Organizational Structure of the Red Cross
Role of the National Board of Governors
The Board of Governors of the American Red Cross delegates authority and responsibility to the Board of Directors of each chapter for governance of the chapter; delivery of authorized serv-ices in the chapter’s jurisdiction; and meeting corporate obligations to comply with corporate regulations.
The Board of Governors is composed of fifty people selected from volunteers affiliated with lo-cal chapters across the United States. The President of the United States, who acts as honorary chairman of the Red Cross, appoints eight of the Board’s members and selects the chairperson. Thirty members are elected by local chapters. Twelve members are chosen by the Board of Governors.
National Headquarters and Service Areas
The strength of the American Red Cross lies in our field units and our ability
to provide mis-sion-driven service at the local level. The chief responsibilities
of the national sector are to help build that strength, to ensure that we
meet our commitments nationwide, and to organize ourselves in such a way
that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Service Areas support unified, nationwide preparedness efforts and provide a
comprehensive design to facilitate oversight, cooperation and support of
all chapters and national sector staff in the field. Under the Service Area
structure, the employees and volunteers responsible for the oversight of
chapters are connected with other national headquarters resources that can
help chapters identify and address deficiencies and help to avoid problems
by focusing on chapter capacity-building.
The primary purpose of the Service Area concept is to enhance,
within a geographic area, the capacity of the Red Cross chapters with
respect to:
Disaster
response and readiness
Community preparedness
Communication, marketing, government relations and
fund raising
Back-office functions
Volunteer recruitment, retention and development.
Eight Service Area teams
have been established. Each serves a defined geography that is based on
population density, geography
and
similarities in known
potential hazards and threats, and similar population
characteristics (demographics, culture, etc.).
About the Northern Vermont Chapter
The Northern Vermont Chapter was originally chartered in 1917
as the Chittenden County Chapter. Over the years, other county chapters in
Vermont have merged
with it to form to Northern Vermont Chapter of today. The Chapter provides
programs and services to eight counties in Vermont. They are Addison,
Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, and Orleans.
There are
two other chapters in Vermont, The Central Vermont/New Hampshire Valley
Chapter headquartered in Rutland, and the Green Mountain Chapter headquartered
in
Bennington.
For more information about this page please contact: at
(802) 660-9130.
