American Red Cross

Since its founding in 1881 by visionary leader Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been the nation's premier emergency response organization. We bring shelter, food and comfort to those affected by disasters, large and small. We collect lifesaving donated blood and supply it to patients in need. We provide support to our men and women in military bases around the world, and to the families they leave behind. We train communities in CPR, first aid and other skills that save lives. And we assist our neighbors abroad with critical disaster response, preparedness and disease prevention efforts. We are able to do all this by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

The American Red Cross, through its strong network of volunteers, donors and partners, is always the

Goal One: Mission: Focus on areas that our employees and volunteers are passionate about, including sickle cell patients’ needs, environmental sustainability, climate change, diversity and inclusion, and more.

Goal Two: Money: In Biomed, we continue to focus on low-cost producer strategy; In Humanitarian, we will adapt to meet climate change, grow blue sky fundraising and increase One Red Cross support.

Goal Three: People: The most significant focus of our strategic plan is investment in our most valued asset – our workforce – through wages, health care and benefits.

The American Red Cross Leadership Education and Development Program, commonly known as LEAD, is an enterprise-wide leadership development program for high-performing employees interested in becoming a senior-level leader at the Red Cross. It cultivates our organization’s future leadership capacity by providing focused development opportunities for program participants to enhance individual performance.

The American Red Cross has a variety of external mobilization efforts: - Local Red Cross board members partner with local Executive leaders to develop and monitor local strategies to deliver mission-related services, raise funds in accordance with the Red Cross goals, and serve as the “Face of the Red Cross” in their communities. - Red Cross Government Relations staff promotes American Red Cross priorities at all levels of government through education and advocacy. - Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services staff and volunteers help communities prepare, respond and recover from disasters big and small, working regularly with local and national partners. - Red Cross Communications and Marketing raise awareness around our missions five lines of service, and how to help.

In the face of numerous challenges, the dedicated volunteers, employees and supporters of the American Red Cross have continued to bring our humanitarian mission to life, every day. Amid the difficult circumstances and frightening unknowns of a deadly pandemic, thousands of Red Crossers came together to do what they’ve always done—provide help and hope for people who count on us in times of crisis. Our Biomedical Services team members collected and delivered lifesaving blood and blood products for cancer patients, accident victims and others with critical medical needs, despite unpredictable demand and thousands of canceled blood drives. We developed new safety protocols to protect the health of our blood donors and workers, and we worked diligently to identify new venues for collecting blood and innovative ways to improve productivity for patients counting on us. We also faced one of the worst disaster years on record—with historic wildfires and back-to-back hurricanes, destructive tornadoes and thousands of daily emergencies like home fires. Tireless Red Cross disaster response teams provided close to 1.5 million overnight stays in hotels to families suffering in the wake of these disasters—offering food, comfort and hope to people in their darkest hours. The Red Cross also carried forward our critical work in handling emergency calls and providing support services for our nation’s military members, veterans and their families. We continued to help our sister Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the globe with preparedness and disease prevention training—including efforts to help stop the spread of COVID-19. And our Training Services group quickly adapted to train people in a virtual environment.