Stand by Me

Abstract

Over 250 new nonprofit organizations were founded in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This study explores the characteristics of those organizations, the role they played and founders' motivations. The creation of new organizations is compared to the Disaster Resource Center's typology of organized responses to disaster. The study finds that classification of the organized response to recovery efforts following 9/11 requires a different typology and identifies two elements: derivative and unaffiliated organizations. Most of the new 9/11 organizations were temporary and defined long-term recovery as one to two years; those that endured five years had close institutional or experiential ties to victims’ families. New organizations created in response to disaster have a shorter lifespan than other populations of new organizations. The study indicates that the setting of a disaster and how its victims are defined affect the kinds of organizations people create, their role and endurance.