American Red Cross Youth » Ralph Chislett

Extreme Blog Makeover

Ralph Chislett — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:18:55 +0000

So, you may have noticed our new theme. If history is any indication, it’s probably safe to say that we’re never really happy with one design – we like change. This time around, I think we’ve finally found a design that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional.

The tabs at the top of the page should allow you to more easily access categorized information intuitively. Our new navigation down the side of the page will allow you to dig deeper into these broad categories to quickly get you to specific pages. Below that on the right, we’ve added a section that lists all of our contributors, complete with our smiling faces! Hopefully, we’ll get everyone to get a picture uploaded soon.

As for the scary crop circles in the banner at the top of the page – don’t fear them – just don’t stare into them too long. Kidding! Actually, what happened was that when we decided to use this new template, our current banner was too small for the space it was supposed to fill and became really pixelated and gross looking. No one likes a pixelated banner, right? So, someone very multitalented designed this interesting placeholder while we get an awesome new banner designed and ready for the page.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the site itself or any ideas for a new banner, drop me a comment and I’ll see what we can do. Happy reading!

Ralph Chislett – San Antonio, TX

Yao Ming for the Red Cross

Ralph Chislett — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:25:33 +0000

This PSA aired last night during Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals (Spurs vs Lakers).

Volunteer Leadership Summit

Ralph Chislett — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:39:15 +0000

Good morning everyone! I arrived in Houston last night for what is being called the American Red Cross Volunteer Leadership Summit. As you probably have already heard, the Red Cross is facing some tough decisions as we work to operate at a “balanced budget” by fiscal year 2010. This means that the structure linking national headquarters to the field will be reorganized. The Red Cross has already decided what the staff piece is going to look like – we’re here for the next couple of days to figure out what it’s going to look like for volunteers. Creating meaningful leadership opportunities for volunteers beyond-the-unit has always been important for the Red Cross. This enables us to recognize good performance with promotions. It also allows us to provide our volunteers with extremely valuable leadership experience.

I’ve gotta run to the morning sessions, but I promise I’ll be back with updates and more background. Before I go, I have an interesting question. If 95% of the Red Cross workforce is comprised of volunteers, should the leadership of the organization have the same breakdown? Let me know what you think!

Ralph Chislett, Live from Houston, TX

Back in Time

Ralph Chislett — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:52:05 +0000

The American Red Cross recently released a new national advertising campaign. Before we cover it, I thought it would be fitting to go back in time and share some historic ads with you. This ad was run in partnership with the Ad Council in 1974.

It’s a perfect showcase of young people involved with the Red Cross as donors. The message over thirty years ago is still relevant today: it takes more than just money to deliver the services we’re counted on to deliver not only to the American people but also to our clients around the world. Special thanks to YouTube user bcs65 for this ad!

Ralph Chislett, Texas

People in Need

Ralph Chislett — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 06:28:39 +0000

This week the Red Cross released a new video entitled “People in Need”. This awesome video provides an overview of the work of American Red Cross International Services. To make it easier to share with all of your friends on Facebook or on your blogs, I uploaded it to YouTube.

Along the lines of what Pat was saying, it could be just what you need to get your energy levels up and get excited about the humanitarian work we do. It’s also the perfect catalyst to engage new volunteers and donors. Higher quality versions for download are available here.

Ralph Chislett, Texas

Congratulations!

Ralph Chislett — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:12:55 +0000

The American Red Cross has been selected by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Soceities as a winner of its 2007 Together for Humanity Youth Award! The award was won in a tie with the Italian Red Cross in the category of “Increasing Civil Society and Red Cross Red Crescent Capacity”.

I think we all deserve a round of applause as this award recognizes not an individual contributor, but our national society as a whole at all levels. Sandy Tesch and Mat Morgan, National Youth Council chair and vice-chair, will travel to Geneva in mid-November to accept the award and represent American Red Cross youth and young adults at the Federation’s 2007 Statutory Meetings which include the 16th Session of the General Assembly, the Council of Delegates 2007, and the 30th International Conference.

I have been promised blog updates and photos while they are in Switzerland, so stay tuned!

Ralph Chislett, Texas

Be Red Cross Ready

Ralph Chislett — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:02:11 +0000

So the other day, I was surfing around and I came across this awesome site the Red Cross set up to help people get prepared for disasters. The Be Red Cross Ready training site has a visual design that is pleasing to the eye – all of the content is very clean and organized. This makes it more appealing to more people who want preparedness tips, but don’t want to deal with the clutter of the typical Red Cross website.

In the tutorial, the site uses both visual and audio elements to walk you through the three steps of Red Cross Ready: Get a Kit, Make a Plan, and Be Informed. Say you know how to Get a Kit but you need to know how to Be Informed – a table of contents tab has been provided for you to jump around the tutorial with ease. If you want to go more in depth, a list of quick resources has been provided to help you become an preparedness expert.

So the crazy part about all of this is that I had no idea this existed – but apparently it’s been around for at least a month. You might already know about the site and have already taken the tutorial, but if not, I encourage you to check it out and Be Red Cross Ready!

Ralph Chislett, Texas

Protect the Brand

Ralph Chislett — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 05:13:25 +0000

Last week, Sandy shared with you important information about a lawsuit that Johnson and Johnson has brought against the American Red Cross regarding the use of our logo. As it is technically known, the Greek red cross is one of the most recognized symbols worldwide, contending with major for-profit brands. In fact, over the past seven years of my Red Cross career, I’ve heard a few times from various people that we are actually number two worldwide in brand recognition, falling closely behind Coca-Cola. While I don’t doubt it, I wasn’t able to find any research that backed this claim. For example, in its report of the Best Global Brands 2006, Interbrand makes note that the Red Cross and other NGOs were not included in its rankings because a non-profit’s brand value cannot be accurately assessed using an earnings model.

When it comes to non-profits, brand value has a lot to do with trust. When disaster strikes, financial contributions flow in from the public without hesitation because they trust the American Red Cross to deliver relief to affected persons. To ensure that this level of trust is maintained, it is important that we protect the image of our brand. A good place to start is the American Red Cross Graphic Standards and Brand Identification Manual. While this guide may seem lenghty and technical in nature, it is actually fairly concise and gives good examples of acceptable and unacceptable uses of our logo.

If you are starting a Red Cross club or working with your local unit to recruit young volunteers, the guide will help you develop your marketing materials. It is also especially helpful if you are an external organization partnering with the Red Cross on a project. While the Red Cross unit you are working with must give their approval, the guide provides a starting point for how to develop co-branded marketing and related materials.

In general, brand value is directly related to perception. With an organization as large as the Red Cross that spans the globe, it is important to be consistent when communicating our image to the world. By protecting our brand, we will truly become One Red Cross.

Ralph Chislett, Texas