Where we’re heading

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the world’s leading crisis response organisation. The British Red Cross is a key player in the global movement.

We are a dynamic organisation which prepares people for, deals with and helps them recover from crisis. It could be a catastrophic event or personal crisis, across the world and around the corner. The people of the Red Cross come from many different backgrounds and have different skills. But what distinguishes us is our passion to help actively, supporting the most vulnerable. We help whenever and wherever we’re needed.

The British Red Cross is an open and welcoming organisation. Always caring, always professional, always there.

The world we are trying to help build

By mobilising the power of humanity we will help to build a world in which people have the capacity to withstand or recover from natural and man-made emergencies, and in which those who are most vulnerable receive the help they need.

The challenges we face

• Bigger, more frequent and more complex natural and man-made emergencies
• Major health challenges, like HIV and Aids
• More complex conflicts
• Increasing, involuntary population movement
• More uncertainty about reliable access to water, security, health and food
• An increasingly older population in the developed world
• More social and rural isolation and pockets of multiple deprivation.

What we stand for

As members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, we are committed to and bound by the fundamental principles:

Humanity
Impartiality
Neutrality
Independence
Voluntary Service
Unity
Universality

Our values describe the way we want to be, and how we want to be seen by everyone who comes into contact with us;

Compassionate & Impartial
Open & Welcoming
Practical & Efficient
Dynamic & Proactive

We will respond to emergencies, and build people's capacity to withstand and recover from them

We will do this by:

• Playing our full part as a member of the Movement in preventing, preparing for and responding to disasters and conflicts worldwide;
• Ensuring that all our local UK teams, and more Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, have clear and sustainable emergency preparedness and response plans, and have the capacity to deliver them;
• Playing a leading role in the voluntary sector response to emergencies, in partnership with the statutory sector;
• Launching a UK-wide effort to ensure that there are people with current life-saving skills, including first aid, in every community;
• Alleviating the distress of separation caused by armed conflict or natural disaster by establishing accessible and timely international tracing services across the UK.

We will provide short-term crisis care services to support vulnerable people

We will do this by:

• Increasingly focusing our efforts on, and engaging, people who are particularly vulnerable, or who currently have limited access to our services;
• Growing our community and health care services in response to local needs;
• Developing and implementing quality and performance standards;
• Strengthening our working with other organisations.

We will promote support for humanitarian action and provide opportunities to volunteer and to give money and active support

We will do this by:

• Running a major on-going campaign to encourage more people to contribute to the aim of
• giving practical help impartially;
• Promoting humanitarian principles and understanding and support for our work, and a basic
• understanding of International Humanitarian Law and the Fundamental Principles;
• Speaking out about the concerns we have arising from our work, and the practical solutions
• we have identified;
• Making a leading contribution to the development of the UK voluntary sector.

In order to achieve our mission, we will also:

• Position the British Red Cross more effectively as a dynamic, modern and responsive organisation;
• Generate and make better use of more income;
• Work better together.

The difference we will make

• Many more people will be able to deal with a range of emergencies that could threaten their lives and wellbeing
• Disasters and conflicts will have less effect on vulnerable people and communities;
• More lives will be saved
• There will be less despair, distress and suffering arising from natural disasters and conflict situations
• Service users will be able to cope through difficult times, due to the help and support of caring Red Cross people
• Overseas, the isolation of many more people living with disease and illness will be reduced
• Our services will be of much higher quality and will make much more difference to vulnerable people’s lives and the challenges they face
• Many more vulnerable people will benefit from the influence we have on public policy and on other organisations.