Updated 4/11/11
Did You Know Your Local Red Cross is 100% Community Funded?
By Barbara Frank
Before I joined the board of the Santa Cruz County Red Cross, I thought our local chapter received funding from National headquarters, as well as Congress. As it turns out, local chapters are responsible for raising 100% of their funds and they also pay the National headquarters an “assessment” fee for administrative support.
It is important to clearly specify which chapter your donation is supporting or the donation goes to the National headquarters and your local community will not receive the benefit.
Although the local chapters pay an administration fee to the National headquarters, they are responsible for administering and processing all received donations even if it is not designated for them. For example, Santa Cruz County Red Cross received and had to process over $100,000 in donations for Haiti.
“Based on what I learned in a Board Match class at Cabrillo College I felt the Red Cross could use my Intel Finance experience so in 2007 I decided to volunteer at my local Red Cross chapter. I am currently a board member and the Finance Committee Chair. I volunteered 40 hours in 2009 and 68 hours in 2010 – so far. At $10/hour, Intel has provided over $1200 in the last two years to my local Red Cross chapter.
For those who are unaware, your local Red Cross chapter is the first responder in the case of a disaster. Most Red Cross chapters operate with many volunteers and few staff. Santa Cruz County has only 4 paid staff, but the operating expense is $40,000 per month which requires lots of fundraising and donations.
These funds provide training in CPR and disaster preparedness for the community which saves lives. They also find shelter and supplies, serve military families, and can help contact family members in the case of disaster. Red Cross is much more than a blood bank. Red Cross volunteers and staff are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
If you want to volunteer, donate, or learn more about your local Red Cross organization, go to www.redcross.org, scroll down to the bottom right, and click on “contact your local chapter”. It will ask for your zip code, and then give you your local chapter address.