ReAction:Foundation
Public Reserve Position A year-round reserve San Francisco · Est. 2010
501(c)(3) public charity· 14 fiscal years on file

Reserve capital.
Held continuously.
Deployed on first notice.

In a humanitarian crisis, time is of the essence. We hold a year-round disaster-relief reserve so the funds are already in place. No emergency appeals. No fundraising lag. The reserve is the credential.

Reserve · FY2022 $140,909 2.54× annual revenue Net assets, year-end · ProPublica verified · No liabilities
Donate to the reserve or schedule a goods pickup in San Francisco
The credentials
Tax status 501(c)(3) public charity
Founded December 2010
Board 4 directors, uncompensated
Filings ProPublica
Charity rating Charity Navigator
Public record GuideStar
Section 01 · The operating model

A small foundation,
run on a single discipline.

We began with one operational premise: when disaster strikes, donors should not be the first call. The reserve should already exist. The vetted partners should already be selected. The deployment path should already be open. Everything before the call is the work of a foundation.

Most disaster-relief organizations operate response-first: a humanitarian crisis hits, an appeal goes out, donations come in, partners are sourced, funds deploy. The cycle takes weeks. Sometimes longer.

We operate readiness-first. The fund exists before the disaster. The partner organizations are vetted in advance. When a crisis hits, the call is the deployment trigger, not the start of the fundraise. The cycle takes hours.

We are a small foundation. Sub-$50,000 in annual revenue. Four directors, all uncompensated. The discipline is exactly what allows the operating model to work: small means careful, careful means documented, documented means trusted.

The money should be there before the disaster is, or there is no point being a foundation at all.

The 2010 founding came from a simple observation: in the first 72 hours of any humanitarian crisis, vetted relief organizations have an unmet need for liquidity. We exist to hold that liquidity year-round so the deployment never waits on the fundraise.

The reserve is the readiness. Everything else is how we maintain it. Matthew Frederick Founder · Executive Director
Figure 1 · response-first vs readiness-first
Response-first vs readiness-first cycles Two horizontal timelines comparing the conventional response-first cycle running in weeks against the readiness-first cycle running in hours. The top timeline shows crisis, appeal, inflow, vetting, deploy. The bottom timeline shows a held reserve and immediate deployment on a declared event. RESPONSE-FIRST · MOST FOUNDATIONS cycle time: weeks Crisis the call comes in Appeal campaign goes out Inflow donations accumulate Vetting partners sourced Deploy funds finally move READINESS-FIRST · RE:ACTION FOUNDATION cycle time: hours Reserve · held continuously partners pre-vetted, wire instructions pre-cleared DECLARED EVENT Deploy within hours of authorization FIG 01
Figure 1. Response-first vs readiness-first. Conventional disaster-relief foundations begin the cycle when the crisis hits — appeal, fundraise, source partners, deploy. The cycle runs in weeks. We invert it. The reserve already exists; partners are already vetted; wire instructions are already cleared. On a declared event, deployment opens in hours.
Section 02 · Deployment criteria

Vetted partners.
Declared events.

The reserve only opens to declared-event partner requests. Two filters control every deployment. The first is the event. The second is the partner. Both must clear before the wire moves.

The event filter

A declared event is a humanitarian crisis officially recognized by a FEMA disaster declaration, a state emergency proclamation, the American Red Cross, or a comparable established authority. A news cycle is not a declared event. A social-media surge is not a declared event. The board does not exercise discretion to upgrade a non-declared crisis. The filter is not negotiable.

The partner filter

A vetted partner is a 501(c)(3) or government relief organization with documented operational history in the declared region. Vetting happens between events, not during them. The roster is reviewed annually by the board. First-time partners are not added during active deployments; the calm window is when discipline lives.

The protocol

A vetted partner submits a deployment request to partners@reactionfoundation.org. We confirm partner standing and declared-event status against the registry. The board treasurer authorizes the wire. The transfer happens within hours of authorization. Each deployment is documented in the next annual public filing.

Discipline at the criteria is what makes the cycle work. Without filters, the reserve drains on every news cycle. With filters, it deploys when readiness becomes response.
The criteria are documented in board minutes and reviewed annually. The reserve does not move without both filters clearing. Re:Action Foundation Board Adopted at founding · reviewed annually
Figure 2 · two-filter deployment gate
Two-filter deployment gate Two parallel filters must both clear before the reserve opens. The event filter checks for a declared crisis. The partner filter checks for a vetted partner with regional history. Both inputs converge; the output authorizes the wire transfer. DEPLOYMENT GATE · BOTH FILTERS REQUIRED FILTER 01 The event is the crisis declared? FEMA · STATE PROCLAMATION RED CROSS · COMPARABLE AUTH FILTER 02 The partner is the partner vetted? 501(C)(3) · ACTIVE STANDING REGIONAL OPERATIONAL HISTORY both must clear Reserve opens · wire authorized treasurer authorizes · transfer within hours FIG 02
Figure 2. The two-filter deployment gate. Each filter operates independently. Either failure halts deployment. A declared event without a vetted partner waits for a vetted partner. A vetted partner without a declared event waits for one. Discretion does not override either input.
Section 03 · The programs

Three intake paths.
One reserve.

Three distinct intake paths converge on a single year-round disaster-relief reserve. Funds flow in continuously through goods donations and direct contributions. Funds flow out only when a vetted partner requests deployment.

01 · Recycle

Goods donation pickup

Schedule a goods-donation pickup anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. We route through a vetted logistics partner who collects, sorts, and either redistributes the goods directly to local needs or converts them to reserve liquidity. Tax receipt issued at pickup.

Schedule a pickup
02 · Rebuild

Direct contribution

Direct monetary contributions, one-time or recurring. Every dollar enters the year-round reserve. Tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Automated receipt at the moment of donation.

Donate to the reserve
03 · Relief

Partner deployment

Vetted partner relief organizations may request deployment from the reserve when responding to humanitarian crises. We process requests within hours. Annual deployment summary is published in the next public filing.

Active requests: partners@reactionfoundation.org  ·  24-hour response

Partnership inquiry
Intake
Donations + goods conversions continuously
Reserve
Held in interest-bearing account, audited annually
Deployment
To vetted partners on declared disaster events
Section 04 · Board and governance

Four directors,
all uncompensated.

The board of directors serves without compensation. Each director carries a specific operational responsibility and is publicly named in our annual filing.

Founder · Executive Director
Matthew Frederick

Founded Re:Action in 2010. Working oil painter and arts-infrastructure operator based in San Francisco's Mission District. Co-founder of Arc Studios & Gallery (2009-2017), founder of the Art Form collective at 1890 Bryant. Carries day-to-day operational responsibility for the foundation.

Public record · since 2010 · day-to-day operational responsibility
Chairman
Jacques Saint Dizier
Public record · uncompensated
Treasurer
Styn Vossen
Public record · uncompensated
Secretary
Luis Casillas
Public record · uncompensated
Section 05 · The credentials

Verify before you decide.

The reserve sits at 2.54× annual revenue, held continuously. Three external registries hold the foundation's filings, profile, and rating standing. Anyone can verify, any time, without going through us.

Reserve ratio
2.54×
Held continuously across fourteen consecutive fiscal years. The mark encodes the ratio.
Public IRS filings
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Every annual Form 990 since founding. Searchable, downloadable, machine-readable.
Verify externally
Organizational standing
GuideStar by Candid ↗ Mission, governance, leadership, and documents on file. Charity Navigator ↗ Currently Not Rated — structural ineligibility at sub-990 filing scale.