Our Federal Charter
How The American Red Cross Achieved
its Current Role
The relationship between the American Red Cross and the
federal government is unique. We are an independent entity that
is organized and exists as a nonprot, tax-exempt, charitable
institution pursuant to a charter granted to us by the United
States Congress. Unlike other congressionally chartered
organizations, the Red Cross maintains a special relationship
with the federal government.
Our Relationship with the Federal Government
We have the legal status of “a federal instrumentality,” due to our charter requirements to carry out
responsibilities delegated to us by the federal government. Among these responsibilities are:
• to fulll the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, to which the United States is a signatory,
assigned to national societies for the protection of victims of conict,
• to provide family communications and other forms of support to the U.S. military, and
• to maintain a system of domestic and international disaster relief, including mandated
responsibilities under the National Response Framework coordinated by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA).
Despite this close relationship with the federal government, the American Red Cross is not a federal
agency, nor do we receive federal funding on a regular basis to carry out our services and programs. We
receive our nancial support from voluntary public contributions and from cost-recovery charges for some
of our services, such as the provision of blood and blood products and health and safety training courses.
Under limited circumstances, however, it sometimes becomes necessary for us to seek appropriations for
certain programs when the funding requirements are beyond that supported by the charitable public. At
times, federal and state government agencies also contract with the Red Cross and provide material aid
and assistance to support the Red Cross in fulllment of specic instances of our charter obligations.
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Early Organization
American Red Cross founder, Clara Barton, rst learned about the Geneva Convention and the Red Cross
Movement–then protecting only the injured on battleelds–during travel in Europe (1869-1873) where she
briey served as a Red Cross volunteer during the Franco-Prussian War (1870). After returning to the United
States, she initiated a concerted effort to gain U.S. ratication of the Geneva Convention. In 1878, armed
with a letter from Gustave Moynier, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, she met with
President Rutherford B. Hayes. He referred her to the State Department but she was unsuccessful. In 1881
she once again took up her campaign with Hayes’ successor, President James Gareld, who seemed more
supportive, but he was assassinated before Barton could gain any momentum.
Undeterred, Barton focused her attention on forming an American Red Cross organization. On May 12,
1881, a group of fteen met to discuss the issue at the home of Sen. Omar D. Conger (R.-Mich.), a Barton
friend and Red Cross advocate. A second meeting on May 16 resulted in appointment of a committee to
draw up a constitution modeled on one for the American Association for the Relief of the Misery on Battle
Fields–an earlier organization (1866-1872) that had promoted U.S. support of the Geneva Convention.
Barton convened a third meeting in her own Washington quarters on May 21, where a constitution was
presented and adopted creating what was then called the American Association of the Red Cross. Although
it is unclear how many attended that meeting, the constitution eventually bore 51 signatures. It identied
the new organization as national in scope with ve objectives:
• to secure the adoption of the Geneva Convention by the United States,
• to obtain for itself recognition from the United States government,
• to “organize a system of national relief and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by
war, pestilence, famine and other calamities,”
• to collect and diffuse information on such matters as relief, sanitary science, and hospital services.
• to cooperate with other national societies of the Red Cross.
It established the ofces of a president, several vice-presidents, a secretary and treasurer, plus an executive
board and a “board for consultation” consisting of the U.S. president and other government ofcials
At a meeting in Washington on June 9, the new association held elections, selecting Clara Barton as its
president. On July 1, it submitted articles for incorporation to the District of Columbia. Following closely
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the language of the constitution, the articles were ofcially received by the District on October 1, 1881, and
recorded on October 7, 1881 by the Recorder of Deeds, who happened, at the time, to be the abolitionist and
Barton acquaintance, Frederick Douglass.
In December 1881, Gareld’s successor, Chester Arthur, surprised the new American Red Cross by calling
for ratication of the Geneva Convention in his rst message to Congress. On March 1, 1882, he signed the
Convention and the Senate approved it on March 16. Six days later, the Red Cross drew up a new constitution that
eliminated the section calling for U.S. ratication of the Convention. We retained the same ofcers but created
a Central Committee of three (consisting of the Red Cross president, secretary, and treasurer) to replace the
executive board as the “working force” of the Red Cross and added an advisory board of 11 members.
Throughout this period, the Red Cross sought to obtain a congressional charter. Lacking sufcient support in
Congress, however, the Association submitted new articles of incorporation to the District of Columbia in 1893.
They contained only one signicant change. The organization was renamed the American National Red Cross to
emphasize our national scope and to distinguish us from a growing number of local Red Cross societies bearing
various ties, if any, to the national organization. (This remains the full legal name of the organization although
“National” is commonly omitted when the organization is referred to in non-legal contexts.)
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Obtaining a Congressional Charter
During the late 1890s several bills were introduced in Congress calling for federal incorporation of the
American Red Cross and for protection of the Red Cross insignia (a requirement of all signatories to the
Geneva Convention). None were successful, however, until 1900. After lengthy and heated debate, mostly
over commercial use of the red cross emblem, then quite popular, Congress nally granted the American
Red Cross its rst federal charter. Acknowledging the Geneva Convention and America’s ratication of it,
the charter established the American National Red Cross as the agency to “carry out the purposes” of the
Convention in the United States:
• “To furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of armies in time of war.”
• “To perform all the duties” required of a national society in accordance with the Convention.
• “To succeed to all the rights and property” of the foregoing Red Cross corporation of the District of Columbia.
• “To act in matters of voluntary relief and in accordance with the military and naval authorities as a medium
of communication between the people of the United States . . . and their armies . . .”
• To “carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and to apply the same in
mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, re, oods, and other great national calamities.”
(This was the so-called “American Amendment” calling for peacetime disaster relief that had put Barton at
odds with some European Red Cross leaders who wished to limit services to armed conict.)
• To devise means for preventing disasters and “to promote measures of humanity and welfare of mankind.”
The charter granted full legal standing to the organization and protected our right to use the red cross
emblem while setting nes and punishment for misuse of the emblem and for false representation of the
organization. It called for the Red Cross to submit annually to Congress a full nancial report and accounting
of our proceedings. The charter identied 55 Red Cross supporters as Incorporators. They became the
nucleus of the Board of Incorporators, a group that played a role in governance of the organization until the
mid-twentieth century.
One of the reasons driving Congress to grant a charter in 1900 was concern over the way the organization
conducted its business. While Clara Barton remained highly popular in the public eye, some closely
associated with the organization viewed her personal management style with concern. In particular, they
considered her nancial record-keeping sloppy and incomplete. The charter attempted to insure more
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systematic governance and greater scal responsibility. However, in the view of a growing number of people,
some of whom had been staunch Barton supporters in the past, more radical steps needed to be taken. Led
by Mabel T. Boardman (a member of the Red Cross since 1900 and a powerful force within it for the next
44 years), a group was organized, dubbed the “remonstrants,” that openly opposed Barton. They took their
concerns to President Theodore Roosevelt and to the Congress. Barton and her remaining followers put up
a strong ght–at one point expelling remonstrants from the organization and at another declaring Barton
“president for life”–but in the end the opposition prevailed. Faced with a congressional investigation, Barton
resigned from the Red Cross on May 14, 1904. An interim committee was set up to run the organization and
to work with Congress on creating a revised Red Cross charter.
Congress issued a new charter in 1905. Its major innovation was the creation of a Central Committee as the
governing body of the Red Cross. Initially, this committee was to consist of 18 members, six of whom were
selected by the Incorporators. The U.S. president appointed the other 12 and assigned one to be committee
chairman and principal ofcer of the organization. The charter also called for the establishment of state
and territorial societies which, once their number reached six, would select six Central Committee members,
while the Incorporators and president would each select six others. The charter called for formation of an
executive committee, composed of seven Central Committee members, including the chairman, to run the
organization between meetings of the full committee. The charter required the Red Cross to submit an
annual report “of its proceedings for the preceding year, including a full, complete, and itemized report of
receipts and expenditures of whatever kind” to the Secretary of War for audit by the War Department and
subsequent submission to Congress. The new charter also stiffened the rules relative to use of the red cross
symbol by entities other than the Red Cross.
In 1892, she organized assistance for Russians suffering from famine by shipping them 500 railroad cars of
Iowa cornmeal and our. After a hurricane and tidal wave left over 5,000 dead on the Sea Islands of South
Carolina in 1893, Barton’s Red Cross labored for 10 months helping the predominantly African-American
population recover and reestablish their agricultural economy. In 1896, Barton directed relief operations on
behalf of victims of unrest in Turkey and Armenia, the sole woman and only Red Cross advocate the Turkish
government allowed to intervene. During her last relief operation, in 1900, Barton distributed over $120,000
in nancial assistance and supplies to survivors of the hurricane and tidal wave that struck Galveston, Texas,
and caused more than 6,000 deaths.
Although Henry Dunant had suggested in 1864 that Red Cross societies provide disaster relief as well
as wartime services, Barton became its strongest advocate in the years that followed. During the Third
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International Red Cross Conference in Geneva in 1884, the American Red Cross proposed an amendment to
the Geneva Treaty calling for expansion of Red Cross relief to include victims of natural disasters. Although
some national societies were dubious, the resolution passed and became known as the “American Amendment” to
the Geneva Treaty of 1864. Because of work like this in support of the global Red Cross network, several countries
honored Barton with decorations, such as the German Iron Cross for her relief work in the Franco-Prussian War and
the Silver Cross of Imperial Russia for the supplies provided during the famine of 1892.
The American Red Cross moved in a new direction near the end of Barton’s tenure as head of the
organization when we delivered supplies and services to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Recipients
of Red Cross aid included members of the American armed forces, prisoners of war, and Cuban refugees.
This was the rst time that the American Red Cross provided assistance to American armed forces and
civilians during wartime.
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Amendments to the 1905 Charter
The 1905 charter underwent several amendments The rst four made minor changes.
The rst amendment (June 23, 1910) expanded the protection of the red cross emblem from fraudulent
use while grandfathering in usage deemed lawful prior to January 5, 1905. It also created a board of nine
trustees, elected by the Incorporators, to manage and control the Red Cross Endowment Fund.
The second amendment (December 10, 1912) moved the date of the organization’s annual meeting later
into the month of December, to better accommodate the schedules of Incorporators.
The third amendment (February 27, 1917) shifted the date the annual report was due to the War
Department from January 1 to “as soon as practical after the rst day of July,” reecting adoption by the
Red Cross of a July 1-June 30 scal year. It had operated earlier on the basis of the calendar year.
The fourth amendment (March 3, 1921) expanded the number of members of the executive committee
from seven to nine, while maintaining a quorum of ve as established by the 1905 charter.
The fth amendment, passed by Congress on May 8, 1947, represented a major change in the structure
of the Red Cross. Reecting the wishes of community chapters to increase their inuence and following
the recommendations of an internal committee that reviewed the governance of the Red Cross, the 1947
amendment did away with both the Central Committee and the Board of Incorporators. In their place, a
50-member Board of Governors was created. Eight members were to be appointed by the president of
the United States, including one to serve as board president and principal ofcer of the corporation. The
remaining presidential appointees were to be ofcials of the federal government “whose positions and
interests are such as to qualify them to contribute toward the accomplishment of Red Cross programs
and objectives.” Thirty governors were to be elected for three-year terms by the chapters, one-third being
elected each year at the corporation’s annual meeting, designated as the national convention. The twelve
remaining governors were to be elected by the Board of Governors for three-year terms as members-at-
large. An executive committee was also created, consisting of not less than eleven Governors, to exercise
the powers of the Board when it was not in session.
The subsequent three amendments were enacted over a span of fty years.
The sixth amendment (June 25, 1948) removed the section of the charter regarding false and fraudulent
misrepresentation of the Red Cross and misuse of the Red Cross emblem and placed those provisions,
somewhat amended, in the United States criminal code.
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The seventh amendment (July 17, 1953) updated language in reference to the military (“War Department”
became “Department of Defense,” “Secretary of War” was changed to “Secretary of Defense,” and “Army and
Navy” became “Armed Forces”).
The eighth amendment (August 12, 1998) was a recodication of the charter and part of a larger effort
to revise Title 36 of the United States Code covering “Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies,
and Organizations.” (Title 36 includes 95 nonprot organizations with the Red Cross alone designated
as a “treaty obligation organization” because of the responsibilities assigned to it under the U.S. treaty
obligations of the Geneva Conventions.) The amendment reordered some components of the charter and
modernized the language. It made no substantive changes although it added a provision that consolidated
a series of laws concerning federal ownership and Red Cross use and maintenance of the buildings and
grounds on Red Cross Square.
The most recent amendment to the charter was approved by congress and signed into law on May 11, 2007
after the Board of Governors conducted a comprehensive review and recommended sweeping changes to
American Red Cross governance. The most signicant reforms include:
• Downsize the 50-member Red Cross Board to between 12 and 20 members by 2012, and create a
Red Cross Advisory Council whose members are appointed by the President of the United States from
principal ofcers of the executive departments and senior ofcers of the Armed Forces.
• Clarify the role of the Board to focus solely on governance and strategic oversight.
• Eliminate the three categories of board members and establish a single category of membership; the
selection of members is accomplished through the Governance and Board Development Committee’s
recommendation to the full Board with nal approval by delegates of the chapters and blood services
regions at the annual meeting of the American Red Cross.
• Establish a new Ofce of the Ombudsman that provides annual reports to Congress.
In addition to the charter, Congress has enacted legislation over the years concerning Red Cross programs
and services. (These statutes deal with the organization’s service to the U.S. military, provision and support
of relief activities, the regulation of biomedical services, and the appropriation and use of Red Cross
property.) Started in 1943 by Franklin Roosevelt, each March, the U.S. President issues a proclamation
calling upon the American public to support the Red Cross through the donation of blood, volunteer time,
and money. The charter remains, however, the organic document of the Red Cross and, as such, formally
recognizes the close association of our organization with the American people and their government.
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For more information on this and other historical topics, see:
• Foster Rhea Dulles, The American Red Cross. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950. A general history
of the ARC from its beginnings to mid-century. Out of print but in most libraries.
• Patrick F. Gilbo, The American Red Cross: The First Century. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. An
illustrated history of the rst century of the ARC, 1881-1981. Out of print but in most libraries.
