Four programs. One mission. Neighbors helping neighbors — before, during, and long after a crisis.
R4 EXISTS TO BREAK SILOS SO MORE RESOURCES REACH THE PEOPLE PROGRAMS ARE MEANT TO SERVE.
R4 doesn’t do this work with one tool or one program. We’ve built a suite of interconnected platforms and initiatives — each one designed to solve a specific problem, and all of them designed to work together. Whether it’s getting accurate information to someone in the first hours after a disaster, matching a surplus of supplies to a community in need, building the infrastructure that connects neighbors year-round, or walking someone from homelessness to stability — R4 has a program for that.
Here’s what makes R4 different from most nonprofits building tech: we’re actively trying to make ourselves unnecessary. The tools we build are open-source. Every platform is designed to be locally controlled. We partner instead of compete, share instead of hoard, and hand the keys to the community as fast as we can. Because the goal was never R4. The goal was resilience, relief, and recovery.
REACH
R-Link
Crowdsourced. Vetted. Published when seconds matter.
When disaster strikes, bad information travels just as fast as good information; the wrong information costs lives. R-Link is R4’s information coordination hub, built specifically for low-bandwidth, high-chaos environments. We crowdsource emergency information from people on the ground, vet it for accuracy, and publish it in real time so survivors, volunteers, and organizations have a shared, trusted picture of what’s actually happening.
R-Link was formerly known as Appalachia Relief and was one of the first tools deployed in the wake of Hurricane Helene. It remains R4’s first line of response when disaster hits.
RESILIENCE
Metachrysalis
Gameful framework for bioregional flourishing.
R4 is a proud partner of Daniel Lindenberger and Thaumazo’s Metachrysalis.
You don’t play as a fictional hero. You play as your changemaker self.
It helps people find a meaningful way in to the work of regeneration, resilience, and relief — grounded in place, informed by systems thinking, and powered by collaboration.
At a time when top-down systems are too slow and brittle to meet the moment, Metachrysalis is designed to empower “trim tabs” — small, well-placed actions that help turn the larger ship.
RECOVERY & RELIEF
R4-Commons
One platform. Every day. When it counts most.
R4-Commons is the next evolution of everything R4 has built. A unified community platform that brings together volunteer coordination, resource matching, supply site networks, communication tools, and verified volunteer profiles into one always-on system. In blue-sky mode it connects neighbors, nonprofits, and volunteers year-round. When disaster strikes, it strips down to the essentials and keeps communities coordinated when everything else fails.
LONG-TERM VISION
Stepping Stones
Homelessness deserves the same urgency as a flood or a wildfire.
R4’s long-term program horizon applies everything we’ve learned from disaster response — fast coordination, community trust, real-time resource matching — to one of the most overlooked crises in our communities: homelessness. Stepping Stones is being built to provide fast housing pathways, daily essentials, whole-person care, and the kind of barrier-cutting, dignity-first support that actually moves people from crisis to stability.
All Four Programs. One Network. Zero Silos.
R4’s programs aren’t parallel tracks, they’re connected infrastructure. The same network that crowdsources information through R-Link moves supplies through R4-Commons, builds volunteer networks through Metachrysalis, and walks people toward stability through Stepping Stones. When we say we are wildly collaborative with other organizations, we mean it.
R4 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization · EIN 33-1780886 · Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.