The need is constant. The gratification is instant. Give blood. TM American Red Cross Blood Services Pacific Northwest Board of Directors Operational Sense

The need is constant.The gratification is instant.Give blood.TM

American Red Cross Blood ServicesPacific Northwest Board of Directors

Operational Sense InitiativeFebruary 11th Update

The need is constant.The gratification is instant.Give blood. TM

Stop by drive to thank donors, volunteers, and staff

Help identify potential Board members

Donate blood, also provide feedback (secret shopper program)

Help secure donations for donors and volunteers

Help secure advertising/marketing opportunities (advertising, bill inserts, coffee jackets, clothing, etc.)

Help with ad hoc issues as they come up (HR, chapters, legislative, etc.)

Operational Sense Objectives


All Objectives are inter-twined

• Stop by drive to thank donors, volunteers, and staff

…provides a list that can…

• Help identify potential Board Members

…whom in turn can… • Help secure

donations from donors and volunteers

… and so on

For example...


We met in early December to help refine our goals into some specific areas. Initially we have three areas we wish to address:

Volunteer Recognition

Provide more support to volunteers and increase the presence of brand recognition.

Staff Recognition

Identify methods to support stressed collections staff to increase overall morale.

Reinforce and empower outlying areas

Step outside of the ‘Portland’-centric philosophy to develop geographical targeted activities.

Initial Observations and Consensus


We want overall drive operations to provide the best experience for donors, relying greatly upon volunteers and staff to pass on a spirit of thanks.

Why focus on thanking Volunteers and Staff?

Donors• The traditional target for all recognition activities• Recognition well represented by growing Red Cross Rewards program

Volunteers• Help engage donors for a positive experience• Passionate representatives of the Red Cross brand and spirit

Staff• Collections staff often face difficult hours and demands• Morale can determine if a donor has a positive experience


Based upon these realizations, a variety of potential initiatives were brought up for possible pursuit as our team moves forward-Volunteer Recognition

Provide t-shirts/pins/name badges early into their volunteer experience to promote the brand, help volunteer identification, and encourage future volunteering.

Staff Recognition

Introduce stress relieving initiatives for staff at largest/most stressful drives, such as provided lunch/ activities off-site.

Recognition for Anyone

Introduce simple monthly freebies that can be collected (ex: pens with a new design each month).

Provide board members with a limited number of unique pins to be given away to blood drive ‘all-stars’.

Potential Methods for Implementation


Oregon and Southwest Washington represent one of the most culturally diverse regions on the planet, and the 2nd geographically largest collection region for ARC. While ARC shows a strong presence in the Portland Metro area, outlying areas face challenges. Some specific points:Marketing and Community Outreach Opportunities

Activities are typically most relevant to the Portland Metro area, yet advertised region-wide. Promoting a Portland area recipient story/donor story/campaign to a potential Tri-cities area blood donor can alienate the individual.

Strengthen Presence from competition

Neighboring blood banks are Community based, with strong community bonds and regionally targeted collections development. ARC Blood needs to be able to compete, if not beat, localized engagement activities.

Developing Chapter relationships

Chapters have developed community relationships and a presence specifically tailored to that area, with potential for partnership expansion (… and potential board recruitment!)

Reinforce and Empower Outlying Areas


Social media is the growing online trend of individuals partaking in social networking such as Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and Instant Messaging.

These sites are acting to redefine what a community is, and often eliminates the wall between a Organization/ Corporation and an interested individual. Many blood banks are very engaged into Social media, promoting specific blood drives, updating campaigns, and providing constantly refreshing donor and recipient stories.

Social Media- A tool for all these goals


The potential of Social Media

John Smith Donates Blood

John ‘tweets’ from the donor center

about a great donation

Jane sees John’s tweet and

remembers it has been 56 days

ARC re-tweets what John said about

donating

ARC does a spotlight story on John

John finds and shares with his family

and friends

Board Member finds and contacts about board recruitment

John posts a Facebook status about donating

The status is tagged to an ARC Fan Page, which people follow

John’s friend, Jack, sees this and builds up the courage for a

first donation

An example...


793,650

A few numbers...Daily new users on Facebook

July 15th – September 15th, 2009

1:11 Online minutes spent on social media

November, 2009

18,000 New Tweets every minute

November, 2009

19,250,000,000 Minutes spent on Facebook each day

November, 2009

= 320,833,333 hours

= 13,368,056 days

= 36,624 years


Social media is most effective on a local and more personal level.

Allows for distribution of area relevant communications to area specific audiences.

Method for local staff to address and provide resources for area specific issues.

Provides resources and references to existing social media creations by sponsors and recruitment volunteers.

Neighboring competition is already strongly pursuing social media on a local scale, including a blood bank to the north that introduced localized social media for Southwest Washington as of last September.

Social media content can be converted and consolidated into print material, for potential newsletters in drive waiting areas and canteens.

National has pursued social media, however...


With the New Year, ARC Blood Services rolled out a new web identity under www.redcrossblood.org. This consolidated all regional websites and www.givelife.org under a single framework. While it is great to see this facelift and custom tailored blood drive listings on the website, regional content is downplayed in favor of national content.

Local content is still region (PNW) based, meaning that events/stories/news from all parts of the region will all appear together.

However, the new website is designed on an easy to use content-management system, allowing great potential for future use.

There is the potential for further defining the region as Collections districts (i.e.- Southern Oregon, Central Washington, etc.).

Besides Portland, Salem, and Roseburg, every collection site has an ‘unofficial’ website through their area’s Chapter website.

The New Website

New PNW Website

New Givelife/ National Site


Chapter Web PresenceChapter Headquarters Donor Center Blood Mention* Nav Link Facebook Blog TwitterOREGONOregon Trail Portland YES Link to National 2nd YES YES YESOregon Mnt. River Bend YES Donor Center Website 7th YES NO NOOregon Pacific Eugene YES How We Help Mention None NO YES NOSouthern Oregon Medford YES Donor Center Website 7th YES NO NOWillamette Salem YES Volunteer Mention None YES NO NOWASHINGTONSW Washington Vancouver YES Donor Center Website 8th YES NO YESYakima Valley Yakima YES District Info 11th YES NO NOKittitas County Ellensburg NO None None YES NO NOApple Valley Wenatchee NO None None YES NO NONorth Cascades Okanogan NO Area Drive Listings 2nd YES NO NOBenton-Franklin Kennewick YES Donor Center Website 9th NO NO NOBlue Mountain Walla Walla NO Link to PNW 21st NO NO NO

*Because of the new website, most links for giving blood are broken.


In the coming months we are planning to have a meeting with Donor Resources, Communications, Outreach, and Regional Volunteer Recruiters to fully develop a plan of action including-

• A survey to ask target audiences what recognition items do they appreciate the most.

• Targeting Chapter and Volunteer networks for potential board member recruitment in outlying areas.

• A plan to approach National and area Chapters with Social Media/ Web presence needs for more localized scales.

Next steps...

Documents

The need is constant. The gratification is instant. Give blood. TM American Red Cross Blood Services Pacific Northwest Board of Directors Operational Sense