The American Red Cross
Summary
The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent organization, supported by public financial donations and volunteerism. It provides relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The company has been widely criticized for the way it handled 9/11 in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as being inadequate and poorly managed. The company has allegations of fraud, bribery and even theft on the part of volunteers and employees working for the organization. It has also faced internal challenges due to high turnover, as well as charges of overcompensation and possible corruption among its board of directors and upper management. After bad press, the ARC faces many
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* ARC received $543 million in pledges to help the 9/11 victims but only distributed 1/3 of those funds to the relief effort and the rest was used for other purposes in the company. * Improper diversion of relief supplies, failure to follow Red Cross procedures in tracking and distributing supplies. * Numerous Katrina volunteers reported the disappearance of rented cars, electricity generators, and even some 3,000 air mattresses during the relief efforts. * An ARC call center employee wrote money orders in the names of various relief victims and fraudulently cashing them herself. * The organization’s insufficient capacity to electronically accept donations especially due to the magnitude of donations during the disaster period.
3. What are some of the reasons for the ARC’s ethical dilemmas and how can the organization guarantee that these problems will not occur in the future? * Monetary donation mismanagement such as executive compensation, not preventing and handling employee misconduct, lack of transparency and accurate representation of the organization needs for and use donations, are some of the reasons for the ARC’s ethical dilemma and the organization can guarantee that this problem will not occur in the future by a) The staff and volunteers need to be well managed by capable directors and executives. b) The company must address the specific ethical risks with its disaster
Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.
Another major failure on behalf of FEMA was in delivering essential equipment and supplies such as food and water, generators and even flashlights due to the
Now don’t get me started about Hurricane Irma! The International Federation of the Red Cross has released emergency funds to ensure a rapid donation request. Irma’s torrential rains and winds have flooded towns and roads, and destroyed homes and buildings. The Red Cross is marshaling their resources
People respond to a natural disaster by government aid. The government isn't always helping in a good way. The government is hoarding much needed supplies (Doc C). They are only helping a select few that they choose (Doc C). There are some good things that they are doing that help more people. “3,000 people remain housed in a temporary evacuation centers established by the government” (Doc A). I feel that they aren’t doing everything they can to their full
American Red Cross is a non-profit organization that works for the betterment of human life by providing food, shelter and assistance to the victims of several disasters; hence, the implication of the section 501 (c) (3) has a significant impact on the services offered by American Red Cross as it selects the organizations that qualify for tax exemption.
Some current issues affecting the Salvation Army include: donation levels which continue to decline, at the same time there being an increase in the numbers of those who require The Army’s services. Reasons for the increase in the numbers of people requiring assistance include the loss of jobs, insufficient insurance and/or no insurance, as well or the difficulty in finding jobs with a living wage, also fewer and fewer funds from either donations or federal funding as more and more agen-cies are falling short of their goals. Even with all of the difficulties, the Salvation Army still attempts to provide help to thousands of people on a yearly basis. One other concern not discussed as publicly as other issues affecting the Salvation Army, is the religious message of the organization. This could be attributed to many people being assisted in a non-religious setting?
Therefore, health issues such as sanitation, comfort, and management of communicable diseases was a major problem (Farmer et al 2011). Other factors responsible for this problem is the high level of poverty, lack of infrastructure, and the large population. In Chile, there were established mechanisms of managing the disaster. There were health interventions that were available, including rescue teams, preventive techniques, sanitation and other disease management protocol. For example, organisations such as AmeriCares delivered about $730,000 in medical aid that included 2,000 hygiene kits.
The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that provides significant help to those in need. The organization is a branch of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The organization’s initial goals were to provide humanitarian efforts and other relief during trying times. For example, many felt that the group was formed in response to the destruction caused by the American Civil War. Founder and the group’s first President, Clara Barton, believed that America should be prepared for future catastrophes, but there was widespread doubt that the nation would ever again experience anything as disastrous as the Civil War. Nonetheless, the organization was formed on
These include, “Opening two shelters that provided 3,450 overnight stays, served approximately 86,000 meals and 373,000 snacks, distributed 1,456 comfort kits with hygiene supplies such as deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, wash cloth, shampoo, liquid soap, lotion, comb, razor and shaving cream, distributed 205,000 relief items such as tarps, ice chests, rakes and cleaning supplies through six centers and through deliveries and made 5,850 health service contacts and nearly 6,800 mental health contacts” (American Red Cross, 2012).
victims of disasters. Its mission is as follows: “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human
The American Red Cross has stood the test and can prove to be a great organization to transmit resources. It is widespread and just prevalent today than ever (American Economic Review, 1918). However, the
These are the problems that exist in the humanitarian aid industry today, but these problems have developed over a course of many years and responses to famine and humanitarian disasters have evolved over time. Thirty years ago disaster relief and humanitarian aid were not considered to be of huge significance on a geopolitical scale. During the 70’s and 80’s although humanitarian crisis existed, the geopolitics was more focused on the cold war and respecting the sovereignty of nation states. Although crisis in Africa, East Pakistan and Guatemala (to name a few) were made aware
In the case discussed we learned that over the years ARC had been accused of several unethical business practices from large severance packages to unproductive executives and also misuse of donations. One of the ethical issues that I believe played a large role in ARC’s problem was a misuse of donations for personal benefit. When issues of fraud and misuse of funds came up this not only affected the victims of disasters, but also left stakeholders questioning ARC’s motives. Stakeholders have the option to donate to any charitable organization that they chose. When they saw poor responses during major disaster and misuse of funds this caused many to question if they should continue to donate and this caused a problem because nonprofits need
The American Red Cross is an independent, volunteer-led organization, financially supported by voluntary public contributions and cost-reimbursement charges. It is an organization that provides services to all humanity both nationally and internationally. The International Red Cross works along side with the Red Crescent Movement and together they are the world's largest humanitarian network, with a presence and activities in almost every country.
The days were getting longer as they kept on driving through the cold rain and the humid sunlight. Julie’s son, Michael was on the verge of becoming 12 years old, and since their family wasn’t in town, they had to drive all day and night to San Francisco, California. Not to mention the drive all the way back. They had a large family, but, Julie was the only one to move and start her own life in a new environment. No one in her family even thought twice about coming to visit Michael, instead they had to travel in a dreary car all day long(Forever Grateful).