The earthquake in Gansu and the negative news about the Red Cross on the Internet have once again come flooding our faces, making us wonder what a good medical aid organization should look like? Not to mention the distant Western countries, let's take a look at how the Red Cross Society in neighboring Japan has been in operation for 100 years without a financial scandal.
Japanese Red Cross Society Solgan: Only humans can save people
The Japanese Red Cross Society is the only organization in Japan that carries out Red Cross activities, and it has been nearly 140 years since the establishment of the Japanese Red Cross Society from November 16, 1886, when the International Conference of the Red Cross approved Japan's membership, to 1887, when the Japanese Fraternity Society was officially renamed the "Red Cross Society".
Its main business is to mobilize the power of the public to participate in philanthropic causes, and to cooperate with enterprises to carry out charitable activities, and its basic spirit is humane, fair, neutral, independent, dedicated, singular, and universal.
Contrary to what we usually understand, the Japanese Red Cross is much more than a transit point that "delivers money and supplies collected from society to the disaster area".
In Japan, in the event of a disaster, the Japanese Red Cross Society dispatches a professional medical team within 48 hours and opens up for donations. The funds raised will be distributed in full to the people in the disaster area through a third party, and no handling fee will be charged.
Judging from the fact that the Japanese Red Cross Society has not had a corruption scandal in the past 140 years, it is not necessary to prevent scandals with advanced methods and techniques.
In the process of collecting donations from the Japanese Red Cross Society, members of local Red Cross societies and local civil servants are subject to strict social scrutiny from the media to prevent corruption. All local payment departments are required to report the amount and use of donations on a weekly basis, and disclose them to the public in a timely manner.
You can see the information on the website of the Japanese Red Cross. In addition to the strict supervision and reporting system, the Japanese Red Cross Society has also separated business departments from management departments, and information about bidding that needs to be disclosed for the purchase of materials is also disclosed to the public.
Therefore, its system is huge, but it can operate in an orderly manner, the details of income and expenditure are clear, every yen and blanket distributed are openly public, and their attitudes and practices towards medical public welfare undertakings may bring us some reference and inspiration.
The Japanese Red Cross Society is responsible for collecting funds, but distribution is carried out by a different specialized agency
In the event of a disaster in Japan, the Red Cross branch in the affected area is responsible for collecting funds and distributing the full amount of the money to the local victims in the form of cash (including bank interest) through a separate "Donation Distribution Committee", without charging any management fees or fees.
The "Donation Distribution Committee" system began with the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. At that time, due to the complexity of the disaster, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the "Donation Distribution Decision Committee" was formed by the government, and fundraising organizations, including the Japanese Red Cross Society, formed a "Donation Distribution Decision Committee" to determine the distribution criteria according to the severity of the disaster. In addition to the donations raised by the Red Cross, donations raised by other local governments, non-profit organizations, and media organizations are distributed to local governments and distributed by the "Donation Distribution Committee" established by each prefecture, and the victims can receive them directly with relevant certificates.
As the amount of donations increases, so does the amount received by the victims. As of January 2020, Kumamoto earthquake donations have been distributed 43 times. For severely affected areas, fundraising may continue for years. The fundraising for the Tohoku region continues.
△ When distributing funds for the Kumamoto earthquake, the distribution criteria are determined according to the disaster situation and the severity of the damage. Image Source | Japan Red Cross Society Business Report (2016-2017)
The official website of the Japanese Red Cross Society will also continue to update the amount of donations received.
The Japanese Red Cross Society does not use funds from the disaster area for its daily operations
The Japanese Red Cross Society has pledged not to use funds that are targeted to the affected areas, and its operating costs are mainly based on membership dues and social donations, as well as various state subsidies, which are included in the "general accounting" category.
Membership fees are one of the main sources of income for the operation of the Japanese Red Cross Society, and you can become a member by donating no less than 2,000 yen (about 100 yuan) per year. The Red Cross Society of Japan has pledged not to use funds donated to the affected areas, and its operating costs are mainly based on membership fees and social donations, as well as various state subsidies.
The Japanese Red Cross is subject to third-party supervision
In addition to the Audit & Supervisory Board members elected by its members, the Japan Red Cross Society has established an internal audit department and has introduced a third-party corporation as external oversight.
Supervisors are regularly dispatched to branches and facilities at Headquarters to identify and make recommendations on operational execution issues. External oversight focuses on accounting oversight, such as Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC, which supervises the large amount of donations from the Great East Japan Earthquake and publishes the fundraising and distribution trends annually in accordance with international audit standards.
In addition, the most important person who can supervise the Japanese Red Cross is a member of the Japanese Red Cross who has paid the membership fee
As of December 24, 2023, the Japanese Red Cross Society has 200,000 individual members and 81,000 corporate members. If a member finds a problem with a certain data of the Red Cross, he or she will ask the Japanese Red Cross to explain it, and if the explanation is not clear, it may affect the payment of membership dues for the following year.
In addition to disaster relief, the Japanese Red Cross Society is also involved in social welfare, medical services, international relief, and social welfare, and strives to provide a solid guarantee for the citizens......
In the event of an emergency, the Japanese Red Cross Society is able to mobilize a group of professional medical teams and supplies. The Japanese Red Cross Society has more than 91 medical institutions, so it is able to mobilize a group of professional medical teams and medical supplies to support in the event of a crisis. In normal times, the Japanese Red Cross also focuses on cultivating medical talents, and more than 1,000 medical personnel such as nurses, midwives, and health nurses are trained every year in various schools under the Red Cross Society.
In all the international aid incidents, Japan has always been involved. Japan donated more than 1.2 billion yen to Wenchuan that year, and the Red Cross Society in Japan had already raised 80 million yen at that time, not to mention natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis around the world in recent years.
As we all know, the aging phenomenon of Japanese society is very severe, and the current pension problem is also what the whole society needs to face. In addition to focusing on nursing homes, we also do our part in social welfare institutions such as children's welfare homes and welfare homes for the disabled, and strive to ensure that special groups of people can live with dignity and dignity.
In FY2022, the Red Cross Society of Japan's "General Accounting" revenue totaled approximately 46.9 billion yen (approximately 2.4 billion yuan), all of which was used to support various disaster response expenses (including activities and materials) in Japan and abroad, as well as to carry out rescue training, volunteer activities, and disaster recovery support activities in Japan~
Let's take a look at the 2022 annual income and expenditure report of the Japanese Red Cross Society
The huge amount of information is integrated very clearly, income is divided into government grants, previous year's balance, overseas support, corporate and individual donations, not to mention expenditures, there are small print under each heading detailing the scope of application, the flow of funds is clear, you can see that income and expenditure are exactly the same for a year!
If you feel that the annual income and expenditure are still very large, you can also find more detailed data in the special report of each event on the website
The Japanese Red Cross Society not only announced where the disaster relief money went, but even every blanket distributed was accurate to a single digit
It is so detailed that every yen can tell you where it is used and how it is used, and this point cannot but make us awe-inspired! Medical personnel should be professional and efficient in the battle against disease, and a professional and efficient team is also indispensable, and a sound system and system are indispensable as an auxiliary, and the role played by a broken system is always a negative one.
I hope that our future medical assistance system will be as good and clear as the Japanese Red Cross Society, and as "healthy" as a healthy person!