Who They Are
All Hands and Hearts is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that was formed in 2017 from the merging of two disaster relief organizations: All Hands Volunteers and Happy Hearts Fund. The organization was established following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, which claimed over 250,000 lives and became the largest natural disaster of our lifetime.
Co-founder David Campbell created All Hands Volunteers after traveling to Thailand with donations from friends and 40 years of business management experience to help tsunami survivors. Co-founder Petra Němcová founded Happy Hearts Fund in 2005 after surviving the same tsunami by clinging to a palm tree for eight hours with a broken pelvis. Her partner died in the disaster, and her experience hearing children in distress motivated her to focus on helping disaster-affected children.
The two organizations initially collaborated in Nepal in 2015 before officially merging under the "Smart Response" approach. All Hands and Hearts has earned Charity Navigator's highest 4-star rating for nine consecutive years, with 95 cents of every dollar donated going directly to programs. The organization operates on the principle that people's natural desire to help during crises can be organized into effective disaster relief efforts.
Over nearly two decades of combined operations, the organization has built a reputation as a trusted disaster relief provider both domestically in the United States and internationally across multiple countries.
What They Do
All Hands and Hearts provides volunteer-powered disaster relief through their "Smart Response" model, which includes four phases: Response, Recovery, Resilience, and Renewal. The organization arrives early after disasters occur and maintains long-term commitments to affected communities, working directly with local residents to rebuild infrastructure.
Their core work involves building disaster-resilient schools, homes, daycare facilities, and community centers. Rather than providing temporary solutions, they construct buildings to code that can better withstand future disasters. The organization specifically targets financially vulnerable communities that face both natural disaster risks and limited resources for recovery.
All Hands and Hearts has impacted over 1.2 million people across 29 countries through 188 disaster programs. They have mobilized more than 68,300 volunteers representing 144 different nationalities. Their educational impact includes affecting 365 schools and helping 123,300 students return to school, while their housing work has impacted 205,000 homes.
Current active programs include California wildfire relief, Hurricane Helene and Milton recovery, earthquake relief in Mexico and Myanmar, and ongoing work in Nepal and the Philippines, among others. The organization's volunteer model allows them to maintain operations in multiple locations simultaneously while adapting their approach to meet specific community needs and local conditions.
To learn more about All Hands and Hearts, visit their website.
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Photos via All Hands and Hearts.
