BUS 300_Assignment 2: Developing a Public Relations Plan, Part 2

Strayer University

BUS 300: Public Relations

Instructor: Janet Largaespada

November 22, 2019

State the name of the organization and describe its mission and purpose

The name of the organization selected is Red Cross, a non-profit and charitable organization that has a global presence. American Red Cross Branch traces its roots back in 1881 when Clara Barton, a nurse during the Civil War introduced her own version of Red Cross after working with the actual Red Cross in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. Barton ran the organization and ensured that aid was provided across America. The organization has grown to what it is currently but has been under lots of criticisms beginning from its early days of operation.

American Red Cross was developed with a mission of preventing as well as alleviating human suffering during emergencies (Irwin, 2013). The organization generally does this by conducting mobilizations to find volunteers as well as the generosity of donors who offer finances required in helping people get back to their feet after a disaster situation. The organization serves various purposes across the United States of America. For instance, it ensures all people affected by a disaster receive shelter, care and hope for full restoration. The organizations also ensure communities remain alert, prepared and ready to face any kind of disaster. It is also the role of Red Cross to ensure every individual in the face of an emergency has access to safe, lifesaving blood and other blood products the victims could need. Red Cross purposes to ensure there are trained individuals nearby ready to offer services during emergencies. The organization equips such people with skills and possible equipment they could need while rescuing people after a disaster strikes. As a result of these crucial purposes the organization is tasked to deliver, it works under various principles. Some of these principles include impartiality, neutrality, humanity, independence, unity, universality, and voluntary service.

Explain in detail the facts of the event that generated the negative publicity and why this situation would create negative publicity

Just like any other organization, the Red Cross has been facing challenges regarding its operations across the United States of America. The organization has been facing several issues, which have ended up creating negative publicity among the people. Making matters worse, this has led to people advocating for other charity organizations to handle their donations and not the American Red Cross. The organization has been under criticism of discrimination, racism, poor management and embezzlement of funds among other issues.

One recent criticism that has created a lot of negative publicity is on how the organization has been handling donations from individual people and even other organizations keen on supporting people in need. Based on various reports during the earthquake in Haiti back in 2010, it is recorded that Red Cross spent approximately 25% of the donations for its administrative, promotional as well as overhead costs. After spending US $125 million on these internal expenses, the organization later went ahead and lied to the public and the congressional investigators concerning these expenses (Sapat, & Shard, 2012). The organization went against its expenditure rules where it always states that for every dollar donated to the organization 91 cents is dedicated towards relief efforts hence leaving the organization with 9 cents of every donated dollar for its expenses while delivering the services. In other words, therefore, the organization ought to use 91% of every donation it receives for the purposes of relief and only uses 9% for its expenses.

Constant misuse of funds by the Red Cross could end up creating bad publicity as people are always sensitive to how money they donate is used and it would also be inhuman if Red Cross fails to deliver relief to people yet it has the resources offered by the general public. Prior to the Haiti earthquake case, there are other situations that have developed before concerning poor management of funds. For example, after the 9/11 attack by the Al-Qaeda, Red Cross managed to raise US $500 million but ended up putting half of that money aside for “future disasters”. The organization failed to help all people there and then, yet it had the money donated by the public specifically for the restoration of 9/11 victims. There have been cases of employees also stealing money dedicated to relief and helping people during disasters; such periodic misuse of donated funds ends up creating negative publicity concerning the organization.

Create the specific goals your campaign will try to achieve, and justify why you chose these goals

Restoration of American Red Cross Integrity to the public would require the development of a public relations campaign. The following are the specific goals the campaign will be aiming to achieve:

· To remind the public of the success stories of the Red Cross.

· To show the organization’s expenditure to the public.

· To assure better usage of funds by a shift in management.

The above goals are important in restoring the organization’s integrity, hence eliminating the negative publicity. Reminding people of Red Cross success stories would ensure the public still minds of the great things Red Cross has done despite its current problems. Showing the public Red Cross’ expenditures would help them understand why it used more money in its internal affairs. Assuring better usage of funds through a shift in management would create confidence as the public will believe that the organization is taking a new direction aimed at correcting its past mistakes.

Design and explain the steps you will take to achieve your goals

The first step would be to ensure the goals remain visible among Red Cross employees to remind them daily of what they are working to achieve. Secondly, there will be a need to have clearly set milestones to understand whether the goals are being achieved or not. As part of achieving the goals, Red Cross would have to connect most of its projects to the milestones and the goals. For example, they will have to share all the successful projects they undertake with the public. They will also have to show their financial records on the projects they handle as a way of connecting their projects to the campaign goals. It would be important for Red Cross to share its progress and celebrate small successes if they manage to improve on their negative public perception. Recognition of the small successes will eventually lead to the achievement of all the goals within the campaign (Burton, Obel, & Håkonsson, 2015). 

Compose an evaluation plan and explain how you will use it to assess the outcome of your campaign

It would be important to have an evaluation plan that would clearly tell whether the organization is achieving its campaign goals or not. The plan will consist of a feedback survey that would be presented to disaster victims who will rate the relief services provided by the Red Cross. Secondly, the assessment will also involve a search of media mentions and how the organization is portrayed by the media. If the perception by the media is positive, then it shall be automatic that the campaign did work. Lastly, the organization will focus on social media data, which will be analyzed to have a view of how the general public shall be perceiving the organization after the efforts to erase the negative publicity. Data from social media will be important as most people express their frustrations through this platform. It will indeed be a good indicator for the organization, as it will know on areas it should improve.

References

Burton, R. M., Obel, B., & Håkonsson, D. D. (2015). Organizational design: A step-by-step approach. Cambridge University Press.

Irwin, J. (2013). Making the World Safe: The American Red Cross and a Nation's Humanitarian Awakening. Oxford University Press.

Sapat, A., & Esnard, A. M. (2012). Displacement and disaster recovery: Transnational governance and socio‐legal issues following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 3(1), 1-24.