There Are Charities – and Then There Are Charities
Many vets like to help others in need. Donating to charities that provide services to vets in need is one way to do that.
But as is always the case, there are veterans’ charities . . . and then there are veterans’ charities. They’re not all equally good regarding “bang for the buck” – if you define “bang for the buck” as the proportion of donated funds that actually get spent on helping veterans.
Some veterans’ charities are quite good in that respect. According to CBS News, the DAV Charitable Service Trust spends 96% of its funds on veterans. Fisher House is also good (91%).
Wounded Warrior Project? Um, not so much. CBS News says the actual figure for WWP is around 60%. (WWP claims 80% – but per CBS, they do so by including shipping/postage costs, the cost of selected promotional items, and the cost of direct response advertising. Remove those overhead items and the fraction falls to around 60%.)
They apparently like to party, though. In 2014, WWP spent over $26 million on “conferences, conventions, and meetings”. That’s up from a bit over $1.74M in 2010 for “meetings and events”.
One 2014 annual meeting alone – for about 500 WWP staffers, held at what appears to be a very nice resort in Colorado Springs – cost roughly $3M. Sounds to me like the people at the VA who plan conferences must have given them a few pointers.
WWP also seems to pay their top employees well, too. As in nearly $500k in 2014 salary for their CEO.
And did I already mention that WWP gave an organization that defends higher spending by charities for fundraising, overhead, and executive salaries a grant of $150,000 last year? I didn’t mention that yet? Well, according to CBS – they did.
Current WWP CEO Steven Nardizzi took over in 2009. Per CBS News, “Former employees say spending has skyrocketed since Steven Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009. Many point to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs as typical of his style.”
CBS News is doing a multi-part report on WWP this week. Part 1 may be found here; part 2 may be found here; part 3, here. (I have no idea if CBS plans more parts to the series, so monitoring their web site might be worth your time for the next few days.) The articles are eye-opening – and to me, rather disturbing.
I can say with certainty that until WWP cleans up their act, they won’t see a penny from me. But that’s just me. I can’t speak for others on this issue.
Edited to add: a belated footnote – a comment on an earlier article by longtime readernbcguy54ACTUAL tipped me to the the first CBS story in the series. My apologies for not giving him that credit earlier.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", WTF?
Do your own homework, but for my money if you want to help veterans, and want your money to be well spent Fisher House and Team Rubicon are where its at.
I belong to 4 veterans associations, I do not donate to WW project, it is a rip off using veterans to line their pockets, this is not the first time they have had the whistle blown on them….they rely on their heart rendering commercials and kind people donate, the thing is, ALL people need to know there are lots of authentic organizations out there that do help veterans…i.e. VFW, American Legion, D.A.V. and others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t encourage anyone to give to any Miitary or Veterans Charity created post 9-11
If their mission was soooooo important they would have been doing it before 9-11. Before the floodgates of sympathy, charity and $$$ opened
You mean BEFORE all the amputees and TBIs started flooding back from Iraq and Afghanistan? Before the VA was overwhelmed? Before the hundreds of thousands of wounded servicemen and -women who showed up and did their part after our country was attacked on our soil began to need help?
Yeah, okay…
You oughta try being a viet vet
There were charities in place to help those folks before 9-11. Because wouldn’t you know it we’ve had wounded and amputees prior to 9-11. Maybe you haven’t been around long enough.
The thousands of “charities” that sprang up post 9-11 have diluted the resource pool. Not to mention a huge number of them are sketchy.
Imagine all of the money poored into these sketchy ass post 9-11 charities if it had actually gone to reputable charities with some real horsepower.
THAT would be serving Veterans.
word
Misty, hate to bust your chops, but the caseload at the VA since 2004 has jumped a whopping (drum roll please…
…5 percent. Yup, 5 whole percent. Yes, there are many OIF/OEF vets in that number. Hundreds of thousands? Doubtful. The biggest jump in caseload is coming from Vietnam Era vets, many of whom are now well into their 60’s and even 70’s.
Yep. I’d also guess much of that jump occurred post-2009 – e.g., after Agent Orange exposure became “presumptive” for anyone who ever physically set foot in Vietnam or did “brown water” operations.
Hey, I can understand wanting to do that. But wanting and being able to afford are often 2 different things.
amen
that was amen to 04-E
Has anyone looked into how much money the WWP has spent paying Lawyers to sue other smaller Veteran outreach charities to remove the word “Wounded” from their name? Just curious, they’ve done it more than a couple of times. Steven Mardizzi only treats himself to half a million dollars a year in salary, what does he have less of, conscience or class? It looks like they also took advice from outfits like the IRS, DHS and the VA as to how they do meetings and conferences.
They’ll never get a penny from me.
1.4 million in legal fees in ’03 per the 990
And that is just for non-employee legal, there is no line for lawyers that are employed by WWP.
They also any other group that uses any art similar to their Fireman’s Carry logo.
I used to be a WWP supporter. Now, not so much. They became a business instead of a support organization. They became a brand, using wounded warriors as a marketing tool to sell merchandise. The Susan G. Komen foundation did pretty much the same thing with breast cancer.
I’m with you on that SFC D
Agree with both.
I could easily rant for hours about the Komen people but it already elevates my blood pressure simply thinking about it. They went after some people who had a kite-flying event to raise money for cancer research because they had the audacity to call it ‘Kites for a Cure’ or something.
When your trademark takes precedence over your mission, you’re doing things wrong.
Here’s hoping both Komen and WWP can clean house and get back to their roots.
Hondo, thanks for the work on this… WWP has never gotten a dime from me and never will based on how they use donated funds. As you pointed out, there are other charities that actually get the money out to help others, like Fisher House.
Another “charity” that follows the WWP business model – American Red Cross… and they have had problems with their disaster relief programs for years….
Ask WWII Vets about the Red Cross and you will find that most of them don’t have very flattering things to say about it.
My Mom told me a story about my Grandfather need a blood transfusion during his surgery for lung cancer in the mid-1960’s… hospital had to get the blood from the ARC and the ARC billed my Grandparents for it! Parents never gave money to them after that moment.
My grandfather never had much use for the Red Cross, though I think that stemmed from their response to a natural disaster when he was growing up and not anything that happened while he was in the service. That’s a distinction without much difference, however.
At his funeral a couple of years ago, it was requested that people donate to Fisher House instead of blowing money on an excess of flowers.
My grandparents met at Camp Pickett back during WWII. Granny was a SSG and a nurse in the WAC and told us stories of the red cross being pretty much worthless and the Salvation Army doing everything they could to support the effort, even people using their POV’s to shuttle people back and forth to town when they passed them walking along the road. She always donated to the SV after that, and that’s where my whole family has since
My service is well after WWII and even I think they suck.
TheAmerican Red Cross is governed by a Board of Directors each of which enjoys a cushy six figure salary. Back in my NG days I was part of some Hurricane Relief Missions during which I saw The Salvation Army already set up and running before the Red across even got into town!
FWIW the Salvation Army had a stand set up not 100 yards from the ground zero site at the World Trade Center when I was there – handing out coffee and food for free. I always keep that in mind when choosing where to contribute…
When hurricanes hit us the Salvation Army was first in and last out. Red Cross did a photo op driveby. My $ go to SA.
I do send some to USO but I probably ought to research it just in case.
Let’s not forget that the Red Cross MAKES MONEY off of blood and plasma as well.
Not really my work, HMCS(FMF) ret – CBS News did the heavy lifting. I simply summarized some of their findings above.
Reading their original articles is IMO worth the time. They’re linked above.
Every once and a while the MSM does good work. This looks like it might be one of those times.
Just finished with the CBS vids… good work by them to shine some light on WWP. Also the NYT’s article on them was pretty good.
You are so right, Hondo, and it makes you wonder what a different country this might be right now if the MSM weren’t totally in the bag for one political party, thus subverting our entire political process.
Imagine an America where ALL politicians were held to the same standards by the media, where an unqualified, incompetent person couldn’t be elected to the presidency because the media refused to investigate his suspect background simply because he is a half black, liberal Democrat.
Yes, it is refreshing to see them do their jobs, but I would much prefer to live in an America where their doing so was so routine that we wouldn’t be remarking on it here.
As for WWP, I would never donate to ANY charity that advertises on television as much as they do.
WWP isn’t there to help the vet. They are there for show. Sure they help few veterans, but their main goal is to pad their wallets. They keep pushing events to stay in the public eye, then take a big cut for themselves. Since they are tax exempt, most of their cash on hand vanishes, for some odd reason. Collect $10 K and reports $7 K. Common Core Math I guess.
Nadrizzi helped form a group that defends his ‘business model’ for non-profits… he likes the way that Starbuck does business.
http://charitydefensecouncil.org/
They want to “transform” things for charities… like bodaprez has transformed this country. Looks like bodaprez could fit in with these guys.
One comment on the CBS Article said that the. Clinton Foundation keeps all but about 6-10% of all money donated, I’m sure that B.Hissein 0bama’s “Foundation” will be even greedier, has he ever even given a dime to his Kenyan half brother who lives in a dirt-floored shack OR his illegal alien Aunt who lives off welfare in Public Housing or his illegal alien Uncle who was arrested for DUI?
Well, he’ll need to live in the style of a ghettofabulous king when he leaves office in a year and returns to Chicago or Hawaii… those in need can eat arrugula or wegu beef while he lives his life in comfort and making speeches for eleventy billion dollars an appearance.
They say that Hildebeast Cankles will come speak at an event for a paltry $270K. Look at the colleges she’s spoken at and they wonder why college tuition is so high?
A drop in the bucket compared to the head coaches’ multimillion dollar salaries. I read a defense of it recently where the school says something like “well, our grads need to have a program they can brag about with their coworkers who may have come from schools with strong programs” – which sounds like “our grads are limpdicks who measure their worth by whether a student level professional football player scores”
I hate school sports, especially in college – but the football and basketabll programs bring in a TON of money for schools – from attendance to alumni donations and licensing for shirts and crap. Hate it because you think higher education should be about education – but dont think its a drain on budgets.
Yeah, I’d forgotten about things like that as well as the number of Public Universities that have School Presidents making SEVEN figure salaries. Is it me or have colleges become more like Ponzi schemes over the past few decades?
I have no use for the man, but it’s a matter of public record that both Michelle & Barack Obama contribute a significant fraction of their income to charity. The original article was comparing them to “Stingy” Joe Biden who apparently doesn’t tithe a damn thing.
I used to support WWP but I pulled back from that a couple of years ago when I started to be concerned about how they handled donations of materials targeted for the wounded warriors. Case in point. The company I used to work for donated about 100 laptops especially outfitted with software for paralyzed or amputees to use via voice and never got credit for it. WWP did take credit.
They receive a lot of this type of support and I’m just not sure how they report this sort of thing in their financial statements.
Lawsuit against the media coming in 3…2…1…
I took the extra money I didn’t spend on legal fees last year to boot the squatters out of my house and I donated it to Fisher House. $1500 to a worthy cause!
WWP won’t see a penny of my money.
SOunds like a story there…
They’re well known for suing smaller charities for using the words “wounded warrior.”
I haven’t been a fan of WWP since their first scandal years ago. What pisses me off is how many of their logos end up on clothing and gear sold at the MCSS and PX on post.
From the NYT on WWP… I haven’t looked at the CBS series yet, but this gives you an idea on how the group has been ran. Looks like Mardizzi was a lawyer and “stole” the group from it’s original founder some time ago…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/us/wounded-warrior-project-spends-lavishly-on-itself-ex-employees-say.html
“About 98% of Lawyers out there give the rest a bad name.”
Um, why yes he did er John left because of the direction Nardizzi wanted to take WWP, which he obviously has.
Not a Marine(present or former) but the Semper Fi Fund is good. My youngest son participated in a “Push ups for Patriots” at his HS. 24 hrs of push ups run by the AD who is a retired USMC Major. They raised $20,000 for the fund.
I had supported WWP but then switched to H4W because they had a really good rating and are active in the NYC area. I still held out hope for WWP that they could change and wore the bracelet.
The bracelet broke a couple a weeks ago.
I’ve been saying this for years, whenever people spout about the “alleged” percentage of support to Vets, “Read the 990 yourself and see what they are really spending it on”. I am involved in an all-volunteer organization which helps Vets in my state, and we have point blank asked a number of veterans we have assisted what WWP did for them. The answer we hear is: “they sent hats and bumper stickers, but they are supposed to send someone here to counsel me…..sometime…..” And they are still waiting. It’s just a huge PR marketing scam.
Wasn’t it WWP a year or so ago that was found to be selling donors names? If memory serves, when confronted, they basically said “screw you, were gonna keep selling ’em”.
It’s all part of their “business model”… trying to make you feel guilty about not giving to them.
Toss in that less that 7% are wounded, many employees and attendees like to pass themselves of as combat vets and Steve Nardizzi pockets money faster and has better/bigger appetites than a New York lawyer and what do you have?
No surprise.
Told you so……
Getting a lot of stuff from: “Paws for Purple Hearts”. Presently donating to: Soldiers Angels, Fisher House and DAV.
Glad to see someone mention Soldiers’ Angels. They do good work.
Check this one out. It’s run by Larry Bales, 1ST Sergeant, U.S. Army, retired. Right here in Battle Creek, Michigan.
http://www.vetshelpswmi.org
Friend, No. That would be:
Larry Bales Retired 1st.Sergent of the Army.
You know he is completely legit whenever he affixes that signature block to any document./smile
I never noticed that now. Hmmm. I’ll be damned.
correction: I never noticed that UNTIL now.
Wow. 1st Sergeant of the Army, no less …
How in the heck do these people sleep at night!?
Oh, wait … I forgot … it’s because they are conscienceless curs.
When we went through this last year, Charity Navigator was suggested to me as a good filtering tool. It works.
This “1st Sergent of the Army” business really bothers me now. I never even noticed it myself until Claw pointed it out.
Jeez, I’ve know Larry Bales for a long time now. I consider him a good friend. And if he is a fake, then he’s a damn good one. He never boasts or brags. Never talks about his 24 years in the Army. Several times, I’ve worked with Larry, Bill and Ed, all Vietnam Vets. Why they let a young punk like me work with them, I’ll never know. We’ll drive all over southwest Michigan and beyond picking up donated furniture and household goods. Then we’ll store the stuff in over a dozen storage units until we can find a fellow veteran who needs help moving in to a new house or apartment. Then we’ll load up an entire trailer. Beds, appliances, tables, chairs, dressers, sofas, pots & pans, 4 piece dining sets, you name it. Completely free of charge.
You know, I still don’t know about this “1st Sergent of the Army” business. I don’t want to know. All I know is that Larry Bales is one helluva good guy.
Friend… let him know what’s on the website and have them correct it. He may not know what’s on it and I’m sure that he’d ask whomever is running the site to correct it.
If he’s a good guy, like you say it is, he’d get it corrected ASAP…
And before anyone jumps in to note that Charity Navigator rates WWP high (this is a common defense), please see Charity Navigator’s own 990. They are a couple million in the hole because they pay their own 4 executives more than they take in as a charity.
Save-a-Vet.org is a rescue for working dogs deemed unsuitable for adoption, such as ex-police dogs. They’re in Lindenhurst, IL.
http://www.save-a-vet.org/d7/index.php
I’m picky about what gets my donations. We should all be picky, since it’s supposed to go for something worthwhile.
I support Team Rubicon, Lone Survivor Foundation, and Soldier’s Angels. The Salvation Army is also wonderful as is the USO.
The Red Cross is too political and spends too much at the top, although I do appreciate the local volunteers who provided support when my son deployed last year.
Another good one is Gary Sinese’s foundation.
I Give Fire Water To Lost Souls Way Better Then Money And They Love It
You are off the res again LMFAO !!!!!
This is a serious conversation here
Chief not feeding the homeless if Tucson
Fire water Lol…
Thirteen Bears in need-um some fire water, have-um some to spare?
I stopped donating to WWP after reading a comparable negative review a couple of years ago….apparently they haven’t mended their ways.
I’m glad to see The Fisher House rated so highly – – my family is forever in their debt after having my wife and daughter literally live at the Ft. Bragg facility for three months back in 1997 – – my youngest (5th SFG) was critically injured in a training accident.
The people at Fisher House were spectacular and could not do enough for my family.
We will never forget these fine folks.
Yep. http://www.fisherhouse.org/
We have a grand opening here in Tucson
In the next few days or week a invite came to me in the mail the other day
One of my veteran small business owner buddies tried to tie into WWP to hire a wounded vet. They sent out an Air Force chick whose injury was that a pallet had been set on her foot while she was stationed in the US to screen his workplace. When they finally referred a potential employee, dude didn’t want to have to actually show up every day and declined the work. Not a very good showing, and I stopped giving then.
I still give to USO, because I appreciated their hospitality when I traveled in the military, and to a great veteran-run charity called Children of Fallen Patriots, which gives scholarships to kids of KIAs.
I have a very good friend who was a manager for WWP in the Pacific Northwest. A couple of years ago he left that organization. I asked why and he said, “the direction they are going is not good.”
I trust this friend with my life and I have known him for over 20 years. When he said that, I stopped my monthly donations.
If anything I will donate to the USO if I am at an airport that has one.
FWIW, either last night, or the night before, O’Reilly said they were looking into WWP and will report their findings.
Most of my time and spare money goes to a VSO my friend and former team sergeant (now 1SG) started called Operation Climb On. http://Www.operationclimbon.org. all but one of the guys who run it are veterans, most are still in the reserves.
If have a few military type charity’s I like one
Is Freedom Alliance because they focus on many
Issues not just the injured and wounded
Awesome leadership school for youth and scholarships also for deceased service members
Children and national security issues
Also fisher house and USO are just a few
The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund is another good option, they provide assistance to members of all branches not just Marines.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=11708#.Vqp56uw777o
DAV is indeed a good one. Helped a friend of mine quite a bit several years ago.
Will have to keep Fisher House in mind. When bride had surg at Walter Reed, we heard from spouses of wounded who were using Fisher House and they were very grateful and impressed.
One thing about USO is if you ever give them a dime, you’re on a begging list for life. I know they have spent more doing that on me than I’ve given.
For me right now, it’s Team Rubicon and Fisher House.
A few weeks ago, there was a blurb on FOX about a medical procedure for TBI at some cutting edge facility in Texas, I believe it was, being promoted by Governor Perry. No cost to the vet and very effective, apparently.
It went by too quickly. I didn’t catch the name or website, alas.
If it’s real, a few of those with accompanying Fisher House scattered around the country would be a serious blessing to our young IED/VBIED casualties.
This may be the place they were talking about. Intrepid Fallen Heroes Center and the charity associated with them. They are building other facilities also. http://www.fallenheroesfund.org/About-IFHF.aspx
Last note: Piers Morgan is one of the biggest contributors and donated his winnings from his appearance on Apprentice to them.
Just wanted to say that an earlier comment to a different article by nbcguy54ACTUAL tipped me to the 1st CBS story. My apologies for not giving him an appropriate “hat tip” earlier.
I have been donating the monthly $19 to WWP for 3 years or so, will cancel that, who is a more solid place to make donations to?
Just look through other posts, Fisher House, DAV and The Salvation Army are good outfits to donate to.
Bill Bradshaw strongly supports: Semper Fi, Injured Marine……… worthy of support and
they don’t give out blankets.
There are several sites that break down how individual charities spend their money. I give to St. Jude, SA, Fisher House and locals. I like how they spend their money. How little some of the charities spend to help others may shock you. The shenanigans of some charity executives, IMHO, is borderline criminal. Here are a few sites to help with research of charitable organizations. There are MANY other research sites.
http://www.charitynavigator.org
http://www.guidestar.org
After Hurricane Ivan came through in 2004, DAV set up a trailer at the local VA Clinic. By providing ID showing that one was an area local, the VA cut people a check for $500 right there in the trailer. No other questions were asked. Being a DAV member was not required. I have no problem having a life membership with DAV and also sending them money throughout the year. They are a good organization and appear to spend their money wisely. A standup organization.
I work in a VA Polytrauma Center and WWP comes around a lot to sign up injured service members for “services.” They are the only group I have ever seen actively solicit family members to join while on the unit (join as in sign up to donate $30 per month). Ironically enough this was mixed in with talk about the “lies” CBS told. I stopped what I saw, but don’t know how much of it goes on when staff isn’t standing right there. I have not and will not ever donate to WWP.
I want to echo the recommendation of the Semper Fi Fund made by several other posters. They have provided great help to veterans I have treated and have case managers who work hard to make sure that what is being requested is actually needed and that the veteran gets what he/she needs. There are some things the VA just can’t provide that can make a big difference in quality of life).