A safe and confidential place for you to share your concerns and discuss issues and difficult situations in relation to the Red Cross, whether you are a volunteer, employee, donor, or recipient of Red Cross services.
A safe and confidential place for you to share your concerns and discuss issues and difficult situations in relation to the Red Cross, whether you are a volunteer, employee, donor, or recipient of Red Cross services.
The Office of the Corporate Ombuds, a cornerstone of the deep commitment the Red Cross has to excellence in public service and high ethical standards, provides a confidential, impartial, neutral, independent, and informal place for people to voice their concerns with the Red Cross, its programs or policies or its ability to meet its mission. We are charged under the Modernization Act of 2007 to enhance dispute resolution, and to identify trends and patterns confronting the Red Cross.
American Red Cross is a large and complex organization. The Corporate Office of Ombuds is one of its dispute resolution resources to ensure your voice is heard. We encourage you to contact us if you are unsure where or how to start addressing a concern or if you are uncomfortable seeking assistance from other offices. We are trained in assisting you in identifying issues/concerns and developing options on how to best address and/or resolve them. This includes strategically evaluating options on how to best have your concern heard and constructively resolved.
Whether you are an employee or a volunteer, a partner who helps us to provide services, a blood donor or a blood recipient, or a recipient of any Red Cross service, our office is open to you. We will encourage openness, act as an early warning system, and serve as a relief valve for the inevitable tensions and conflicts that arise when people are working diligently under demanding and complex circumstances to serve people in need.
As an impartial and neutral broker that is independent of management, the Ombuds Office is uniquely situated to serve as a listening post for a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. The Ombuds Office creates a safe space for those concerns to be heard, sometimes through a series of discussions or meetings, and works closely with the individual to craft options for moving forward or resolving the matter.
The Ombuds uses conflict resolution and dispute resolution techniques that include coaching, facilitation, conciliation, shuttle diplomacy, and mediation to help you resolve issues.
We are committed to work with integrity and to adhere to our professional standards while managing concerns in an impartial, informal, and confidential manner. The Ombuds Office will not disclose or discuss any confidential matter without the knowledge and permission of the person who raised the concern, to the extent permitted by law. For more information, you can review the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice from the International Association of Ombuds to which we adhere.
This includes not revealing:
We will preserve confidentiality except where we determine there is an “imminent risk of serious harm,” we are given permission to make a disclosure and we agree that it would be appropriate to do so, or to the extent necessary to defend against a formal complaint of misconduct.
It can be difficult sometimes to find the most appropriate place to raise or address a concern. The Ombuds office can assist you to clarify issues, identify options and think strategically about how you can best raise and most constructively resolve matters of concern to you.
If you believe talking about your situation directly with an Ombuds would help, please contact us confidentially at (202) 303-5399 or 1-866-667-9331 (toll-free), or email the ombuds office directly.
The links below provide access to established Red Cross formal mechanisms for resolving concerns that are separate from the services provided by the Corporate Ombuds office. They may help support and/or expedite attainment of a solution to your concern.
You may request previous annual reports by contacting the Office of the Ombuds.