The Australian Red Cross Analysis

The Australian Red Cross has over 100 million volunteers worldwide with 60,000 members in Australia alone. They pride themselves on being able to help people in times of crisis and care for those unable to themselves. From 2008-2009 The Australian Red Cross has responded to 257 emergencies and assisted 89,764 people, in their disaster/emergency area. They had also helped 4,328 people in the healthcare area and many, many more people in other areas such as youth services, education and first aid services. Currently their major projects are the Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal, Victorian Floods Appeal and New Zealand Earthquake Appeal. How does the Australian red Cross compare with other charities based on our criteria?? Read on to find out….

Transparency

The Australian Red Cross is a very transparent charity with detailed information on their website about current project and even past projects. They have many contact options such as e-mail, telephone and even a head office for each of their different branches so you can talk to them in person. They also have a facebook, twitter, youtube and linked-in page to reach the community and on top of this they provide annual reports and financial statements, leaving no information to the imagination. I give them a 10/10 for this criterion.

Social Impacts over last 12 months

Over the past 12 months the Australian Red Cross has been actively involved in the community with 93% of their projects funded being in Australia and 7% being international. Some of their projects included the Victoria Bushfire Appeal, Blood donation service, Asia quake and tsunami relief and other programs. I give them a 7/10 for this criterion.

Expenditure-to-Actual donation ratio

The Australian Red Cross in the year 2010 received a total income of $797,473 from government grants, community support, appeals and other sources. From this they spent a total of $704,185 for the year, of this $704,185 only 4% or $28,167 of their expenditure for the year was used on administration costs, while the other 96% went straight into their charity work. I give them an 8/10 for this criterion.

Overall the Australian Red Cross is a fantastic charity that is very transparent, is fairly active within the community and has a good expenditure-to-donation ratio, with only 4% of their money going to administration costs. I give the Australian Red Cross a high score of 25/30.

Happy Donating ;) 

David, 1DC