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A year ago, Americans started signing checks and clicking on Web links to raise an estimated $4.2 billion in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the most they have ever donated in response to a natural disaster, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

After Katrina roared ashore August 29, the worst U.S. natural disaster in the Internet age offered a model for how donors might respond to future catastrophes: increasingly online, and to the largest, most established charities.

In a first-time partnership, Church World Service and Habitat for Humanity jointly announced last month that $446,000 of a $3 million grant will be distributed to repair 82 homes on the Gulf Coast. The repair projects will be managed locally by several recovery organizations in the region to help low-income individuals and families who are still displaced following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita return home. The project is the first stage of a house repair grant from Habitat for Humanity.