Frequently asked questions

Unfortunately, we cannot accept donations in kind, be they medicines or any other items.

Assistance programmes are highly complex operations. All products must meet very precise quality standards and be suitable for the location and environment where they'll be used. Moreover, it would require substantial resources to sort, store and transport items received in kind.

We suggest you contact your country's National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society instead. They often have a system for collecting donated items and distributing them locally.

If you entered a valid email address, you will receive a message confirming your donation.

If you don't receive an email within about 15 minutes, please contact us to request a confirmation of your donation.

The Swiss postal service allows many non-profit organizations to distribute non-commercial post, even to mailboxes with the "No advertising" sticker. This is the case for the ICRC.

Mailings are an important way for us to raise awareness of our work. We usually receive a positive response from recipients.

But if you've made a donation to the ICRC and would prefer not to receive post from us, that is not a problem. Please contact our supporter care team and they'll take care of it.

The ICRC does not take on volunteers, but we encourage you to contact your country's National Society for opportunities to volunteer for them. You may also be interested in volunteering for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Please visit our jobs page for information about current vacancies.

The ICRC undertakes to allocate your donation in its entirety to the operation that you have chosen. The cost of the operational support provided by Geneva headquarters to the field delegations is calculated at 6.5% of the delegation's expenditure.

In other words, from a donation of 100 Swiss francs, 93.50 francs are used directly to finance our field operations to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict and other violence.

Please see the Where does your money go? and Finances and budget sections. You can also read our latest Annual Report online.

There is no agreed-upon definition of the concept of administrative costs for international organizations. The ICRC has therefore taken the US fiscal and accounting criteria applicable to international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as its yardstick.

In 2019, the ICRC's administrative costs (calculated using the method mentioned above) represented 8.6% of total operating expenses. The costs considered to be "administrative" are the cost of the headquarters units, i.e. the president's office, the directorate, human resources, fundraising, finance and administration, information systems. Note: administrative costs do not affect the way in which your donation is used – it will be allocated directly to the field operation of your choice.

A donation to our general appeal will go where the need is greatest, so it will not be tied to any particular activity or area.

The ICRC promises to use your donation for the operation you choose. You can choose any of our programmes or countries where we are conducting our principal activities. 

If you specify a sphere of activity or programme which is not listed, the ICRC reserves the right to assign your donation to an operation of its own choosing.

In addition, we cannot accept donations for a specific school, village or group of individuals. Your donation will help to meet all the needs in the conflict zone specified, but your choice is restricted to a country or type of activity. Experience has shown that the more restrictive the earmarking policy (tying donations to a particular area, category of person, etc.), the more limited the ICRC's operational flexibility, to the detriment of the people we are trying to help, and additional administration is also involved.

No. The ICRC is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of the victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence around the world and to provide them with assistance.

We use the voluntary contributions of our donors to finance our activities. It is therefore not possible to use those donations for any other purposes. The ICRC can only provide resources in cash or kind for individuals or associations as part of its own projects.

Our online system only allows you to donate for one appeal at a time, as this helps to keep the administrative side simple.

If you wish to donate to several appeals, you'll have to complete the donation process for each appeal separately.

Your credit card may be invalid or expired. Please check with your card issuer or bank.

If you entered a valid email address, you will receive a message confirming your donation.

If you don't receive an email within about 15 minutes, please contact us to request confirmation of your donation.

The ICRC takes great care to protect the personal data of its donors (see our our privacy policy). Any personal details we collect will remain confidential. We will never pass anything on for commercial purposes. In fact, you won't even be added to our mailing list unless you check the box marked: "Yes, I want to get updates on the work of the ICRC."

If you wish to make an anonymous donation, just write "ANO" in the compulsory fields. But if you want to receive a confirmation of your donation, you'll need to supply a valid email address.

For online credit card donations, we only accept the currencies listed amongst which are US dollars, Euros, British pound, Swiss francs, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar. This helps us reduce our administrative costs.

However, a wider range of currencies is possible for donations via bank transfer.

You can donate using MasterCard, Visa, American Express (AMEX) and the PostFinance Card.

Your ongoing support is crucial in allowing us to to rapidly swing into action in crisis situations and deliver aid where it is needed most.. It also means that we can plan more effectively for the long term and reduce our administrative costs. With your regular donation, you would be supporting our vital activities that help people rebuild their lives on a daily basis.

The easiest way to give monthly to the ICRC is to sign up on our donation page.

If you would prefer to donate regularly through your bank, you can do so by setting up a direct debit or a standing order.

If you live in Switzerland or have a Swiss bank account you can download and complete:

a direct debit form (PDF) or

a standing order form (PDF)

If you live outside Switzerland and do not have a Swiss bank account:

Download a standing order form (PDF)

Please send your completed direct debit forms to the following address:

International Committee of the Red Cross
19 avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland

Your first donation will be made the day that you sign up, and then on or just after the 25th of subsequent months. Your gift will not be made more than once a month.

We take great care to keep your credit card information confidential (see our privacy policy).

We use Saferpay, an online payment system that ensures optimum security. To prevent fraud, your data are automatically encrypted before being sent to the card issuer, who then processes the payment. The padlock symbol in your web browser shows that you are in secure mode.

If you prefer, you can make a regular donation through direct debit or a standing order.

If you would like to change the amount that you donate every month, please contact us with your request.

Your regular donations will go where the need is greatest, so they will not be tied to any particular activity or area. This gives us more operation flexibility and keeps our administration to a minimum.

We cannot update the card details for your regular gift. In order to continue giving every month, we ask you to sign up to our regular giving programme with your new card details.

If you would like to take a break from giving regularly, please contact us with your request.

If your bank details have changed, please contact us with your new bank details so that you can continue donating regularly.

Only people in Switzerland can make donations by postal transfer.

To do so, please send your donation to post office account number 12-5527-6 / IBAN CH66 0900 0000 1200 5527 6, at the following address: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 19 Avenue de la Paix, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. You can specify the country or appeal to which you wish to donate in the remarks field.

If you pay tax in Switzerland, you may be able to deduct donations to the ICRC from your taxable income. The yearly minimum and the amount deductible can vary from canton to canton.

The ICRC is an international organization based in Switzerland. If you pay tax in another country, please reach out to your country's tax authorities to know if your donation is eligible for a tax deduction.

Find out more about tax deductions here.

The ICRC is funded by voluntary contributions.

We recieve funding from the States party to the Geneva Conventions (governments), national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, supranational organizations (such as the European Commission) and public and private sources. Governments are our main donors: on average during the past five years, they contributed about 84% of the budget.

But contributions remain voluntary and there is no guarantee that such contributions will last into the long-term.

Use the information below to make a donation by bank transfer.

Beneficiary: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR)
Swiss clearing code: 240 (for payments from Switzerland)
Swift code (BIC): UBSWCH ZH80A (for payments from other countries)
Bank address:

UBS SA
PO Box 2600
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland

Please choose the account that matches your currency.

We do accept donations by cheque, but it is not our preferred method because of the very high administrative costs. Bank transfers and online donations are the most cost effective ways to donate.

However, should you wish to make a donation by cheque, please download and complete this form:

Download the form to donate by cheque

Then send it, along with your cheque, to:

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
19 Avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland

If you pay tax in Switzerland, you may be able to deduct donations to the ICRC from your taxable income. The yearly minimum and the amount deductible can vary from canton to canton.

In the United States, the ICRC is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code with EIN 98-6001029. Donations to the ICRC are tax-deductible as allowable by U.S. law.

The ICRC is an international organization based in Switzerland. If you pay tax in another country, please reach out to your country's tax authorities to know if your donation is eligible for a tax deduction.

If you pay tax in Switzerland we will automatically send you a receipt that you can submit to the authorities. This document is sent in January or February each year.

If you do not pay tax in Switzerland, we will send you a receipt for tax purposes upon request. However, there is no guarantee that your tax authorities will allow you to offset your donation against tax (see above). If you make a donation online, the tax authorities may accept the confirmation email as proof of your donation.

Companies are subject to the same rules as individuals.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept donations in kind, be they medicines or any other items.

Assistance programmes are highly complex operations. All products must meet very precise quality standards and be suitable for the location and environment where they'll be used. Moreover, it would require substantial resources to sort, store and transport items received in kind.

We suggest you contact your country's National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society instead. They often have a system for collecting donated items and distributing them locally.

Many companies support their employees' commitment to humanitarian causes. This may include encouraging donations by matching them in part or in full. The ICRC welcomes such initiatives, but the administrative side of these programmes needs to be kept as simple as possible. Therefore:

Employees – Please give your employer proof of your donation. (You will automatically receive a receipt if you make a donation online.) Your company can then add its contribution. If you pay by cheque or bank transfer, you can request a letter or email as confirmation of your donation.

Employers – Please ask your employees to submit their receipts as proof of their donations. Then add your contribution, which can be sent by the usual means: online payment, bank transfer or cheque. If you would like us to keep a record of the donations, please contact us before you launch the fundraising initiative. That way we can keep track of your employees' contributions more easily.

Since the ICRC is based in Switzerland, donations are tax-deductible for individuals and businesses that pay Swiss taxes, but not usually for individuals and businesses abroad. Please click here for more information about taxes.

The ICRC's activities are financed exclusively by voluntary contributions. We are therefore grateful to any company or organization that wishes to support us.

However, we have strict ethical rules for partnerships with companies, and we ask that our partners abide by them. These partnerships with companies are negotiated on a case-by-case basis and set out in contracts that are signed by both parties.

If you would like more information about partnerships, please click here.

Yes! The ICRC's activities are financed exclusively by voluntary contributions and we are very grateful to any individual or organization that raises funds for us.

However, we have strict ethical rules, and we ask that our partners abide by them. For more information, please see our Guidelines on the use of the Red Cross emblem and the name and logo of the ICRC for fundraising purposes.

To avoid disappointment, please send us a brief description of your project in advance. If we haven't given prior permission, we reserve the right to demand that the campaign be stopped immediately.

Working in conflict areas can be dangerous and requires special training, which we provide to employees.

If you would like to apply for a job at the ICRC, either as a field delegate or at headquarters, please visit the human resources section of our website.

Use of the ICRC logo is subject to strict rules. The Red Cross emblem is first and foremost a symbol of the protection provided by the Geneva Conventions in armed conflict. It is very important that it continue to serve this purpose.

For that reason, you can only use our logo if you have previously obtained our express written permission. We kindly ask that you submit a brief description of your campaign idea before using it.

If we have not given permission, we reserve the right to demand that you immediately remove our logo from your website.

For more information, please see our Guidelines on the use of the Red Cross emblem and the name and logo of the ICRC for fundraising purposes.

Yes. But if we have not authorized the use of our logo (see above), you can only use our name for the link.

We will only link to your site if we have a formal partnership agreement with you.

Remembering the ICRC in your will is really easy to do, and is one of the most wonderful ways you can help people caught up in armed conflict.

All information on bequests (legacies) can be found on our Bequests and Legacies page.