Chapter Overhaul Adds to Red Cross Turmoil

The American Red Cross, which has drawn sharp criticism in recent years for its handling of disasters, is immersed in new turmoil: a contentious overhaul of its sprawling chapter system at the same time it is searching for a new leader.

At the recent Red Cross national convention in Washington, some chapter representatives walked out in protest after officials announced the reorganization, which would fold hundreds of small chapters under the largest chapters.

Red Cross officials and others who have studied the plan say it would help the charity's national headquarters more closely monitor the chapters -- which have had a number of financial scandals over the years -- as well as cut costs and better organize responses to large-scale disasters.

At the same time, analysts say they can understand why the chapters are apprehensive.

"It's a de facto form of merger of a number of Red Cross chapters," said Paul C. Light, a professor of public service at New York University who has examined the plan. "It's a big initiative, and it's going to provoke intense resistance."

The reorganization was approved after a heated debate by the Red Cross board of governors last month. Under it, Red Cross chapters would be rearranged into a "hub-and-spoke" system in which hundreds of smaller chapters would be moved under the purview of the 200 largest chapters.

The larger chapters would become responsible for the smaller chapters' administrative functions, while all chapters could continue to provide disaster relief, emergency help to military families, first-aid training and similar services.

Chapter executives say they are nervous.

"We're all trying to figure out how it will happen," said Bill Hildebrandt, chief executive of the Red Cross Mid-South chapter, a mid-sized chapter in Memphis that probably would take over smaller chapters. "How are you going to run your own chapter . . . and also provide enough guidance and oversight to several other chapters?"

Karen Wayne, chief executive of the small Prince William County chapter, said she wonders what will happen to plans for building a new headquarters next year to replace the small Manassas house where the unit has been for 30 years.

"I don't know how in terms of the new structure -- if at all -- it will affect us," Wayne said.

National Red Cross officials say the 125-year-old organization -- the only individual charity mandated by the federal government to assist Americans when catastrophe strikes -- is operating on an outdated model from an era when more rural, isolated communities required their own chapters for help in fires, floods and other calamities, as well as first-aid training and water safety classes. In the 1940s, there were almost 4,000 chapters throughout the country.