Wounded Warrior Project: Good or Bad? You decide...

[Flyin6]

Wounded Warrior Project: Padding Their Own Pockets or Helping Vets?



Posted on October 29, 2015 by Brandi Kay


 




In the first version of this article, I used the 2012-2013 Wounded Warrior Project 990 Tax Forms. This updated version is using the 2013-2014 Wounded Warrior Project 990 Tax Forms. (Thank you, David Isakson, for all of your assistance) I had made some errors in my original reporting; I am not a forensic accountant and had misread some of the figures or gotten the figures from the wrong columns. I will not be making those mistakes again. The 2012-2013 and the 2013-2014 tax forms are hyperlinked, so feel free to peruse the documents for yourselves. We should not be surprised to find out that yet another ‘charity’ claiming to ‘help’ Veterans is more interested in the salaries of their executives and funding the vicious cycle of advertisement…raise funds…spend it on advertisement…raise funds…ad nauseum. But just the raw figures from their own reporting:


 



FOR THE YEAR 2012-1013


 



REVENUE: $234,682,943.00



EXPENSES: $158,073,943.00



TOTAL PROFITS:



$ 76,609,000.00


 



FOR THE YEAR 2013-2014


 



REVENUE: $342,066,114.00



EXPENSES: $248,005,493.00



TOTAL PROFITS: $ 94,060,675.00


 



TOTAL AMOUNT GOING TO ORGANIZATIONS IN 2013: $16,849,420.00


 



TOTAL AMOUNT GOING TO ORGANIZATIONS IN 2014: $41,305,308.00


 



TOTAL AMOUNT GOING TO INDIVIDUAL VETERANS IN 2013: $853,365.00



TOTAL AMOUNT GOING TO INDIVIDUAL VETERANS IN 2014: $804,393.00


 



Now, how about some brass tacks about what just their top three executives make per year in salaries alone, not including bonuses, retirement, and insurance.


 



STEVEN NARDIZZI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR $375,000.00 in 2013



STEVEN NARDIZZI CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER $473,015.00 in 2014


 



ALBION GIORDANO DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR $337,500.00 in 2013



ALBION GIORDANO CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER $369,030.00 in 2014


 



JEREMY CHWAT CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER $218,267.00 in 2013



JEREMY CHWAT CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER $262,750.00 in 2014


 



These are STRICTLY the amounts and descriptions from their own tax forms. This does not even begin to cover their beautiful, modern building or the seven lawsuits that they have launched against much smaller, higher rated Veterans non-profit groups, who either used the words ‘wounded warrior’ somewhere in their name or used a silhouette of soldiers in their logos.


 



***But of the more than 56,000 veterans the group counts as “alumni,” meaning that they have been registered with the organization, many don’t directly engage with WWP. Less than two-thirds (62 percent) of alumni participated in at least one WWP activity or service in the past year, according to a survey of alumni the group shared with the Beast. But according to their internal database, 78.9 percent of alumni have been involved with “engagements and interactions” with WWP this year.


 



The best advice I can give you is to do your own research. Find small charities that are well-ranked by Charity Navigator or Charity Watch. Stick with local charities with which you have developed an affiliation personally. One of the highest ranked and most respected Veterans charity is The Fisher House.

[KensAuto]

Wow. Big numbers in all the wrong places.

[EL TATE]

Go out and buy some Men's Room Original Red Ale from Elysian brewing co. in Seattle. they had raised almost $200k for the local Fisher Houses in WA near FT Lewis in 2012, and I think it's up over $400k now. Good beer, good cause. http://seattlebeernews.com/2012/02/elysian-mens-room-original-red-generates-193547-in-donations-to-puget-sound-fisher-house/

[stlaser]

That is very disheartening Big D, years ago I along with GLO donated heavily to them. They were no where near as large as they are today. It appears they have strayed way off course, big money will do that though I guess. 

[Flyin6]

That is very disheartening Big D, years ago I along with GLO donated heavily to them. They were no where near as large as they are today. It appears they have strayed way off course, big money will do that though I guess. 

Copy that Shawn

But, know what? Your blessing is intact.

You give all your money to a TV evangelist who spends it on his girlfriend and drugs
How does that affect you?
Answer: It doesn't. God still saw you give.

But if we knowingly give to something like the goodwill industry which is just a business, then booey on you.

If WW is really doing this then there will come a day of reckoning for them. Using a wounded veteran to line your pockets...not something you will get away with.

BTW, I saw maybe two years ago where WW earned a "D" amongst charities for paying exorbitant salaries to their officers

[Wilbur]

I too am disheartened to see this. Although I have had my questions seeing as it is so heavily advertized. I understand that as organizations get bigger they need to attract good managers to keep it going but when you see how little benefit the needy recipient you have to wonder. In addition to giving to the food pantry at our church (which has NO salaries) I will call the local homeless veterans shelter and ask to speak to the cook. I tell him I'm going to Sam's and that I want to buy him some food for the guys. Then ask him what he needs. I end up giving exactly what they need, in a version that won't likely get "mis-appropriated" (I'm a realist about folks working at places like that and figure handing them cash is probably not a good idea). When I've done it through companies I've worked at its been fun to pull up with a pickup truck full to the gills with food for them. God bless them all they need our help, assistance and kindness.

[TexasRedNeck]

Thank you for posting this Don.  I've been involved in numerous veteran support groups over the years and WWP has been very aggressive towards smaller more efficient organizations.

I can personally vouch for Ride 2 Recovery and Folds of Honor.  Much higher percentage of revenue going to the cause

[Flyin6]

I know it's difficult to reach 100%, it just takes work and people to run an organization.

Perhaps smaller is better.

Not wanting to take any credit, but we here at Real Man have sent 100% of all funds collected to needy people, keeping nothing for the organization.

We have a little in the bank at the moment...hoping to spend it on Christmas for some of those Christian refugee children. We made Christmas possible last year for one family...Thanks again for all those who helped!

[TexasRedNeck]

Working for a Fortune 20 company and directing funds, I can tell you that 76% is the bare minimum.  If at least 76% does not go to the end beneficiary, we don't participate, period.

Most that I get involved with personally are 80+ and some 90+%

[Flyin6]

Some give as little as 1% to the people in need!

The United way and the American Humane Society give about 1% of the monies collected to the people or animals in need. The CEO of the United Way collects an annual salary of around 1.5 million

[stlaser]

We have a little in the bank at the moment...hoping to spend it on Christmas for some of those Christian refugee children. We made Christmas possible last year for one family...Thanks again for all those who helped!

Here is something that we are doing through our church and is headed up by Samaritans Purse. We have our daughters kinda lead the way on this project.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

[Flyin6]

Cool idea Shawn!

We have several refugee families who after a year have assimilated into the community very well indeed. I'll be looking toward them to make sure they are winter and Christmas ready.

[Bigdave_185]

I won't donate to any of them.   I had a neighbor that was taking trips to  Hawaii and getting brand new cars for him and his wife and her sister. They had everything paid for and I felt they abused the system.  She was army something. He was navy I guess. PTSD is real and lots of people suffer from it but I believe she was milking that cow for everything it was worth.

I would much rather help someone when I see they need help that way I get the warm feeling, I know what the $ goes to and where it ends up

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[TexasRedNeck]

Dave. I believe that's why you have to get to really know the organization


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[Flyin6]

Yea, this PTSD thing...

VA wants to label you

They told me I suffer from it

Really? I asked, I don't think so

Just paddin' the numbers and setting up vets for gun registration and confiscation I think

[stlaser]

PTSD, a lot of things are getting labeled as PTSD. I just went through that CERT course and when they covered the Disaster Psychology portion they brought in a lady to cover that chapter who worked in the records area of the PD. She was working towards a masters in Psychology and she brought up a personal experience where she aborted a child at seven months due to some problem (can't recall the name) but basically the child did not have enough x chromosomes and would not supposedly survive outside of the womb. The child did have a heart beat. Anyhow rather than her have to birth a child that they claimed would not survive she aborted at 7 months. So her husband then finishes school and tries to get hired as a police officer and can't pass the psych exam. So they label him with PTSD because of this abortion. I don't know enough about psychology to say whether he was or wasn't. My thought was yeah maybe he had remorse for ending a child's life and maybe that screwed him up. However, when she labeled it as PTSD dummy me did pause and question the use of that term in that application. I guess what I'm saying is they seem to use it as a one size fits all label and I don't think you can do that. 

[KensAuto]

I agree Shawn.  I lost my first baby with my practice wife, and it is with me daily  (not aborted)....probably why I now have 4 stepdaughters......but there's no way in h*** I would compare that with some of the trauma that comes from, say, combat.

Trauma comes to us in different levels,  and then different people can handle different levels of trauma.

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