Kenya Red Cross: Resource Flows and the Humanitarian Contribution

This study explores this architecture from the perspective of a recipient national society. The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) provides an excellent example, as not only does it receive funding from Participating National Societies (PNSs – donor national societies), the IFRC and the ICRC, but it has also embarked on quite ambitious enterprises to increase its domestically raised income. Its two main ventures are a private ambulance service (E Plus), which is now Kenya’s largest ambulance service, and a chain of hotels (Red Court).
Total income for the KRCS in 2010 was US$19.6 million, compared with US$28.2 million in 2009. In both years, the largest source of income was from PNSs – 30.8% in 2009 and 28.5% in 2010 – while the second largest source was from income generation activities conducted at headquarters level, which contributed 26.6% in 2009 and 28.0% in 2010. Although there is some income and expenditure detail in its annual report, the KRCS admits that it does not know the exact income for the whole society. This is mainly because domestically raised income at regional and branch levels remains uncounted by the headquarters.