How Save the Children provided anticipatory cash assistance to families before Hurricane Isaias

On October 9, Hurricane Isaias made landfall as the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season.

As state and local officials readied supplies and fortified critical infrastructure, Save the Children offered families a different but equally vital lifeline: anticipatory cash assistance delivered before the storm arrived.

Building on an established emergency cash assistance program

Using pre-positioned disaster aid infrastructure, Save the Children delivers emergency cash assistance with a goal of reaching families anywhere in the U.S. within 72 hours. The organization has responded to disasters across the country, including this year’s wildfires in Washington state and recent flooding in West Virginia and Hawaii as well as long-term support in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

But speed after a disaster is only part of the picture. Strengthening emergency preparedness has been a key goal of Save the Children’s cash assistance work. Years of response experience suggested that the qualities that make cash effective after a disaster — flexibility, timeliness and community-wide impact — could also help families get ready before one strikes. Anticipatory cash assistance puts that goal into practice, reaching children and families before the storm. For Hurricane Isaias, Save the Children worked with Special Olympics Florida and Gulf Regional Early Childhood Services to direct its anticipatory assistance to families with disabilities.

How anticipatory cash assistance helps 

Cash assistance moves quickly and lets families choose what they need. That makes it especially well-suited to people with disabilities, who are disproportionately affected by disasters.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, people with disabilities are almost twice as likely to be displaced by natural disasters. Even after evacuating, they experience problems like food and water shortages, lack of electricity, isolation, fear of crime and financial scams at rates five to 10 times higher than people without disabilities. Many families with disabilities are aware of these risks and ready to plan for them. In one study of parents of children with developmental disabilities, 86% said emergency planning training was important, and most wanted direct help putting a plan into action. Anticipatory cash helps turn that readiness into action, giving families the resources to act before a storm and a firmer foundation for recovery after it.

"By supplying money, we give people the choice to evacuate safely or to hunker down with what they need to survive, and we don’t make those decisions for them. They know best what they need and we are there to support them."

— Bjorn Betzler, Cash Advisor, US Emergencies, Save the Children

In their words: Anticipatory cash assistance

Below, Save the Children’s U.S. cash advisors, Bjorn Betzler and Laura Meissner, share how Save the Children decided to provide anticipatory assistance ahead of Hurricane Isaias, how anticipatory assistance works and what other organizations can consider as they plan for emergency cash assistance and preparedness.

‍Preparedness is a key goal of Save the Children’s emergency cash assistance work. How did that goal and lessons from past responses lead to Save the Children providing anticipatory assistance ahead of Hurricane Isaias?

Bjorn: We set out to design the most research-backed program possible. This directed us to be disability-focused, as that is where the need is clearest. We work with a national network of local partners to ensure that we select the families that need financial assistance to prepare for a disaster or get out of harm’s way. And we use secure, fast, and advanced technology and payment options available in the US to provide cash assistance through an inclusive, low-barrier system.  

How does anticipatory assistance work in practice, from identifying families with local partners to deciding when to send funds?

Laura: We have national partnerships with Easterseals and Special Olympics focused on supporting people with disabilities and that have a wide footprint across the country. The local affiliates of these national partners, along with hyper-local organizations, provide referrals of individuals and families who may benefit most from cash assistance.

A few days before Hurricane Isaias was expected to hit, we realized we had enough time to plan and distribute anticipatory cash assistance. In advance of the storm, we tracked the various storm models while also reaching out to Save the Children’s partners along the Gulf Coast.  

As the storm’s track narrowed and the models coalesced, we quickly connected with Special Olympics Florida and Gulf Regional Early Childhood Services, who began referring families to us before the storm hit.

The day before the storm was a mad dash. We received names from our partners and entered them into the AidKit system. We called families directly to help them through the registration process and refreshed our AidKit dashboard regularly to check the status of payments. We answered texts from applicants who were literally waiting on their card to load so they could get in the checkout line at the grocery store. We reached 100% of the families we had registered, and 87% of the families that were referred to us.

On the day the storm hit, we shifted seamlessly to our post-disaster response. 

"There’s a moment when you have to decide that you’re sure enough."

— Laura Meissner, Cash Advisor, US Emergencies, Save the Children

What advice would you give organizations considering anticipatory assistance?

Bjorn: I would tell them this is the best possible way to support families during disasters. Responding before a disaster strikes saves lives and stretches the limited response resources. And this assistance is best when provided in cash — by supplying money, we give people the choice to evacuate safely or to hunker down with what they need to survive, and we don’t make those decisions for them. They know best what they need and we are there to support them.

Laura: Recognize that there are always tradeoffs between speed and accuracy with anticipatory assistance. We could have reached people sooner, but three days ahead of when the storm hit, the possible landfall point of Isaias was still broad — from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle. By the time we knew the exact landfall location, it would have been too late to send anticipatory payments. There’s a moment when you have to decide that you’re sure enough. 

Disaster response and recovery are evolving quickly, and cash assistance is increasingly part of a well-rounded plan. How do you see the field developing, and where should leaders who are curious about cash assistance go to learn more?

Bjorn: Leaders interested in learning more can join or reach out to the Cash Coordination Coalition for US Disasters, a group co-founded and co-led by Save the Children along with our partners at CORE Response. Together, with over 100 experts from around 60 organizations, we’re improving the system to enable cash-first disaster response here in the US. We have resources and research for our members and are eager to expand on this work.  

Preparing families for constant disruption 

Disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, leading to a state of constant disruption that leaves families less time to recover before the next event. The work Save the Children did ahead of Hurricane Isaias shows what preparedness can look like when it starts with families: resources in hand before the storm and the freedom to decide what their household needs most.

AidKit is glad to support the technology behind this work so teams like Save the Children can focus on the children, families and communities they work with.

Get in touch

To learn more about how AidKit helps nonprofits deliver disaster cash assistance, visit AidKit Ready for Nonprofits or contact us directly at partnerships@aidkit.cloud.