American charities took the lead in raising billions of dollars to aid survivors in the aftermath of disasters that have struck in the United States and elsewhere in recent years.

The nation's largest charities raised nearly $3.7-billion for relief and recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 and raised more than $41-million to help survivors of the cyclone that struck Myanmar, and the earthquake in China, in 2008.

But at a time when the American economy is still in turmoil, it is unclear how well charities would do in raising such big sums if a catastrophe struck today or whether enough people would volunteer to help with recovery efforts.

Since a disaster can strike at any time, what steps can nonprofit groups take now to guard against fund-raising difficulties?

Read the transcript of our discussion that addessed those questions and many more about disaster-recovery efforts.

Click on the window below to view the replay of this archived discussion.