How Corporate Execs Got a Hold of the Red Cross and Drove It Into the Ground

[LiberalArkie]

By Justin Elliott / Pro Publica December 15, 2015

WHEN GAIL MCGOVERN WAS PICKED to head the American Red Cross in 2008, the organization was reeling. Her predecessor had been fired after impregnating a subordinate. The charity was running an annual deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars.

A former AT&T executive who had taught marketing at Harvard Business School, McGovern pledged to make the tough choices that would revitalize the Red Cross, which was chartered by Congress to provide aid after disasters. In a speech five years ago, she imagined a bright future, a “revolution” in which there would be “a Red Cross location in every single community.’’

It hasn’t worked out that way.

McGovern and her handpicked team of former AT&T colleagues have presided over a string of previously unreported management blunders that have eroded the charity’s ability to fulfill its core mission of aiding Americans in times of need.

Snip

http://www.alternet.org/investigations/how-corporate-execs-got-hold-red-cross-and-drove-it-ground

[hollysmom]

1. the local red cross has abandoned the local food pantry.

they said it is no longer part of their goal and they are sure some other charity will take it over. the town social services takes care of most of the needs of the people here, so besides blood drives what does the red cross do? they don't take people in during cold waves or heat waves, like most of the town buildings do (the library has a special area for parents with young children with a nap room and a play room and stays open into the evenings on cold or very hot nights. They say they respond to fires to house and cloth the families, but no, they don't, according to the people I have spoken with in the fire department. could it be too republican for it's britches?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Best management practices at work.

Let's put lots of faith in the MBAs since they have done so much for us.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. I was shocked to find that Red Cross sells donated blood....

instead of providing hospitals with the free blood.

And that Red Cross mis-managed and mis-spent millions of dollars donated to New Orleans and other Katrina disaster victims.

[LiberalArkie]

4. But they pay their executives quite well to make up for it.

[MurrayDelph]

6. I used to give blood frequently (over two gallons in my lifetime)

but stopped when they started nagging me to come in.

I would give when it was convenient to me (when there was a bloodmobile at an event I was attending, or before I retired when they would come to my business). I slowed down when a friend of mine was sick and needed blood (from Kaiser, which expects your friends to come up with the amount you used), but I had given one week too early for them to accept from me.

The final straw was when I would write on the donation form "do not call" but they would call anyway, expecting me to drive 2.5 hours each way from my small town in coastal Oregon to downtown Portland for a procedure that would take a couple of hours.

They still call about once a year.

[Scuba]

5. But, but, but aren't Republicans always saying we should leave the safety net to charities?

I guess charities are easier to loot than the government.

[IdaBriggs]

7. I was an instructor volunteer for over ten years.

Elizabeth Dole was not my favorite person, but after she left in 1999 things started going to heck. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, the donations were squandered and they began cutting staff who were responsible for essential services. At one point, in the event of an emergency, we had three full time people responsible for coordinating thousands of volunteers in response. By the time Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, we were down to ONE part time person.

I have not volunteered with them since my experience with Hurricane Katrina (which was mostly positive but where I saw substantial waste and mismanagement on the ground from the "paid" professional staff).

They have screwed the communities and volunteers so long and so hard, it will take a huge overhaul to get things back in order.

I am proud of the work I did (trained approximately a thousand people in ten years how to save lives - woo hoo!) but when your mission is to save lives with the help of people who volunteer their time and talent, well, let's just say the exodus of caring, committed volunteers will probably continue.

Bad management always ruins good things.