel time to and from the deployment site.

Number of Participants Deployed- The sum total of national service participants deployed. Do not include deployed support staff.

Participant Service Hours- The sum total of hours deployed participants served. Do not include support staff.

POC for Site Supervision/Support- The individual responsible for providing on-the-ground support and leadership for deployed participants. May include support staff.

Phone Number/E-mail- Contact information for the Site POC.

Project Narrative- A description of project activities, goals of the project, and the event to which your organization is responding. This description should provide sufficient detail and background to allow someone unfamiliar with your project to develop a basic understanding of the activities and circumstances of your deployment. Mission Assignments and Inter-Agency Agreements provide a good starting point for the information requested. This is where you also want to assess the impact of your project on those you are serving.

Project Challenges/Problems- An opportunity to review the challenges your organization faced and help CNCS identify possible corrective action for future deployments. This should include problems with the project, communications, safety, off-service support (recreational opportunities, downtime, lodging, etc.), disciplinary issues, support from FEMA or CNCS, etc. CNCS will use this information to identify trends and make adjustments to disaster deployments when necessary.

Lessons Learned/What Worked- An opportunity to highlight specific accomplishments of your organization that warrant further discussion or unique aspects of the project or support that should be replicated in future service activities. Also solutions for challenges identified above can be included here.

Quantifiable Accomplishments- The second page of the Disaster Activity Report contains a list of quantifiable measures used to track specific accomplishments of your programs during the deployment period. The list of accomplishments represents commonly supported and reported activities on disaster deployments coupled with standardized units of measure to ensure consistency in reporting. To complete this form, please review the list of accomplishments provided. If your program engaged in any of the activities in the list, please record the appropriate value with that accomplishment. Space is also provided to allow you to measure accomplishments not on the list. CNCS will regularly review the report design to ensure reporting matches the activities of programs and will update the accomplishment list regularly.

CNCS recognizes that precise reporting can be difficult for programs. Please use your best estimates when recording accomplishments. If you have any questions about reporting requirements, please e-mail oem@cns.gov.

List of Quantifiable Accomplishments and

Standardized Units of Measure

Value	Accomplishment	Unit of Measure
	People Assisted in Disaster Areas	Number of Individuals
	Volunteers Coordinated/Leveraged	Number of Individuals
	Evacuees Supported	Number of Individuals
	Informational Fliers Distributed	Number of Fliers
	Client Cases Managed/Supported	Number of Case Files
	Damage Assessments Completed	Number of Assessments
	Meals Served	Number of Meals
	Right of Entry Forms Collected	Number of Forms
	Work Orders Completed	Number of Orders
	People Receiving Clothing	Number of Individuals
	People Served Meals	Number of Individuals
	People with Special Needs Supported	Number of Individuals
	Homes Repaired	Number of Houses
	Homes Tarped	Number of Houses
	Homes Mucked Out	Number of Houses
	Homes Protected from Disaster	Number of Houses
	Volunteer Service Hours Completed	Number of Hours
	Food Collected	Pounds of Food
	Clothing Collected	Pounds of Clothing
	Funds Raised	Value of Funds in Dollars
	Donated Goods Collected/Sorted/Distributed	Pounds of Goods
	Donated Goods Collected/Sorted/Distributed	Value of Goods in Dollars
	Volunteer Reception Centers Supported	Number of Centers
	Emergency Response Centers Supported	Number of Centers
	Call Centers Supported	Number of Call Centers
	Warehouses Supported	Number of Warehouses
	Long Term Recovery Committees Supported	Number of Committees
	Shelters Supported	Number of Shelters
	Campgrounds Supported	Number of Campgrounds
	Public Facilities Repaired	Number of Facilities
	Hazardous Debris Removed	Pounds of Debris
	Land Cleared of Hazardous Fuels	Acres of Land
	Wildfires Fought/Contained	Number of Fires
	Wildfires Fought/Contained	Acres of Land
	Land Cleared With Prescribed Burns	Acres of Land
	Sandbags Filled or Installed	Number of Bags
If you have quantifiable accomplishments that are not provided in the list above, use the space below to list the specific accomplishment, value and unit of measure for that accomplishment. The accomplishment list will undergo periodic review and may change depending on input received here.

Value	Accomplishment	Unit of Measure

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What does this report do?

A. This report will help aggregate and summarize the activities of all programs and participants deployed to CNCS supported disaster activities. This information will be shared with the CNCS Office of Public Affairs and Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations along with other interested parties to ensure participating programs receive appropriate recognition for their activities. This report will also help spread awareness of the role national service plays in helping communities affected by disasters.

Q. Who needs to complete this report?

A. This report should be completed by a representative of each organization that deploys national service participants (AmeriCorps members, Senior Corps volunteers, Learn & Serve participants) in a CNCS supported disaster activity. For programs that entered into a Disaster Response Cooperative Agreement, this report meets the reporting requirements outlined in the agreement.

Q. How often must I complete this report?

A. This report should be completed at the conclusion of any CNCS supported disaster deployment where your organization participates in the effort. On rare occasions, CNCS may ask for an interim accomplishment report. These requests will generally be limited to deployments in excess of 60 days, where significant national attention is paid to CNCS activities (ex. Hurricane Katrina). Additionally, FEMA may require daily information updates on program activities. Proper utilization of this report can help meet both FEMA and CNCS requirements, reducing the reporting burden on the programs.

Q. How can this report be used by FEMA?

A. FEMA generally provides a daily update of federal activities for all organizations involved in the response and recovery effort, and will include information received from national service programs in the report.

This information can also be very helpful to the state. Many states are required by federal law to provide a match of up to 25% for the federal disaster funds they receive. One of the rules for meeting the match requirement allows states to count the hours of volunteer activities as an in-kind contribution to that match. Effective project reporting coupled with FEMA collaboration can help save state taxpayer dollars and heighten the profile of a participating program’s contributions.

We strongly encourage programs to work with CNCS, FEMA, and state officials to maximize opportunities that can reduce the financial burdens on states that engage national service in disaster response and recovery.

Q. Does this report meet all reporting requirements?

A. No. For programs deployed under a CNCS Disaster Response Cooperative Agreement, your agreement also requires reporting around reimbursable expenses. Additionally, programs deployed under FEMA Mission Assignments often have to make daily reports to FEMA.

Q. What constitutes a disaster deployment?

A. Disaster deployments are usually identified by event and the state impacted.

Q. Do I have to submit a report for each team deployed?

A. No. The report is based on the deployment, not the team. Teams can be arbitrary. A team can have only a few members or it can consist of a large group of members. When CNCS contacts your organization for a deployment, it is usually for a fixed number of participants to engage in a predetermined series of activities in a particular state. This is what determines the reporting.

Q. How do I gather the information needed in this report?

A. You should be able to work with your deployed participants, the FEMA POC and any site supervisors assigned to work with you to collect the necessary information. They can come up with helpful ways to estimate quantifiable accomplishments and capture the story of your project and its impact.

Q. Can my organization use the information in this report?

A. Certainly. You are encouraged to use the information you gather for this report in press releases, flyers and other materials to promote your program.

Q. My program is teamed up with another CNCS program on assignment. Will both of us have to fill out a report?

A. Yes. You will need to work with the other program and OEM to identify what accomplishments uniquely belong to your program, and what accomplishments were achieved jointly. We want your organization to receive credit for both types of accomplishments, and OEM will work with you to ensure there is no double counting of accomplishments in any aggregated reports. To help do this, please note if your teams worked jointly on projects with other CNCS supported teams in the Project Narrative.

Q. Do I complete just one report if I have teams in two different states?

A. No. Each state would receive its own report. This is a common reporting requirement established by FEMA.

Q. What do I do when I have multiple teams rotating in and out of a project site?

A. That will depend on the exact nature of the project. Generally, you will be able to aggregate the activities and accomplishments of the rotating teams into one report. You may be asked to file more than one report if the project period spans a large timeframe where audiences request interim information or if there is a significant variance in the work the different teams accomplish warranting different Mission Assignments.

Q. Who may I speak with about the reporting requirements or other questions about the Disaster Activity Report?

A. You may send questions to oem@cns.gov.