Interview with Harold Decker, American Red Cross
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The American Red Cross is changing the way it collects donations. Today, the agency unveiled new policies designed to make it more accountable to its contributors. From now on, the Red Cross will tell donors ahead of time their money may be used for disasters down the road, but the agency will also establish new safe guards designed to honor the donors' intentions.</s>DAVID MCLAUGHLIN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Most of the time, year after year, disaster after disaster, we usually get things right. Donors put their dollars and trust in us. We deliver the relief services immediately that victims need and want. But in the case of September 11, the alpine fire in San Diego, and a few other large disasters over the last 14 years, we have made some unintended mistakes.</s>LIN: Right now, we want to talk more about these new policies and the controversies that prompted them. Harold Decker joins us now from Washington. He is the interim president and CEO of the American Red Cross. Good afternoon, Mr. Decker. Thanks for being here.</s>HAROLD DECKER, CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.</s>LIN: Well, it seems to be well documented at this point, or at least well reported that the Red Cross appears to have misrepresented itself when asking for donations in several cases, not just the 9/11 Liberty Fund, but wildfires in California, floods in 1997 in the Midwest, even in the Oklahoma City bombing, when people made these donations to the Red Cross, they specifically had expected that the money would go to the victims, and not to other projects. What happened?</s>DECKER: Well, we believe that this change in language will communicate more directly and more clearly that contributions that are received may be used to provide relief to victims of multiple disasters, and we want to make that language clear. We don't want any confusion over it, and that's why we are invoking these changes.</s>LIN: Well, but what happened in the previous cases? I mean, did the Red Cross specifically go out and ask for money using, say, 9/11 as its cause, and then what happened to that money afterwards?</s>DECKER: There is a dynamic tension between raising money for events such as those that occurred on September 11, and still trying to provide equitable relief to the victims of smaller disasters, like a single family house fire, which may seem small in comparison to 9/11, but if it is your home, it is not a small disaster. So what we are trying to do is state more clearly that we want, with -- consistent with donor intent, that monies may be used to provide relief to victims of common -- multiple disasters.</s>LIN: So what are the changes then, Mr. Decker?</s>DECKER: We want to educate people that this may occur with their consent, we want to acknowledge their donation, we want to acknowledge how they want that -- those funds to be directed. We want to make sure that we confirm what their intent is, and then once we have raised enough money against a certain event, we want to transition, so that we tell the public that we have raised enough money for this particular event, and we want to use any excess money to provide relief to victims of smaller disasters.</s>LIN: So, are you saying that if, for example, in the case of a flood victim, if you run a campaign saying let's help the South Dakota flood victims, and I write a check, are you saying that the person who accepts my money will ask me, Are you willing to allow these funds to go to other worthy causes supported by the Red Cross? And if I say no, then will the Red Cross respect my wishes?</s>DECKER: The Red Cross will honor donor intent. If you say that you want your money to go to a specific event, the Red Cross will honor that event, and we will also ask you if there is money left over, will we be able to provide relief to some of these smaller events that occur, smaller in scale, but no less important to the victim.</s>LIN: The Better Business Bureau recently pulled its favorable report card rating on the Red Cross. What is your reaction to this, and how has this affected your fund-raising?</s>DECKER: Well, they have temporarily taken our statement off the web site with an understanding that we are providing them with further information about the Red Cross policies and our performance over the last year. We have submitted a great deal of information to them, and we are confident that very soon we will have full approval from the Better Business Bureau.</s>LIN: So, how has it -- how has this controversy affected your ability to raise money?</s>DECKER: Well, for the events of September 11, we have raised close to a billion dollars, and when you drain that much philanthropic funds out of the system, there will be some fall off in fund-raising, but I'm very confident that if their fellow citizens need help, the American Red -- the American people will rise to the challenge and provide this support that are needed during the rest of the year.</s>LIN: Mr. Decker, though, do you think that the credibility of the Red Cross has been damaged?</s>DECKER: I think what people will remember is that 57,000 Red Cross employees and volunteers, 55,000 volunteers, appeared on a three-week rotating basis in the affected areas after September 11, and continued to do business in every other disaster around the country as well, and provided that support, and if there was a temporary glitch back in September, I think the public will be very forgiving of the American Red Cross, because the American Red Cross is always there for them.</s>LIN: All right. And certainly we saluted many of those very brave volunteers who were down there at the World Trade Center site helping so many on that day and the months afterwards. Thank you very much, Harold Decker with the Red Cross.</s>DECKER: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com