Annual Report 2011 Finnish Red Cross 11 May 2012 - Punainen Risti

Donors contributed to helping at home and abroadThe Finnish Red Cross raised funds both to its DisasterRelief Fund and for domestic activities. The DisasterRelief Fund accumulated funds through regular monthlydonations, emergency collections, Operation HungerDay, wills, and other donations. In addition, 25 % ofthe Kontti stores’ yield was transferred to the DisasterRelief Fund.The most significant emergency fundraising effortwas launched in the summer to assist drought victimsin Eastern Africa. While no collection was organizedafter the Japan earthquake, nearly a million euros wasdonated to help Japan.The cornerstones of domestic fundraising are monthlydonors, other donors and donations received throughwills and legacies. Fundraising for domestic purposessupported activities in Finland, such as first aid,Healthpoint, friend visitor activities and Emergencyyouth shelters.The Good Day campaign provided an opportunity tosupport domestic activities. The Good Day campaignencourages local branches to raise funds also onoccasions other than domestic events and campaigns.In 2011, the targets were friend activities andHealthpoints.Number of monthly donors grewThe Red Cross actively recruited new monthly donorswith the help of face-to-face fundraisers. They strolledin the streets and from door to door telling about theRed Cross and opportunities to donate. As a result ofactive campaigning, the number of monthly donorsgrew. About half of the new monthly donations weredirected at supporting domestic activities and the otherhalf to the Disaster Relief Fund.In addition to the Main Partners, the Finnish Red Crosshad Corporate Supporter partnerships, as well as ProjectPartners supporting a specific campaign or project.The forms of corporate cooperation were diverse. Theyincluded direct donations, product sales, employeeinvolvement and various joint campaigns.The role of corporations was significant especiallyin disaster collections. For example, corporationsdonated considerable sums through the Finnish RedCross to help tsunami victims in Japan. Corporationswith business activities or partners in a disaster areadonated to disaster collections particularly often.Corporate partners show an increasing interest ininvolving their employees in voluntary Red Crossactivities. Corporations were offered pre-designedmodels for action supporting the Red Cross andopportunities for corporate employees to participatedirectly in local branch activity groups. Somecorporations considered the pro bono work particularlymeaningful also for themselves.Christmas collectionThe Christmas collection for disadvantaged families withchildren in Finland was organized already for the 15thtime. The yield broke a new record again with approx.1 172 000 euros. There was a rise especially the numberof companies participating.The number of gift vouchers of the value of 70 eurosdistributed to disadvantaged families in Finland was15 000. The campaign was organized by theMannerheim League for Child Welfare and Finnish RedCross in collaboration with Yle Morning TV, Yle RadioFinland, Yle Radio Vega and Kesko.Corporations involved in campaignsand disaster collectionsThe main corporate partnerships between the FinnishRed Cross and S Group, Tapiola Group and Otava Mediacontinued. Tapiola Group’s special target is friend visitoractivities and S Group’s support focuses on membershiprecruitment.Red Cross week and Friendship Day campaigning wasundertaken with support from the Main Partners.Joint events and happenings were organized in manymunicipalities with support from S Group and TapiolaGroup. S Group was involved in membership recruitmentduring Red Cross week and in Operation Hunger Dayevents. Tapiola Group supported the organization of160 local Joy from friendship -events in different partsof Finland.Elina Kirssi offered warm drinks at Helsinki railway station at thelaunch of the Christmas campaign.Anna Vuorinen28