Laura Loughridge Wargo Named Chief Development Officer for American Red Cross - Southeastern Michig...( Solid experience and fresh perspecti...),Health

Solid experience and fresh perspective expected to revitalize fundraising

DETROIT, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross - Southeastern Michigan Chapter is pleased to announce Laura Loughridge Wargo as the new Chief Development Officer. Wargo brings a strong development background as well as ambitious goals to shift long-standing public perceptions, build brand equity, and initiate a fast-paced campaign-driven fundraising strategy for the Red Cross, which provides disaster relief to tens of thousands of people throughout Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

"I am honored to lead the development team behind the indispensable work of the American Red Cross," said Wargo. "Our Chapter has the busiest disaster services department in the country, responding to an average of five home fires daily. Only the city of New York comes close to the number of people we serve. The current state of our economy has only made a bad situation worse, and while fundraising in Michigan has never been more challenging, our mission has never been more pertinent. We have always had great support from the generous people of southeast Michigan, and I believe that generosity will continue as we move towards a 21st century model."

Wargo plans to streamline the successful fundraising tactics of the past and combine them with new development techniques in an effort to break out of twentieth century misperceptions.

"Many people have an impression of the Red Cross as a wealthy, government-affiliated blood services agency," added Wargo. "I plan to utilize innovative marketing and development strategies to reintroduce the Red Cross to metro Detroit and southeast Michigan as the publicly-supported, non-governmental, universally humanitarian organization that we truly are."

Having worked her way to the top of the development ladder at the American Heart Association, it is clear that Wargo's plans for the Red Cross are ambitious. Along with the American Hea
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