What Global Disaster Preparedness Center (gdpc) does

Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) is an international Red Cross Red Crescent reference center established in 2017 and managed by the American Red Cross, with co-stewardship from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The center operates from Washington, DC, and serves 192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, university researchers in low- and middle-income countries, disaster preparedness practitioners, and vulnerable urban and coastal communities across Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Asia, and Southeast Asia.

GDPC delivers its mission through three service lines: Knowledge Management, Research, and Technical Assistance. The technical backbone is the PrepareCenter.org digital platform, a free-access knowledge hub featuring cross-language search, a practitioner community with registered users and topic-based groups, and a portfolio of toolkits and initiatives. Notable products include the WhatNow Service (an early action tool built with Google, launched 2020), the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) methodology, the RCRC Research Map, the Urban Collaboration Platform, the Early Warning & Anticipatory Action Resource Hub, the Heat Toolkit, and the Nature-Based Solutions program. The center also operates the Spotlight Research Grants Program, which has funded 66 researchers across 29 countries and 66 universities since 2022.

GDPC's business model is non-commercial and grant-funded. The center does not sell products or services and provides all resources, toolkits, and community access at no cost. Revenue streams consist of institutional support from American Red Cross and IFRC, project-specific grants from donors such as USAID/OFDA and the French Red Cross Foundation, and partnership-based co-funding with organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zurich Spain, and the RCRC Climate Centre. Strategic direction is set through multi-year collaborations such as the Urban Climate Resilience Program in Spain (2023-2026) and the Coalition-building in Coastal Cities initiative (2017-2021).

Name

Global Disaster Preparedness Center (gdpc)

Legal name

The American National Red Cross

Website

https://preparecenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) is a non-profit reference center managed by the American Red Cross and IFRC that builds global disaster preparedness capacity through the PrepareCenter.org knowledge platform, research grants, and toolkits serving Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies, researchers, and at-risk communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Knowledge Management / Disaster Preparedness Services

NAICS

Emergency and Other Relief Services (62423), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Disaster Preparedness, Risk Reduction & Early Warning (DRR) (BPAGAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) & Preparedness (BPADADAK), Emergency Management & National Resilience (Civil Protection) (BPAIAAAI), Community Resilience, Preparedness Training & Exercises (HLAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Disaster preparedness
• Humanitarian research
• Community resilience
• Knowledge management
• Capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grants and Institutional Funding: GDPC is supported by American Red Cross and IFRC as an international Red Cross Red Crescent reference center. The center receives grant funding from USAID/OFDA, partnerships with organizations like French Red Cross Foundation, and collaborative research funding.
2. Research Grant Programs: Spotlight Research Grants Program provides funding of up to $10,000 to university researchers in low- and middle-income countries. Current cycle (2026-2027) is in partnership with French Red Cross Foundation focused on technology in humanitarian action.
3. USAID/OFDA Award: Coalition-building in Coastal Cities project funded by USAID/OFDA to design and test tools for community resilience targeting climate-smart resilience and coastal risk reduction.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

GDPC operates PrepareCenter.org, a free digital knowledge platform that delivers disaster preparedness toolkits, applied research, and technical assistance to Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and humanitarian partners worldwide. Its core service areas are Knowledge Management, Research, and Technical Assistance, supported by a crowd-sourced practitioner community, research grant programs, and dedicated toolkits covering early warning, heat, urban resilience, youth preparedness, and humanitarian service points.

Product overview

The Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) operates PrepareCenter.org as its primary knowledge management and collaboration platform. The platform offers a portfolio of toolkits and initiatives including the WhatNow Service (early action tool), Teen Prep Kit, Humanitarian Service Points Toolkit, Heat Toolkit, Urban Resilience Toolkit, and the Early Warning & Anticipatory Action Resource Hub. Additionally, GDPC supports the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) approach, the RCRC Research Map, Urban Collaboration Platform, and Common Alerting Protocol Implementation initiatives. The platform serves as a centralized resource hub connecting Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies with preparedness tools, research, and practitioner networks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WhatNow Service An early action tool developed by GDPC in partnership with Google that increases the speed and dissemination of disaster preparedness and risk reduction messages. Targeted at Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and humanitarian practitioners worldwide.
• Teen Prep Kit A preparedness toolkit created by teens for teens, offering an accessible and engaging way to learn about disaster preparedness. Targeted at young people and youth educators.
• Humanitarian Service Points (HSP) Toolkit Guidance and tools to support National Societies and partners in establishing and operating Humanitarian Service Points. Targeted at Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and humanitarian partner organizations.
• Heat Toolkit Resources, guidance, training, and tools for addressing heat-related disaster risk reduction and helping communities prepare for heat waves. Developed by the RCRC Network.
• Urban Resilience Toolkit A guide to tools for urban work, helping cities build resilience through various assessments and interventions. Targeted at city-level practitioners and National Societies engaged in urban programming.
• Early Warning & Anticipatory Action Resource Hub A guide to tools, methodologies, and resources supporting and advancing the IFRC network's work in early warning and anticipatory action.
• Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) A step-by-step guide to the Red Cross' flagship participatory community risk assessment approach, supporting national societies in conducting community-level vulnerability and capacity assessments.
• RCRC Research Map A comprehensive collection of ongoing research activities, studies, and academic papers supported by RC3 members, showcasing research within the global IFRC Network. Targeted at researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
• Urban Collaboration Platform An IFRC platform focused on urban resilience collaboration and knowledge sharing among Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies, supporting innovative approaches, tools, and methodologies for urban settings.
• Common Alerting Protocol Implementation An initiative focused on implementing Common Alerting Protocol standards for disaster warning systems across the IFRC network and partner organizations.
• Spotlight Research Grants Program A grant program providing funding of up to $10,000 to university researchers in low- and middle-income countries for disaster preparedness research. Since 2022, the program has supported 66 researchers across 29 LMICs and 66 universities.
• PrepareCenter.org Knowledge Platform The main knowledge management and collaboration platform of GDPC, serving as a centralized resource hub for disaster preparedness. Offers resources, stories, toolkits, a practitioner community, cross-language search, and collaborative tools for Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and partners.

Quantifiable outcome

• 66 researchers supported across 29 countries since 2022 through Spotlight Research Grants Program
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• American Red CrosscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmerican Red Cross is the managing organization of the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC). The GDPC website is maintained and operated by the American Red Cross on behalf of the center. The American Red Cross provides institutional support, governance, and operational infrastructure for GDPC activities.
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFRC is the governing body of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. GDPC serves as an IFRC reference center and collaborates closely with IFRC on programs including the Urban Collaboration Platform, Common Alerting Protocol Implementation, and Asia Pacific Urban Community Resilience Hub.
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership blending TNC's experience in science-based ecosystem conservation and restoration with Red Cross community mobilization experience. The goal is to identify collaborative activities that jointly build ecological and social solutions to increase community resilience from natural disasters and climate impacts. TNC contributes ecosystem data and geospatial technology for nature-based adaptation solutions.
• French Red Cross FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with French Red Cross Foundation for the 2026 Spotlight Research Grants Program focused on principled and accountable use of technology in humanitarian action.
• RCRC Climate CentremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRed Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre collaborates on extreme heat research programs, early warning systems, and anticipatory action. Partnered on the 2022-2023 Extreme Heat research grant cycle with Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN).
• Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerREAP partnership for the 2023-2024 research cycle on Inclusive Early Warning Early Action, aligning with the global EW4All initiative and supporting REAP Global Targets.
• Red Cross and Red Crescent Research Consortium (RC3)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGDPC is one of the founders and active members of RC3, an open collaborative network that conducts and promotes humanitarian research. RC3 fosters network-wide research collaboration and helps develop a robust scientific culture rooted in a people-centered approach.
• GooglemajorTechnology or IntegrationGoogle partnered with GDPC to develop WhatNow Service, an early action tool designed to increase the speed and dissemination of disaster preparedness and risk reduction messages.
• Response 2 Resilience (R2R) Institute / Tulane UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with R2R Institute affiliated with Tulane University's Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy for the Research for Resilience and Preparedness Small Grants Program. Leverages network of universities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Zurich SpainminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Zurich Spain for the Urban Climate Resilience Program (UCRP) in Spain (2023-2026), delivered by Spanish Red Cross in partnership with IFRC.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR): UNDRR is the UN system's coordinating body for disaster risk reduction and leads implementation of the Sendai Framework. It operates PreventionWeb, a global knowledge platform directly comparable to PrepareCenter.org, and convenes the global DRR agenda that GDPC supports at the national level.
• Start Network: Start Network is a global humanitarian network of more than 90 NGOs focused on crisis preparedness and anticipatory action, with programs like Start Ready and Start Fund that overlap significantly with GDPC's capacity-building and early warning mandates.
• Mercy Corps: Mercy Corps is a major international humanitarian NGO with extensive programming in disaster preparedness, climate adaptation, and community resilience. While an implementing organization rather than a knowledge platform, it is a comparable institutional actor in the same funding and policy ecosystem.
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS): CRS is a major US-based international humanitarian agency running disaster preparedness and risk reduction programming across dozens of countries. It is comparable as a similarly sized, US-headquartered humanitarian actor competing for institutional donor funding.
• FEMA (US Federal Emergency Management Agency): FEMA is the US federal agency for emergency management and preparedness, with extensive programs in community resilience, early warning, and preparedness education. While a US-domestic agency, it overlaps with GDPC's mission and represents a broad incumbent in disaster preparedness capacity building.

Direct peers

• ReliefWeb: ReliefWeb is a humanitarian information portal operated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), providing timely, reliable disaster and crisis information to humanitarian workers worldwide. It competes with PrepareCenter.org as a knowledge platform for the humanitarian preparedness and response community.
• PreventionWeb: PreventionWeb is UNDRR's global knowledge-sharing platform for disaster risk reduction, serving practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. It is the most direct competitor to PrepareCenter.org in terms of platform model, content library, and target audience.
• Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre: The Climate Centre is a reference centre within the Red Cross Red Crescent network that focuses specifically on climate-related humanitarian issues, including extreme heat and anticipatory action. GDPC collaborates directly with it (and even shares staff, e.g., Aynur Kadihasanoglu), making it the closest organizational analog.

Emerging players

• Global Resilience Partnership: Global Resilience Partnership is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on building resilience to shocks and stresses, with strong emphasis on knowledge generation and practitioner networks. It is comparable as a thematic knowledge and convening platform in the disaster preparedness and climate resilience space.
• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT): HOT is a nonprofit that applies open-source mapping and community-driven data to humanitarian and disaster preparedness contexts. It is comparable as a digitally-enabled humanitarian capacity-building organization that overlaps with GDPC's toolkit and practitioner community approaches.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/prepare-center

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Global Disaster Preparedness Center (gdpc)