Texas Flood Cash Relief Program: Accelerating disaster relief with AidKit Essentials

Program Overview

In July 2025, catastrophic flooding across Central Texas killed more than 120 people and displaced thousands. Survivors needed immediate cash assistance for food, water, temporary housing, and medical supplies. In response, nonprofits and technology partners mobilized together to deliver relief as quickly and securely as possible.

AidKit partners with nonprofits and governments to deliver secure, direct cash assistance through its highly configurable aid administration platform. Since 2022, AidKit and GiveDirectly have worked together on more than 10 programs, distributing over $150 million to tens of thousands of households.

The Texas Flood Cash Relief Program, which provided one-time $2,400 grants to low-income households affected by the floods in Texas, marked a shift toward a lean, rapid-response model designed to meet urgent community needs. This approach layered AidKit Essentials on top of an existing partnership between Propel, GiveDirectly, and GiveCard. Each partner contributed unique strengths: GiveDirectly led fundraising, community sensitization, program strategy and design, and overall administration; GiveCard powered fast payouts; and AidKit supplied the workflow infrastructure for an open application, fraud mitigation, administrative review, and support systems—all configured and launched in days rather than weeks.

The Challenge

In July 2025, catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas, killing more than 120 people and displacing thousands. Survivors needed immediate access to cash for food, water, temporary housing, and medical supplies.

Initially, GiveDirectly leveraged its existing disaster‑response partnership with Propel and GiveCard to send immediate cash relief to pre‑vetted SNAP recipients in affected areas. Propel’s technology made it possible to confidently identify and reach SNAP households through the app, creating a fast and trusted first wave of relief. After this initial phase, however, a gap remained: GiveDirectly still had funds available to disburse but no additional pre‑vetted applicants to receive them.

The challenge was to quickly create an open application for impacted community members who qualified but still required additional vetting. The program also had to balance speed with security. Families needed funds quickly, but identity verification, eligibility checks, and fraud prevention still had to happen behind the scenes. AidKit Essentials was built precisely for this type of high‑pressure environment.

Partnership in Practice: How GiveDirectly Used AidKit Essentials To Scale Rapid Relief

1. Leveraging an Existing Partnership

The Texas Flood Cash Relief Program built on the combined strengths of GiveDirectly, GiveCard, and AidKit.

GiveDirectly developed a network of on-the-ground partners during the first stage of its flood response. These partners helped to disseminate the public application link built by AidKit.

2. Configuring AidKit Essentials

AidKit Essentials accelerated program setup by providing an out-of-the-box solution for disaster relief:

• Public Application: A mobile-friendly application allowed anyone in the affected region to apply.
• Rapid Applicant Verification: Automated tools confirmed applicant identity and residency without burdensome paperwork.
• Eligibility Rules Engine: Configurable logic prioritized applicants based on geographic flood-impact data and income indicators.
• Fraud Mitigation: AI-assisted duplicate detection and data validation ran silently in the background.
• Payments Integration: AidKit’s secure connection with GiveCard enabled applicants to choose ACH deposit, prepaid virtual cards, or mailed debit cards.

3. Secure, Flexible Payments

Within a week, the portal was live, and the first payments were disbursed quickly thereafter to approved households via ACH deposit, prepaid virtual cards, or mailed debit cards.

“AidKit Essentials allowed us to move from concept to delivery in weeks, not months, without compromising security.”‍

— Sarina Jain, Sr. Program Manager, US Disaster Response Lead, GiveDirectly

Program Impact

By providing qualified households with funds, program leaders were able to bridge the critical gap before longer-term government aid became available.

At a Glance

• 450+ households received $2,400 each to support recovery.
• Funds covered essentials like food, water, temporary shelter, and medical supplies.
• AidKit Essentials enabled launch and first payments within days of program design.
• By layering an open application over pre-vetted SNAP recipients, GiveDirectly increased enrollment by over 26%.

This deployment demonstrated several key outcomes:

• Faster response: AidKit Essentials enabled launch and payments within days.
• Expanded reach: By layering an open application on top of GiveDirectly’s payments to pre-verified households, the program served newly identified families.
• Streamlined operations: Payments flowed seamlessly through GiveCard’s integration, minimizing administrative overhead.
• Dignity and choice: Unrestricted cash gave survivors the autonomy to decide how best to meet their needs.

“The Texas floods emergency relief cash program is a powerful testament of how a strong, long-term partnership can drive impact at speed. After four years of working closely with AidKit, we’ve built deep trust, operational alignment, and a shared commitment to human-centered design—all of which enabled this program's launch to be one of the fastest in GiveDirectly’s history. Because of our partnership with AidKit, we were able to move faster, solve problems more collaboratively, and ultimately deliver hundreds of thousands more dollars to low-income flood survivors.”

— Jain, Sr. Program Manager, US Disaster Response Lead, GiveDirectly

The Bigger Picture

By pre‑positioning partnerships and leveraging AidKit Essentials, organizations can stand up emergency cash programs quickly and reliably when disasters strike. Because the platform already integrates outreach, enrollment, and payments, the key pieces are in place for future responses.

Looking Ahead

The Texas flood response highlights a new model for AidKit’s work with nonprofits and local governments. Many partners know AidKit for complex, highly customized program builds, but this case shows that AidKit can also serve as a nimble workflow layer for rapid‑response deployments where speed is critical.

AidKit is committed to deepening collaboration with partners like GiveDirectly and GiveCard to expand this model nationwide. Together, we can be ready before the next disaster hits.

“This program showed what’s possible when we combine existing networks with flexible tools. It sets a standard for future responses.”

— Julia Ford, Senior Director of Partner Success, AidKit