American Red Cross Ethics Case Study

Clara Barton founded the most recognized relief agency in the United States in 1881 known as the American Red Cross. The non-profit organization has faced numerous issued concerning ethics plus mismanagement during our country’s most recent disasters. The September 11th attacks led to the ousting of their acting president Bernadine Healy. The ARC received $543 million in donations to the victims as well as their families. Donors had pledged with the intent of their money going directly to the abovementioned; Ms. Healy had other ideas. An announcement made that more than half of the money would go to expanding the organization. It is worth mentioning that Ms. Healy was receiving a salary of $1.9 million. Therefore, this did not sit well with …show more content…
Consequently, you end up with a massive distrust from the public concerning gifts. I must admit, I have donated to the Red Cross since eighteen, but after the Katrina disaster, I questioned the integrity of the organization. There are solutions to these problems, however. For one thing, ethics start at the top. How can you justify paying a $1.9 million salary to the president of a non-profit organization? President Obama only makes $400 thousand as well as leading the entire free world (Marshall, 2014). I would set the ARC president’s salary comparable to this. If a person were running this organization for the right reasons, I would think this would be sufficient. The lack of communication concerning FEMA should be handled by putting in place a set of standard operating procedures that should be extensively reviewed as well as followed by all parties involved. The inappropriate actions of the “volunteers” were an issue that angered me more than the financial mismanagement. Any person who takes advantage of the oppressed shall be arrested on the spot. The ARC should strictly adhere to its policy of screening all volunteers, regardless of the