Coping with Disaster: Lessons Learned from Executive Directors of Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) on New Orleans Following Hurricane Katrina

This dissertation explores the issues and challenges that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contend with as a consequence of a large-scale disaster, in this case, the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. Through interviews with 10 executive directors of small and medium-size nonprofit, community-based NPOs in New Orleans, this study examines how their organizations coped with the consequences of the storm and the devastating aftermath. The critical issues and coping strategies the executives identified, and the lessons they learned offer insights into (a) nonprofit organizational responses to a catastrophic event, and (b) executive leadership that helped the nonprofit to survive.

This research project was a qualitative, exploratory study utilizing a grounded theoretical approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, which were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to determine themes in critical issues, coping strategies, and lessons learned. Analysis of critical issues revealed that executives reported communication issues as paramount in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.