2026 National VOAD Conference Funding Opportunities

2026 Walmart Empowering Community Resilience Award

This award is supported by a generous investment from Walmart and aims to provide financial support to attendees from organizations and individuals working within the disaster continuum.

Priority will be given to first-time attendees and graduate/post-doctoral students who focus their studies in this area. State/Territory VOAD Member Representatives applicants are eligible to apply if they meet the Application Criteria.

Award recipients will receive all registration fees waived, hotel accommodations, and post-conference reimbursement of travel expenses.

Deadline to Apply: Friday, March 13th

Apply Here

2026 Harvard Pre-Conference Training Funding

This year at National VOAD’s annual conference in Reno, Nevada, we will partner with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University to offer a pre-conference training on Monday, May 4th from 8AM-12PM.

Finding Your Leadership Core In Times of Uncertainty is open to participants interested in leadership development in a humanitarian context. This training is open to all levels of experience as we all work through leading teams and volunteers on and off the field. Participants will learn about Meta-Leadership, an original approach developed by the Harvard team with the National Preparedness Leadership, and how to make it part guiding people and organizations through uncertain times. The four-hour Meta-Leadership seminar will include the focus areas of:

The Person
The Situation
Building Connectivity of Action

Facilitator

Leonard Marcus, Director, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. Shortly after 9/11, given the new threat environment facing the United States, the federal government asked Lenny and the Harvard Kennedy School’s David Gergen to establish the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University. For twenty-two years, the NPLI has embodied a unique combination of on-scene crisis leadership research, original development of key pedagogical themes and practices such as Meta-Leadership, Swarm Leadership and The Walk in the Woods, along with direct assistance in times of crisis to senior government and corporate leaders.

During numerous events, Dr. Marcus has been on scene, uniquely observing and meeting with key leaders responsible for crisis response. He has lectured internationally on crisis leadership best practices, with significant work with the energy sector and their related geo-political, climate, and industrial crises. Through the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Marcus actively worked with government and business leaders, teaching and advising people around the world. Shortly after the U.S. national emergency was declared and FEMA was placed in the lead of the domestic pandemic response, Lenny worked daily with FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor to advise on the activities and leadership of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. He also established and directed the Aviation Public Health Initiative, in which the NPLI worked with corporate leaders of domestic United States aviation carriers to lower the risks of COVID transmission on aircraft and in airports.

Lenny is lead author of the 2021 book “You’re It: Crisis, Change and How to Lead When It Matters Most,” which compiles the research, concepts, and practice methods that he and his colleagues developed over his 30 years at Harvard University. The book has been translated into Hebrew and Chinese. He is also lead author of the 2011 book, “Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration.”

Cost

$500

Funding

Limited funding awards of $300 are available. Please complete the funding award questionnaire to be considered. We will notify interested applicants on a rolling basis.

Deadline to apply is Friday, March 13th.