In a new article, AidKit CEO Brittany Christenson argues that nonprofits, counties and community organizations must prepare aid delivery systems before crises hit, as disasters, funding uncertainty and benefits disruptions place growing pressure on local response networks
DENVER, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As disasters, economic shocks, public benefits disruptions and emergency needs increasingly overlap, local governments and nonprofits can no longer afford to rebuild aid delivery workflows from scratch every time a crisis occurs, according to Brittany Christenson, CEO of AidKit, a Certified B Corporation that helps government agencies and nonprofits deliver fast, fair and effective aid and relief programs.
In her new article, “Disruption is Constant. Our Aid Infrastructure Must Be, Too,” Christenson argues that emergency food, rent and cash assistance infrastructure has become a permanent necessity. The article calls for a readiness-first approach to aid delivery, urging local leaders to put intake, verification, compliance and payment systems in place before the next crisis arrives.
“Disasters and major emergencies are no longer exceptions. They are the new normal” said Christenson. “Local leaders and nonprofit teams have been asked to perform heroic acts too many times with too little support. The answer is not to keep rebuilding chaotic spreadsheet workflows every time disruption hits. The answer is to create durable aid infrastructure before families are left waiting.”
Christenson writes from direct experience as a former nonprofit executive director during the pandemic, when she helped coordinate food, cash assistance, medical transport and community resources while local agencies, nonprofits, faith-based groups and charitable organizations mobilized under extraordinary pressure. She says that experience showed both the strength of community response networks and the unsustainable cost of relying on manual systems during moments of urgent need.
According to Christenson, the core challenge is not compassion or effort. Local responders already have both. The challenge is operational capacity.
“Funding is the fuel, but infrastructure is what gets aid where it needs to go,” Christenson said. “You can authorize every dollar in the world, but that money can still sit in an account while a family waits for rent, food or heat. Without the operational capacity to verify eligibility, protect sensitive information and move payments quickly, even well-intentioned responses can stall when speed matters most.”
The article points to Save the Children’s recent use of AidKit’s platform as an example of what becomes possible when infrastructure is already in place. Across four crises over four months, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Los Angeles County wildfires, a wildfire in Fresno County and a government shutdown that froze Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, Save the Children used a single standing technology platform to deliver more than $2 million in emergency cash assistance to more than 4,000 families and 10,000 children across 22 states.
Within hours of each response, the platform was verifying identities, confirming eligibility and moving funds. Christenson notes that on average, programs went from design to cash in hand in just two days.
“That sequence matters,” Christenson said. “The system was set up before the instability hit. That is what it takes to get disruption response right. The organizations that respond fastest are not the ones that scramble hardest. They are the ones that did the work before anything went wrong.”
Christenson says that work is becoming increasingly urgent because more responsibility is falling to local organizations. As federal support becomes less reliable and disaster frequency rises, counties, United Ways, community foundations, religious charities and nonprofit organizations are being asked to absorb more operational burden. While these organizations have long histories of responding with empathy and flexibility, Christenson argues that modern technology can make their work faster, more sustainable and more humane.
She also warns against treating manual workarounds as harmless. Christenson describes common last-minute aid systems that rely on Google Forms, donor management tools stretched beyond their original purpose, inboxes full of paystubs and license photos, disconnected case management platforms, and staff manually downloading and uploading thousands of documents a day.
“These taped-together systems are not failures of effort or creativity,” Christenson said. “They are what dedicated people do when the tools are not there. They make it work. They always make it work. And it costs them enormously.”
Christenson notes that families pay the price for those delays as well. A household living paycheck to paycheck cannot wait for an administrative backlog to clear while rent is due, food is running out or a utility shutoff notice is sitting on the kitchen table.
To help organizations prepare, Christenson recommends using “blue sky” periods, the time before an active crisis, to strengthen aid delivery capacity. Practical steps include assessing intake and disbursement workflows, piloting aid delivery platforms on lower-stakes programs, refreshing memoranda of understanding and partnership agreements, mapping funding sources and compliance requirements in advance, and making the case to funders that technology is program infrastructure rather than overhead.
“Blue sky work is not abstract planning,” Christenson said. “It is the work that determines whether a team can move with confidence when the pressure is on. A platform no one has used is not ready infrastructure. Agreements negotiated during a crisis are already late. Compliance requirements solved while families are waiting become another bottleneck.”
Christenson says the goal is not simply faster technology. The goal is a better operating model for aid delivery: one that reduces staff burden, protects sensitive data, preserves compliance, gives funders stronger accountability and allows families to apply through a clean, coordinated process rather than navigating disconnected forms, emails and payment systems.
“The next disruption will not wait for agencies and nonprofits to rebuild workflows under pressure,” Christenson said. “Local leaders already know how to respond with urgency and compassion. What they need now is infrastructure that matches their commitment. Creating delivery capacity before a crisis arrives is a readiness strategy, a staff sustainability strategy and, most importantly, a way to make sure families receive help while it can still change the outcome.”
To read Christenson’s full article, go to https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disruption-constant-our-aid-infrastructure-must-too-christenson-wv4zc/.
For more information about AidKit, visit https://www.aidkit.com/disaster-aid-infrastructure-for-counties.
About AidKit
AidKit is the infrastructure behind many of the nation’s most effective aid and relief programs, helping even the leanest governments and nonprofit teams deliver aid and benefits in days, not months. Designed to meet the complex demands of large-scale aid and public benefits distribution, AidKit’s all-in-one technology platform streamlines workflows, accelerates disbursements and reduces administrative burden, adapting to each community’s needs rather than requiring communities to adapt to the platform. With integrated fraud mitigation, compliance tracking and real-time caseload management tools, AidKit ensures programs operate with precision, accountability and data security. Drawing on a proven record of successful implementations, AidKit expands operational capacity and elevates service delivery for its partners, delivering results that maximize impact and build public trust across programs ranging from disaster relief to public benefits modernization. Active in 27 states, AidKit has served 240+ government and nonprofit partners and distributed over $450 million in aid. Founded in 2021, AidKit is a Certified B Corporation and a Public Benefit Corporation. For more information, visit https://www.aidkit.com/.
Media contact:
Michael Tebo
Gabriel Marketing Group (for AidKit)
Phone: 571-835-8775
Email: michaelt@gabrielmarketing.com
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SOURCE AidKit
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