Essay on Red Cross

The Red Cross of Boston, according to M. Gale (2007), is a non-profit, faith-based center, which reaches out to the people of Boston. The Red Cross of Boston is part of the major and most diverse service company in the USA. The company offers food and shelter in case of emergencies, help members of Armed Forces and their relatives teach lifesaving skills, train nurses’ aids, reply to fires, monitor storm damage, and shelter those people who have lost everything. The Red Cross has already assisted many families after its establishment; however, without the additional volunteer base and increased funding, the Red Cross is limited in the outreach capacity. The crisis affects the Red Cross financially in many ways, counting the damage to building, loss of productivity, and reducing profits resulting from the decline in organizational legitimacy. Additionally, this crisis damages the reputation. Regardless of the Red Cross’s organization’s past reputation – sterling as it may be – a crisis can lead to substantial damage to the organization’s image. Even if the Red Cross has earned the status of fair, equitable treatment people and the organization helps them well, the absence of volunteers and funding may lead the public to be less credulous of the messages made by the Red Cross. Thus, it is crucial not merely to hold the existing crisis, but to also guarantee the crisis is handled in such a fashion that reputation and legitimacy are preserved (Gale, 2007).

Issue to be Addressed

The finances are required for repairs to the building, necessary supplies, payment of mortgage on the building, and the salary for director. More volunteers are also required to expand the Red Cross’s reach.

Description of Targeted Publics

When it comes to the description of Targeted Publics itself, it is obvious that the following issues should be taken into account: churches and associations, health care providers and various types of foundations, of course. Moreover, individual donors should not also be forgotten because they can also play a rather significant role.

PR Plan’s Goal

Generally speaking, the main goal of PR plan can be divided into four main issues. To begin with, it is of vital importance to augment the funding by the following numbers:

1. $10,000/year – credit pay off of $80,000
2. $40,000/year – director
3. $16,000 – building maintenance
4. $12,000 – computers and additional necessary supplies

The second aspect of the plan is to find at least 25 more volunteers because today we are experiencing a real lack of people. What is more, the third step of the PR plan is, definitely, to have more food bank donations. Fourth, it is advisable to hire some health care providers for essential free medicinal care.

Public Relationship Management Program (PRMP)

It is not a simple task to create a good and successful PRMP. Therefore, the mentioned below points are useful in creating any public relationship management program:

• PR manager should conduct broad research to estimate the problem faced by the organization, and the publics related to the organization. The relations among the Red Cross and media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community should be defined, and then prioritized according to which groups are most crucial to the Red Cross (Allen & Caillouet, 1994).
• Broad planning should take place to describe the public relations trouble, and recognize communication tactics to address the trouble. The PR plan should also comprise the terminal date for accomplishing the objectives not only to preserve time and money, but also to provide the definitive ending to the PR campaign.
• During the implementation process, publicity campaigns are established to increase knowledge of program objectives. PRPs should treat implementation and planning separately to guarantee a plan is realized advantageously (Gale, 2007).
• PRPs should watchfully supervise a plan after it is realized to make minor adjustments and guarantee the program is meeting the requirements of the Red Cross and the media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community. PRPs should comprise feedback mechanism to gauge community reply after the program has been realized (Allen & Caillouet, 1994).
• After the campaign ending, as M. Gales (2007) asserts, PRPs should sit down with managers and estimate the preparation, process, and program. The weaknesses and strengths have to be discussed, and plans need to be made for what future programs should achieve.
• Based on the estimation of the campaign, the Red Cross should define means for building the basis for future interactions with the media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community, and show admiration for the stakeholders (Gale, 2007).

Objective for Every Public

It is obvious that every public has its objectives. One can say that for foundations, for example, the main aim is to receive grants. Meanwhile, various trade associations and churches should negotiate monthly financial donations, one-time financial donations, common food and staples donations and monthly food aid. When it comes to individual donors, it is evident that their primary objective is to negotiate monthly financial donations; one-time monetary donations, hire volunteers. Health care providers should accept the volunteers for monthly fundamental medical care.

Action Plan for Every Public

Since every public has its action plan, it is advisable to have a closer look at all of them. The foundations’ action plan is to submit the grant applications to twenty-five foundations in 2012. When it comes to trade associations and churches, the following issues can be named: to evolve the team of representatives to address at least two churches in Boston and one association monthly. This includes applying for regular monthly donations and one-time donations and for monthly food donations and one-time donations.  Moreover, it is also advisable to apply for volunteers. The second point for associations and churches is to regularly send newsletters to stress the effectiveness of the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, for individual donors it is highly recommended, first of all, organizing yearly fundraising events and yearly appreciation dinner for volunteers and donors. It is also a good idea to regularly send newsletter with thank-you from families that have obtained assistance from the Red Cross. As to the health care providers, they are kindly asked to organize the common breakfast gatherings for health care providers to demonstrate the Center and hire the volunteers for a monthly free health clinic.

PR Plan’s Communication Strategies

Firstly, foundations should submit 25 grant applications. As to the churches, they are advised to telephone the pastors/directors to describe the Red Cross and offer speakers.

The therapeutic care providers can talk to neighboring American Medical Association for supervision on how to reach the health care providers. Meanwhile, the individual donors is this issue have the biggest job. To begin with, they are asked to address associations and church. Secondly, they should also organize yearly fund-raising events and regularly send newsletters depicting the outcomes of the Red Cross’s attempts.

Media Strategies

Media Strategies feature the following tasks. First of all, to organize various press releases concerning the fundraisers. The second thing, which should be obviously done, is to contact local journalists for accounts in the local papers. Finally, it is also a good advised to consider being a visitor on local radio talk show.

Budget

The main issue of the budget is that everything in the Plan has to be achieved through volunteer attempts and donations.

Plan Evaluation

Generally speaking, the plan can be evaluated according to several aspects. To start with, there should be checked the total funds, which would have been collected by April 2013. Moreover, yearly funds committed by December 2012 should be also taken into account. It is also critical to estimate the total of dedicated volunteers by April 2013 and total of health care providers, dedicated to volunteering by April 2013.Finally, boost in food bank should not be forgotten as well. However, it is hard to calculate (Frumpkin, 2005).

Plan Execution

Regarding the plan execution, it is critical to finish the grant applications, create the list of churches and associations in Boston, and to prepare mailings to associations and churches as well as to follow up mailings with calls and organize the group presentation. But this is not all. The brochures and print them should be also developed.  It is advisable to make an attempt to contact Boston branch of AMA as well.

Feedback and Modification of PR Plan

Frumpkin (2005) asserts that to have a positive feedback, it is of vital importance to supervise the presentations and to receive the feedback from speakers, pastors and directors. Therefore, in case of necessity, it is critical to make adjustments (Frumpkin, 2005).

The public relations managers and crisis managers should select the proper crisis reply strategy based on the company’s relational history with the media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community, and the perceived attribution of the cause of a crisis. The crisis plan has to appoint the crisis management team, evolve the proper replies, create checklists and protocols, and analyze organizational sources and alliances, which can be useful in coping with a crisis. The center should engage in relations management with the media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community, to create the positive relations.

Though the plan has been created, crisis managers should admit to the fact that a crisis is an unplanned act. Thus, they should be open to novel data, perspectives, contingencies, alternatives or interpretations. PR and crisis managers have to be the part of top management, and should create the policy to correspond with media, clients, volunteers, and members of the community openly at all times, not merely during a crisis. PR and crisis managers have to create the proactive and reactive approaches, and reply to the crisis as soon as possible.

The reactions from dissimilar parts concerned should be monitored at all times, and crisis managers should bear in mind the reactions as they adjust the approaches throughout the crisis. Though crisis management demands certain flexibility, a message should be consistent. If possible, the Red Cross should appoint a credible spokesman to address media and answer questions during a crisis. Organizations should at all times reply to the crisis, and never utilize the “no comment” reply; such responses fail to contest negative accusations, and can strengthen the perception that the company is at fault.  After a crisis has passed the centre should take the time to conduct the “post mortem” estimation. This estimation should appraise the efficiency of how a crisis was handled, alter the crisis plan, and negotiate the way how the future trouble should be handled in a different way or in the same in the future (Gale, 2007).