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American Red Cross

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100% reputation-driven, no longer recognizable as a humanitarian organization - Anonymous employee American Red Cross Employee Review

1.0
Apr 11, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Volunteers and a few employees still genuinely driven by the humanitarian mission.

Cons

The primary mission of the American Red Cross for the last few decades has been to dupe and fool the American public into donating massive amounts of money for causes which don't require them - such as collecting blood and the Japanese tsunami. Hospitals need blood far less these days due to technological advances in plasma substitutes, but ARC likes the revenue stream so pretends blood is still needed in massive quantities. Then there is the Japanese tsunami - the Japanese Red Cross told ARC they didn't need or want any financial assistance, yet ARC continued fundraising for them. Why? ARC wanted to look like it was doing something when CNN started calling. On the flip side, ARC does not do anything for causes that actually need help, such as Hurricane Sandy (read the ProPublica article on ARC, available online) or the Haitian earthquake (ask anyone in the international community exactly how much effort and risk ARC has put into reconstruction - the answer you will get is close to zero). Having worked for over half a decade for the charlatans, scoundrels, rogues, and con-men/women that compose the current leadership/management structure of the Red Cross, I tell you they are only driven by three things: (1) minimizing ARC media scandals (hard to do these days); (2) avoiding doing any actual relief work (they outsource) due to their fear of scandal/liability; and (3) their salaries.

Explore other reviews about American Red Cross

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great humanitarian mission, non profit

Cons

None, great place to work

1
1.0
Jul 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- decent health insurance - helping people feels good. - depending on your chapter you can get good, flexible time - some volunteers are legit saints

Cons

- everyone on the inside doesn’t think things will meaningfully change, it’s systemic. - leadership is often out of touch in expectations and demands, while provide verbal support (at best), chronic understaffing, and focusing on what looks good (to media, PR, etc.). - turnover is extreme - on call is 24/7, volunteer capacity is dwindling especially in rural areas, we have to fill in the gaps, as a result you will be trapped in your area and cannot be good at your actual job. - the non-saint volunteers will treat you horribly, god forbid if you are a woman in this position, there’s a de-facto no firing policy on volunteers - pay is so bad is borders on funny, they gave me a raise this year for ‘merit,’ it was $750…for the year. My boss even laughed when telling me. - it’s a culture of management not leadership, so do not expect either honesty or accountability

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