The Business of Doing Good in Times of Crisis: How Businesses can Strengthen Communities and Organisational Resilience

An Economist Enterprise – Institute of Philanthropy Report with contributor Ola Al Haj Hussin, Crescent Enterprises’ Corporate Citizenship Manager

Crises are becoming harder for businesses in Asia to treat as exceptional events. As disasters grow more frequent and complex, companies are learning that their own resilience depends in part on the communities around them. The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 showed how one disaster could reshape communities, damage infrastructure and spur calls for companies to help in mainland China. More recently, floods in Pakistan in 2026, the Tai Po fire in Hong Kong in 2025 and the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Japan in 2024 have placed sudden pressure on households, public services and local economies. Climate shocks, public-health emergencies and conflict-driven supply disruptions can also overlap, leaving businesses to prepare for disruption that is increasingly difficult to predict or contain.

The costs of crises are rising. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) estimates direct disaster losses at more than $200bn a year. Once wider economic and environmental damage is included, the cost exceeds $2.3trn. Governments, businesses and communities all bear part of these costs, but none can build resilience alone. Closer collaboration allows each to contribute capabilities and resources that the others lack.

Many businesses already respond when disaster strikes. They donate money and goods, mobilise employee volunteers and support relief efforts. Yet even generous, well-organised emergency aid can do little to prepare communities for the next crisis. The challenge is not whether businesses should do more, but how they can engage better: shifting from ad hoc cheques, donations and volunteering towards using their assets, agility, capital, supply chains and expertise where they can do most good.

The benefits extend beyond the immediate response. Longer-term engagement can build trust with customers and employees, strengthen supply chains, support workers and keep local economies running. “Businesses first protect their people and operations, then work to keep critical services running for customers. Where there is a clear need, they can extend their capabilities to affected communities. That is how businesses can do good during crises: by using what they already do well where it is needed most,” says Florian Rhiza Nery, deputy programme co-ordinator at the Connecting Business Initiative, a joint programme led by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Since businesses recover only as quickly as the communities around them, investing in community resilience also protects the business itself.

Corporate philanthropy has an important, if not always straightforward, part to play. Unlike separate charitable foundations, it must justify investment, demonstrate value and compete with other business priorities, while often being judged against expectations normally placed on independent charities. It cannot fill every gap left by a government or meet every community need. Used well, however, corporate philanthropy becomes more than a source of funding. It helps companies build lasting relationships with communities and governments before disaster strikes, creating the trust and partnerships that make crisis response faster and more effective.

This research programme explores how companies can apply their capabilities, resources and networks across the full crisis lifecycle—before, during and after the emergency. It argues for a shift from one-off acts of generosity to a more deliberate and sustained approach to crisis preparedness, response and recovery, and examines how corporate philanthropy can support that transition.
Key findings:

1. Business resilience depends on community resilience. Companies rely on the communities where they operate. When a crisis disrupts one, it also disrupts the other. Three-quarters of business leaders surveyed cite community impact as a leading reason for responding, ahead of executive leadership preference (54%) and operational or supply-chain disruption (35%). These motivations are closely linked rather than competing priorities. Supporting recovery does more than serve communities; it strengthens business resilience and helps protect a company’s licence to operate.
2. The most effective crisis responses begin locally and continue beyond the emergency. Crisis response works best when it reflects local needs rather than corporate preferences. Yet fewer than one-quarter of companies surveyed respond primarily because local governments, NGOs or community organisations request support. Longer-term engagement is even less common. Across most forms of support, only 12–17% of organisations remain involved in resilience-building after the immediate emergency. Recovery should begin alongside emergency relief, with support that continues after public attention has shifted elsewhere.
3. A company’s greatest contribution is often not its cash, but its capabilities. Money does matter. But businesses can often create greater value through their products, logistics, technology, data and skilled employees. Around half of surveyed organisations continue to share knowledge during longer-term recovery, while only 12–15% continue financial or in-kind support. Yet many companies make limited use of these capabilities. Only 13% regularly deploy products and services, 11% skilled employees and 9% leadership or co-ordination support. Business capabilities can become public assets in a crisis. Zhang Fan, assistant to the secretary-general at Tencent Charity Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Chinese technology company Tencent, describes this as a shift from a “capital philosophy” to a “capability philosophy”. Corporate philanthropy, she argues, should mobilise a company’s expertise as well as its financial resources.
4. Strong partnerships begin before crises strike. Companies with trusted partners can mobilise faster and co-ordinate resources more effectively. More than half of surveyed organisations already work with governments, NGOs or business partners, yet fewer than one in five have formal links to national or regional disaster management frameworks. More than half say short-term funding makes partnerships difficult to sustain. Without co-ordination, well-intentioned support can duplicate efforts in some places while leaving gaps in others. Although only 11% of surveyed organisations have one, corporate foundations can help convene partners, identify unmet needs and align resources. The strongest responses are shaped with frontline organisations before crises occur and sustained throughout recovery.
5. Companies should judge success by outcomes, not inputs. Many companies still measure what is easiest to count: money donated, volunteers mobilised or supplies distributed. These indicators are useful, but they reveal little about whether support helped communities recover or become more resilient. More than seven in ten surveyed organisations identify better measurement of social and business returns as a priority. Stronger evidence also helps companies direct resources where they have the greatest impact and sustain investment when budgets come under pressure. Cost is already the biggest barrier to long-term engagement, cited by 62% of respondents and three-quarters of micro-organisations, defined as those with annual revenue of less than $50m. What matters is not how much companies give, but whether their support leaves communities better prepared for the next crisis.