Team Rubicon
BUILT TO SERVE
Mission
Team Rubicon is a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises.
Ruling year
2010
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Art delaCruz
Main address
5230 Pacific Concourse Dr Ste 200
Los Angeles, CA 90045-6285 USA
EIN
27-1720480
NTEE code
Disaster Preparedness and Relief Services (M20)
Home Improvement/Repairs (L81)
Victims' Services (P62)
IRS filing requirement
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Disaster frequency/severity has increased over the last 40 years. From 1992-2012, the UN estimates 4.4b people were impacted, causing $2.0t in damages. Vulnerable groups experience increased risk of disaster consequences including weak infrastructure, financial/physical challenges, limited resources to evacuate/recover, and isolation from emergency services. Over 3m people have served since 9/11. After service, veterans returning home face challenges re-integrating to civilian life. However, research shows continued service at home leads to well-being improvements. Team Rubicon (TR) is addressing this with collaboration, innovation, and strategic growth. TR’s mission is to serve communities by mobilizing veterans, leveraging skills and experience to help people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. TR is one of few nonprofits that re-purpose veteran skills to serve communities in need while ensuring a meaningful volunteer and client experience.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Disaster Operations
Team Rubicon’s volunteers deploy to serve communities impacted by disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, and other events. The following are services included in the disaster operations program: site surveys, expedient home repair (roof tarping and boarding windows), mucking and gutting out flooded homes, route clearance and debris management/removal (chainsaw and heavy equipment services).
Team Rubicon completed over 100 disaster operations in 2021 and served over 2,400 individuals in need. We delivered this impact as the COVID-19 pandemic continued. In 2021, we conducted over 100 COVID-19 operations.
Veteran Reintegration
Utilizing veterans' unique skills and experience increases the efficacy of our disaster response efforts while providing veterans the opportunity to rediscover their sense of purpose, community, and identity they need to transition successfully to civilian life.
Volunteer Training and Engagement
Team Rubicon provides year-round, online and in-person trainings and engagements to support our veteran community and improve our disaster operations. Our 150,000+ volunteers train to serve local communities in need and connect with other volunteers. Trainings include classes like Sawyer (Chainsaw Operator) classes, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), and COVID-19 safety classes. In 2021, 12,300+ volunteers completed 41,000+ online and in-person trainings. We also carry out the Clay Hunt Fellowship Program (CHFP) which offers 48 veteran fellows per year a 6th month fellowship that builds personal and professional skills needed to support a positive transition to civilian life.
Long-Term Recovery Services (Rebuild)
Team Rubicon's Rebuild team and local contractors provide rebuild services to restore safety and improve resiliency for vulnerable homeowners impacted by disasters. To date, we have rebuilt 115+ Hurricane Harvey-damaged homes, 15+ Hurricanes Laura and Delta-damaged homes, 40 Hurricane Irma-damaged homes, and 500 Hurricane Maria-damaged roofs. We continue working to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Texas and Louisiana. In 2022, our teams launched an additional rebuild program in Selma, Alabama after Hurricane Zeta in 2020 and the following tornadoes in that area in 2021.
Medical Care (International)
Medical volunteers serve with Team Rubicon’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Type 1-Mobile to provide primary and emergency medical services to international communities impacted by disasters and humanitarian crises. Teams can deliver emergency medical/trauma care and stabilization, provide inter-agency and emergency management coordination, and assist with the creation and organization of patient transport systems management. In addition to Emergency Medicine, TR medical teams can re-establish primary healthcare for chronic conditions and preventable diseases and coordination care for complex medical conditions.
COVID-19 Response Operations
After providing COVID-19 vaccination distribution support and helping partner organizations administer 1.6+M COVID-19 vaccination doses in 2021, Team Rubicon continues to adapt according to the needs of local communities impacted by COVID-19. Current COVID-19 services include: vaccination distribution support, direct medical care, and testing support.
Where we work
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of accolades/recognition received from third-party organizations
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Veterans
Related Program
Disaster Operations
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2016 and 2017 metrics reflect the number of volunteers only. 2018 onward metrics reflect the number of volunteers in addition to disaster impacted individuals served.
Number of new grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of return website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Team Rubicon seeks to provide the most impactful and quality services to communities in need affected by disasters and humanitarian crises. Our goals are not driven by numbers, but rather by need. Team Rubicon develops our capabilities and services in a way that fills a gap in the humanitarian aid and disaster relief sectors by reaching communities that would not otherwise receive the critical help they desperately need. In order to achieve this, specifically, Team Rubicon strives to increase our operational tempo, enhance our capabilities, ensure a positive volunteer experience, and simultaneously improve the quality and effectiveness of our services to maximize our impact.
To ensure the quality of our services, Team Rubicon measures the Net Promoter Score (NPS). This score helps gauge client and volunteer satisfaction and show Team Rubicon where revision and development is needed, ultimately supporting our goal of constant improvement. Team Rubicon’s NPS score, which is out of 100, is currently 87.4. This number represents Team Rubicon’s incredible success in providing positive experiences for volunteers and clients. At the same time, it shows us how we can improve in delivering meaningful, impactful aid and volunteer experiences.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Collaboration: Team Rubicon actively collaborates with other nonprofits, individuals, community groups, and governmental entities to ensure maximized impact and use of best practices when providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief services. For example, Team Rubicon works closely with organizations like Microsoft, International Medical Corps (IMC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), local governments, and international ministries of health. Team Rubicon recognizes no single person or organization can deliver lasting and effective aid alone and is therefore dedicated to working intentionally and collaboratively with other experts in the disaster relief and humanitarian sector to ensure quality and sustainable impact.
Innovation: Team Rubicon strives to incorporate innovative and up-to-date programs, research, and processes to ensure our services are as effective as possible. Leveraging 21st century technologies and solutions leads to the highest quality services and ensures communities in need receive the most appropriate and impactful services. From combining the valuable skills and experience of veterans with disaster relief to being the first NGO in North America to receive a World Health Organization (WHO) verification as an EMT Type 1-Mobile Response Team, Team Rubicon is anything but traditional. Team Rubicon utilizes innovative, best practices to ensure quality trainings, engagements, services, and volunteer experiences. Our commitment to serving families and individuals most in need is driven by our willingness to try new things and utilize the best tools and technologies.
Values: Team Rubicon’s commitment to our values propels our services. Each volunteer, staff member, donor, and trainee supports Team Rubicon because they share our values and remain dedicated to ensuring families and individuals are served effectively and meaningfully. Team Rubicon strives to consistently incorporate our service principles of tenacity, collaboration, impartiality, innovation, accountability into all our services and programs. Each individual and group that supports Team Rubicon’s mission shares the same passion of helping those in need, and at the end of the day, Team Rubicon’s strategy boils down to one thing: a shared commitment to serve.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Team Rubicon performs the following capabilities to help communities impacted by disasters and humanitarian crises:
-Greyshirt volunteer staff augmentation
-Expedient home repair
-Route clearance
-Residential debris removal
-Emergency Medical Team
-Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
-Rebuild
Team Rubicon serves in all phases of the disaster cycle. Operations include mitigation efforts to prepare vulnerable communities for disasters, response services to serve families and individuals in the immediate aftermath of disasters, and long-term recovery operations to restore the safety and increase resiliency for homes damaged by disasters.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2023, Team Rubicon delivered a tangible impact to communities and organizations most in need including:
-260 communities served
-28,700+ individuals served across international and domestic crises and disasters
-5,700+ volunteers deployed
-23 homes rebuilt
Team Rubicon serves communities who need us most throughout the disaster cycle and we aim to continue to adapting community needs.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, Courtesy bias can be a problem at times
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Team Rubicon
Board of directorsas of 2/11/2025
Jake Wood
Adam Miller
Cornerstone OnDemand
Clay DeGiacinto
Axonic Capital
Mary Solomon
Star Thrower Entertainment
Michael Stern
Big Wood Foundation
Joe Marchese
Human Ventures, Attention Capital
Jonathan Smidt
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Sam Greene
Centerview Partners
Christina Park
RBC Capital Markets
John Pitts
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Art delaCruz
Team Rubicon
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
