From Readiness to Recovery: Building a Full-Lifecycle Disaster Resilience Strategy with Farmers Insurance®
Speakers
Shea Sylvestre
Lauren Gilley
Why attend
Why watch
When disaster strikes, many organizations mobilize quickly to respond. But what does it look like to build a disaster resilience strategy that starts long before the headlines — and stays long after they fade?
Join us for a conversation with Shea Sylvestre, Corporate Citizenship Program Manager at Farmers Insurance®, to explore how they approach disaster resilience across the full spectrum of preparedness, response and recovery. Guided by their catastrophe response team, they use a flexible framework to activate support when communities are impacted — while also investing in creative, long-term relationships that help strengthen recovery and build preparedness before the next crisis hits. From education initiatives to proactive resilience-building efforts, their approach is designed to deliver impact across the full disaster lifecycle.
We’ll also explore how Farmers® empowers employees to be part of the solution — with executive-backed volunteer policies, flexible engagement opportunities and strategic giving campaigns that have driven impressive participation and impact.
Watch now to learn:
- Move from a reactive "snapshot" to the full sphere of resilience. Rather than only focusing on immediate disaster response, Farmers® prioritizes a year-round cycle that includes preparedness and long-term recovery. By investing in predictive preparedness and systematic change before a crisis hits, they deliver true peace of mind to communities.
- Build a "Culture of Permission" through top-down support. To overcome barriers like competing priorities, Farmers® utilizes an unlimited volunteer time-off policy backed by an executive-signed "Volunteer Pledge." This top-down endorsement signals to employees that giving back is a core, valued part of their working day.
- Scale engagement through strategic "seeding" and technology. By leveraging the Benevity platform to deposit $20 "seeding" funds into every employee’s account, Farmers® moved the needle from a 20% participation goal to a record-breaking 55% engagement rate. This frictionless entry point, combined with automated volunteer tracking, turns a single "feel-good moment" into measurable, sustained impact.
- Maximize impact by prioritizing "experts" and creative, trust-based partnerships. Shea recommends starting with nonprofit partners who are the true experts in their local communities. By moving beyond transactional hours and focusing on long-standing commitments — like Project Camp’s trauma-informed spaces or Operation BBQ Relief’s meal deployments — Farmers® ensures their efforts satisfy real community needs.
.png)
