Short answers, pulled from the story.
The International Committee of the Red Cross traces its founding to the 9th of February 1863, when the Geneva Society for Public Welfare appointed five members to form a subcommittee that would declare itself a permanent international committee. The First Geneva Convention, which gave the organization a legal foundation, was signed on the 22nd of August 1864.
The ICRC has won three Nobel Peace Prizes, in 1917, 1944, and 1963. In both 1917 and 1944, it received the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded during the respective periods of world war.
Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, is regarded as the founder. His 1862 book A Memory of Solferino, which described his experience of the Battle of Solferino in June 1859, led directly to the creation of the committee. The original five-member subcommittee also included lawyer Gustave Moynier, physician Louis Appia, surgeon Theodore Maunoir, and General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
The ICRC considers its response to the Holocaust its greatest failure. Despite knowing by November 1942 about Nazi plans to exterminate Jews, the organization did not inform the public and abandoned a proposed 1942 appeal condemning the conduct of hostilities. The ICRC acknowledged this in an official statement on the 27th of January 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The ICRC's 2023 budget was 2.5 billion Swiss francs, funded entirely through voluntary donations from states, national Red Cross societies, and international organizations. The United States was the largest single donor in 2021, contributing 544 million Swiss francs. In March 2023, the ICRC announced cuts of 430 million Swiss francs and the layoff of 1,800 staff due to a serious decline in contributions.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger became the first woman to serve as President of the ICRC when she took office on the 1st of October 2022. She succeeded Peter Maurer, who had served as President from July 2012.