The American Red Cross (ARC) is an American nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded the organization in 1881 after initially learning of the Red Cross, founded 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the designated American affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The organization has provided services after many notable disasters, including the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, World War I, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, World War II, Hurricane Katrina, and the Maui wildfires of 2023. It also provides blood banking services.
Clara Barton established the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York, on May 21, 1881, and was also the organization's first president. She organized a meeting on May 12 of that year at the house of Senator Omar D. Conger (R, MI). Fifteen people were present at the meeting, Conger and Representative William Lawrence (R, OH) (who became the first vice president) to discuss the start of the American Red Cross. The first local chapter was established in 1881 at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville.
Jane Delano (1862–1919) founded the American Red Cross Nursing Service on January 20, 1910.
Barton founded the American chapter after learning of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1869, she went to Europe and became involved in the work of the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. She was determined to bring the organization to America.
Barton became President of the American branch of the society, known as the American National Red Cross, in May 1881 in Washington. The first chapters opened in upstate New York, where she had connections. John D. Rockefeller and four others donated money to help create a national headquarters near the White House. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a friend of Barton's, offered advice and support as she sought to establish the American chapter of Red Cross. As Register of Deeds for the District of Columbia, Douglass also signed the American Red Cross's original Articles of Incorporation.
The next major disaster was the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. More than 2,200 people died, and thousands more were injured in or near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. Clara and 5 other Red Cross workers arrived, and within days they assembled 45 others, including doctors and nurses, to assist in disaster relief. The organization received donations from around the world, and Clara didn't leave the site for 5 months.
Many within the organization became frustrated with Barton's leadership style, and Barton resigned from the organization in 1904.
Professional social work experts took control and made the group a model of Progressive Era scientific reform. New leader Mabel Thorp Boardman consulted with senior government officials, military officers, social workers, and financiers. William Howard Taft was especially influential. They imposed an ethos of "managerialism", transforming the agency from Barton's cult of personality to an "organizational humanitarianism" ready for expansion.
Among the notable disasters of the Progressive Era that featured American Red Cross involvement was the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The New York City chapter joined with the Charity Organization Society to provide funds to survivors and the dependents of those who perished.
The organization was active during World War I. Among its activities in Paris was the Studio for Portrait Masks, which fashioned galvanized-copper face masks for soldiers who had been facially disfigured during the war. During World War Two, the American Red Cross ran the Booker T Washington Service Club in Sydney, Australia.
Recent presidents and CEO s include Gail J. McGovern, Cliff Holtz, Elizabeth Dole, Bernadine Healy, Mary S. Elcano, Mark W. Everson and John F. McGuire. In 2007, U.S. legislation clarified the role for the Board of Governors and that of the senior management in the wake of difficulties following Hurricane Katrina. Members of the board of governors other than the chairman are elected at the annual meeting of chapter delegates. The board appoints the chief executive officer. The president and CEOs' overall goal is to execute the Red Cross' strategies and missions and to lead and oversee the business activities that the Red Cross partakes in or organizes.
As of April 2023, the American Red Cross scores four out of four stars at Charity Navigator and A− at CharityWatch.
In 1996, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, an industry magazine, released the results of the largest study of charitable and nonprofit organization popularity and credibility. The study showed that ARC was ranked as the third "most popular charity/non-profit in America" of over 100 charities researched, with 48% of Americans over age 12 choosing "Love" or "Like A lot" to describe it.
Charles R. Drew, First medical director for the Red Cross National Blood Collection Program in 1941.
ARC supplies roughly 45% of the donated blood in the United States, which it sells to hospitals and regional suppliers on a cost-recovery basis. In 2019, hospitals paid blood collection centers about $215 per unit of red blood cells. Community-based blood centers supply nearly 50% and approximately 5% is collected directly by hospitals. In December 2004, ARC completed its largest blood processing facility in the United States in Pomona, California, on the campus grounds of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
For more than 50 years, ARC provided allograft tissue for transplant through sales in its Tissue Services Program. It cared for thousands of donor families who donated tissue and sold the tissue to more than 1 million transplant recipients. At the end of January 2005, ARC ended its Tissue Services program to focus on its primary missions of Disaster Relief and Blood Services.
A leader in the plasma industry, ARC provides more than one quarter of the USA's plasma products.