Australian Red Cross: Roles, Practices, and Funding Sources

Running Head: AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS 1
Australian Red Cross
Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS 2
Introduction
The Australian Red Cross is part of the global humanitarian movement under the brands
Red Cross and Red Crescent. The Red Cross widely known for its involvement in the aiding of
social, natural, and economic challenges facing the society was founded in 1914 at the onset of
the World War I. However, the spread of the movement to be global took shape towards the end
of World War II in 1941. Nonetheless, the objectives of the Red Cross differ with location and
the type of humanitarian crisis experienced within identified demographics. This research is an
investigative study which considered the roles of the Red Cross in Australia. The central purpose
of this research is to determine the essential duties of the Australian Red Cross as well as how
effective it has been in meeting individual and collective goals.
Functioning Purpose
The fundamental functioning purpose of the Australian Red Cross is to assist
communities faced with a variety of social, economic, and natural challenges in dealing and
recovering with their situations. Additionally, since Red Cross is a non-profit organization, the
entity depends on donations and fundraising to meet the expenses of resolving the community
issues identified within the Australian demographics and beyond. The mobilization of
communities to participate in fundraising through a variety of activities such as swimming,
running and walking which make part of healthy living exercises and also an opportunity to
contribute towards a useful course. Thus, for the organization to be relevant in resolving the
community challenges, it requires voluntary help in raising the financial aid necessary to assist
communities deemed to be at high risk of developing or persisting with a set of socially
uncomfortable situations.

AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS 3
To meet the functioning purpose, the Australian Red Cross has developed some charity
events to pool resources from those willing to be of help. Among these activities include the urge
to community members to participate individually through the ‘My Own Thing’ campaign whose
purpose is to entice well-wishers to take upon tasks of helping where possible whenever it is
convenient for the involved party. Activities associated with this campaign relate to those of the
‘Give it up’ campaign which also calls for able individuals to give up some of their luxuries to
assist in making the lives of the underprivileged less stressful. Additionally, in order to be
productive in meeting society needs within Australia, Red Cross also runs the campaign ‘Red
Cross Heroes’ where the organization is involved with functions and events that supporters of the
movement can subscribe to and experience fun activities as they contribute towards a common
development course (Red Cross, 2018).
Theoretical Underpinnings of the Australian Red Cross
The theoretical underpinnings of the Australian Red Cross do not differ from the global
role played by the organization. By considering social challenges such as drug addiction and
abuse, violence towards one gender, natural disasters, droughts, and other lifestyle-changing
impacts, the organization aims at developing sustainability of acceptable living standards. To
reach out to communities faced with critical social and related challenges, one of the underlying
theory by the Red Cross is to create social justice platform for communities facing harsh times.
Consequently, the concept of recovery also targets communities whose lifestyle is impacted by
diseases, natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, and drought (Grulich et al. 2015).
Through the concept of teamwork and collaborative resource pooling and distribution, the
organization cannot only locate the root of social challenges but also provide consistent help
until the situation is under control.