Two weeks ago, the tri-state area experienced the sheer force of Mother Nature as Hurricane Sandy slammed into the area. The aftermath of the storm left homes devastated and millions without access to basic essentials, such as electricity, heat, and water.

As a business, disasters are especially tough to navigate. Businesses want to show their commitment to their customers and demonstrate their support, but often times, it's difficult to know how to approach the situation.

Below are a few examples of how different companies from VC-backed startups to big brands displayed positivity in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In times like these, the following companies showed their dedication, passion, and commitment to their customers, their company, and to each other. 

Startups

Value: Transparency and Commitment 

Squarespace is a hosted content management system known for its responsive and design friendly WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) editor. As a result of Hurricane Sandy, one of the company's data centers in downtown Manhattan lost its power (even with redundant backup systems in place). The incredible part of thie story was that through this entire ordeal, none of their customers lost any downtime because of the dedication of Fog Creek, Squarespace, and Peer1 employees who banded together to save their generators by manually carrying fuel up 17 flights of stairs. According to Squarespace, these efforts received media coverage from prominent sites, such as The Verge, The New York Times, Fast Company, and many more. 

Value: Community

Gilt is a designer fashion flash deals site. Gilt and other businesses across the country (from New York to San Francisco) built a partnership to launch the Donate Today, Save Tomorrow initiative. The donations received from this effort are donated to different business and communities that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. Those who donate will receive vouchers from various participating businesses, such as Tumblr, AOL, and Virgin America. 

Gilt Group Give

Gilt has also launched an API version of the website that would enable developers to participate in the program in other innovative ways.

Another example of a startup company that valued its community is Airbnb, a travel rentals site. They partnered with nyc.gov to develop a Donated Sandy Housing Directory that listed all users who were offering up free housing to others who were without power, food, and water. Both host and guest had all fees waived, while Airbnb still offered hosts insurance for up to $1 million. Airbnb's efforts were featured on Tech Crunch and the Los Angeles Times.  

Airbnb Hurricane Sandy

Finally, Tumblr and Humans of New York (HONY) joined together to raise over $100,000 for Hurricane Sandy Relief. HONY is a popular Tumblr site ran by photographer Brandon Stanton as a visual census of New York City life. The photo blog demonstrates the power of photography in visualizing the human condition, as well as establishing an online community that binds people together through demonstrations of empathy, support, and kindness. 

HONY Image

Image courtesy of Humans of New York

E-Commerce/Small Businesses

Value: Engaging with Your Audience 

Skullcandy, a headphones and ear buds e-commerce site donated 100% of all proceeds from their November 10th sales to surf shops located on the New Jersey and New York coast that have been affected by the hurricane. The purpose was to get these coastal surf shops up and running as quickly as possible with full discretion to use the funds as needed. 

Skullcandy and Hurricane Sandy

Big Brands

Value: Prioritizing Customers via Email Marketing

Chase Bank sent an email to all their customers located in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions letting them know that although hundreds of their branches and machines had been damaged by the hurricane, they were working hard to distribute portable generators, so that these machines would quickly function again. In addition, Chase announced they were also extending waivers and automatic refunds on several of their fees as a result of the hurricane, such as late fees on loans, insufficient funds fees, and overdraft protection.
 
Chase Hurricane Sandy
 
Verizon also sent emails to targeted residents from specific zip codes offering free device charging regardless of whether the individual was a Verizon customer or not, as well as free domestic calling. 
 
Verizon Hurricane Sandy
Image courtesy of Clickz
 
Kimpton hotels is a United States boutique hotel chain. This article on Return Path shows that because the hotel chain sent timely and targeted emails addressing people's immediate concerns, such as canceling reservations at no charge, their emails resulted in a very high read rate. In this case, it doubled the normal read rate. 
 
Kimpton Hotel CTR
Kimpton Hotel email open rate courtesy of Return Path
 
United Airlines also sent out a targeted email to customers outside of the tri-state area urging them to donate their frequent flyer miles.This provided another channel to engage existing loyal customers, as well as demonstrate some of the company's values.  
 
United Hurricane Sandy
Image courtesy of Clickz
 

Community Organizations/Non-Profits/Volunteers

We could never discount the work of community organizations and non-profits who continuously step up to the challenge and support their community. I was immensely touched by this story of how a local grassroots organization in the Lower East Side/Chinatown of Manhattan stepped up in a very desperate time of need for many people. After the hurricane, there weren't enough official federal and city resources to ensure that individuals in these areas had enough basic essentials to survive. CAAAV took it upon themselves to go door-to-door and ensure that the elderly, the sick, and others who were not as mobile had food, water, and heating supplied by the organization's own funds.The stream of volunteers they've received via phones, social media, and word-of-mouth was also heartwarming. 

NYC Marathon Runners

NYC marathon runners volunteering in Staten Island. Image courtesy of USA Today

In addition, there are endless stories of amazing volunteers, such as NYC marathon runners who instead, took that Sunday to travel to Staten Island and volunteer in the community, as well as "Occupy Sandy" organizers who put together an Amazon wedding registry for supply donations. There is also a story about a young boy who donated all his Halloween candy to those who were unable to have their own Halloween.  

 

Halloween candy for Sandy victims

Image courtesy of Mashable

Finally, there is Sesame Street, who on November 9th aired a very special episode where a hurricane swept through Sesame Street. Big Bird's nest was destroyed and all his friends came around to support him in his time of need. 

Sesame Street Hurricane Sandy

All in all, delivering the right message to customers during their time of need is actually quite simple - be genuine, kind, and empathetic. When they need you, you're there for them and one day, they'll kindly return the favor. After all, we're in this together.