Strategy pillar 1:
Be ready to launch the right appeals at the right time
Women work together to move bamboo material for house constructionin Inle Lake, Myanmar, where communities are being supported by DEC funds to rebuild their homes after the earthquake. Photo: Phyo Maung Maung/Arete/DEC
Two years into our five-year strategy, we have accelerated the delivery of the key strategic projects identified in our review. These projects will help us to better deliver against our core mission: to raise funds to save, protect, and rebuild the lives of people impacted by emergencies and major disasters overseas.
When disaster strikes, we mobilise. This means being ready to launch appeals as soon as our appeal criteria is met following a disaster — maximising opportunities to raise money for communities in crisis.
This year we further strengthened this strategic objective by:
- Maximising appeal income
- Growing our partnerships
- Optimising digital and social channels
- Prioritising data and targeted technology
Maximising appeal income
During the period covered in this report, from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, the DEC launched the Myanmar Earthquake
Appeal. Thanks to our partners and the generosity of the UK public, the appeal raised £21.8 million in this reporting period.
Our Rapid Response Network (RRN), which is made up of key media and corporate partners, helped us launch the appeal and get the message out to the public, making it easy for the UK public to donate quickly and seamlessly.
The Myanmar Earthquake Appeal was also supported by a number of public figures who helped to raise awareness and drive donations.
We also continued to raise funds for the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal launched the previous year, with the UK Government pledging a further £3 million UK Aid Match donation in December 2025.
Why we monitor emergencies
The DEC monitors major overseas disasters that do not currently meet our appeal criteria but may do so in the future, through early-warning data such as food insecurity forecasts and displacement trends. We also conduct monitoring surveys that show how many of our member charities are currently providing humanitarian assistance and the level of that support. This close monitoring helps us to be ready to mobilise when the time is right to launch an appeal.
This year we monitored the drought in the Horn of Africa, Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and we continue to monitor the humanitarian crisis in Sudan after conflict broke out in April 2023. With limited public awareness of the Sudan crisis and our
appeal launch criteria not met this year, the DEC provided resources to help coordinate member charities’ work to raise the
profile of the disaster
Growing our partnerships
Our Rapid Response Network (RRN) partners significantly increase the reach of our appeals as well as making it easy for the UK public to donate through their channels. This year we continued to develop and deepen our partnerships with the RRN and other partners. Co-op's Brewgooder campaign raised £20,000 for our Middle East Humanitarian Appeal through sales of beer in partnership with a Palestinian brewer, and Admiral Group supported their first appeal as a RRN member to raise funds for our Myanmar Earthquake Appeal.
To increase our engagement on digital platforms, this year we worked with our talent agency to research influencers and content creators, including those who already work with DEC members, in order to identify potential future partnership opportunities that will help the DEC message reach new and wider audiences.
Optimising digital and social channels
This year we appointed a new social media manager and invested in staff training in producing engaging video content on our social media channels to raise awareness, raise funds, attract new followers and report back on campaigns. We also completed a search engine optimisation review to improve and optimise our website and training was delivered to the team, including how to implement the search strategy.
Priotising data and targeted technology
During this reporting period we worked with our Rapid Response Network partners to open donation channels faster at the launch of an appeal. For the Myanmar Earthquake Appeal, Natwest Group’s in-app donation prompt went live on launch day, raising over £1.3 million. We again collaborated with Big Give, raising more than £400,000 through a matched giving campaign. Partners including PayPal, The Cooperative Group, British Airways, The Co-operative Bank, Admiral Group and TNT Sports all enabled donations from their customers.
