I would like to confirm the following rumor, received via email:


"The Central Florida Chapter of the American Red Cross has sent out a
letter to all known volunteers in the local area.  In the letter it
mandates that to remain a volunteer with the Red Cross, each person is
to sign an Confidential Information and Intellectual Property
Agreement.  It has been written for volunteers, and part of the
agreement is logical in that it requires volunteers to treat
information from the Red Cross in confidence.  But the agreement goes
on to place ownership on all intellectual property, inventions,
discoveries, techniques, processes, methods, formulae, ideas,
technical data, etc. that each volunteer might derive.  In the
wording, there is no limitations to that bound the extent of the
Intellectual Property."

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Request for Question Clarification by hagan-ga on 17 Jun 2005 08:35 PDT

I couldn't find information specific to Central Florida, but it
appears that the American Red Cross as a whole requires this agreement
of all its volunteers.
A copy of the agreement itself, which does not specify the chapter but
instead refers to the American Red Cross, can be found here:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Gud50WFY00sJ:www.redcrossomaha.org/Confidential%2520Information%2520and%2520Intellectual%2520Property.pdf+%2B%22red+cross%22+%2Bconfidentiality+%2Bagreement+%2Bvolunteers&hl=en

This FAQ indicates that the American Red Cross requires the agreement
of all its volunteers, not dependent on chapter:
http://www.northwestmichigan.redcross.org/?zone=&id=6&sid=

Here is a Volunteer Handbook that also indicates the same:
http://www.tulsaredcross.org/images/ARCTAC%20VolunteerHandbook%202005.pdf

Does this satisfactorily answer the question?

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Clarification of Question by doctorow-ga on 17 Jun 2005 10:06 PDT

That's fantastic -- thanks, hagan!

I couldn't find information specific to Central Florida, but it
appears that the American Red Cross as a whole requires this agreement
of all its volunteers.
A copy of the agreement itself, which does not specify the chapter but
instead refers to the American Red Cross, can be found here:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Gud50WFY00sJ:www.redcrossomaha.org/Confidential%2520Information%2520and%2520Intellectual%2520Property.pdf+%2B%22red+cross%22+%2Bconfidentiality+%2Bagreement+%2Bvolunteers&hl=en

This FAQ indicates that the American Red Cross requires the agreement
of all its volunteers, not dependent on chapter:
http://www.northwestmichigan.redcross.org/?zone=&id=6&sid=

Here is a Volunteer Handbook that also indicates the same:
http://www.tulsaredcross.org/images/ARCTAC%20VolunteerHandbook%202005.pdf

Let me know if you need anything further.

This seems a reason to not volunteer for the Red Cross -- or even
contribute any money to them.