Following the outpouring of contributions received after last fall’s terrorist attacks, the American Red Cross has established new practices to expand donor education efforts.
“One of the lessons from Sept. 11 is that the Red Cross must do a better job of educating donors about how we fund our disaster relief services, while honoring their intent,” said David McLaughlin, chairman of the American Red Cross, in a statement.
The Washington-based organization’s Disaster Relief Fund provides the financial support for the Red Cross response to more than 67,000 disasters each year, including floods, fires and hurricanes. The fund operates as a revolving account, enabling the Red Cross to respond immediately.
The new fundraising initiative is called Donor DIRECT, which stands for D(onor) I(ntent) RE(cognition), C(onfirmation) and T(rust). All Disaster Relief Fund solicitations– including advertising, direct mails, Web sites and telemarketing — will include specific language describing what the fund does.
Donors will be asked to confirm that they understand the purpose of their donation before it is accepted. Donors will also receive an acknowledgement when the donation is received reconfirming their intent, along with instructions on who they can contact if they have questions about how their contribution will be used.
The Red Cross is also putting a fundraising transition policy in place, in case it seems contributions made for a specific disaster may exceed the needs of that situation. Donors will instead be encouraged to give to a local chapter or to the Disaster Relief Fund to support the victims of future disasters.
The Donor DIRECT program will be in place as of July 31.
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