The two top . As Wounded Warrior Project battles allegations its former executives violated public trust, they face the real fear that donations will start to dry up. In 2007, the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center shocked the nation. He was fired in 2014 for what executives told him was insubordination. Two great sources to check are: The Better Business Bureau's Give.org charity guide (you can also access it through bbb.org ). Do the sources know the information? Ask anyone with a personal stake in the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), the organization founded in 2003 to provide programs and services for injured U.S. military personnel. Kurnyta said the watchdog group published a "low-concern" advisory for WWP in 2016 as staffing scandals made headlines, but never stopped rating the organization. They began raising millions of dollars and broadening their services to include adaptive sports for disabled veterans, employment and benefits help, and retreats to teach veterans to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. The spokeswoman, Ayla Tezel, said that more than a third of the charitys employees are veterans, and that the organization is rated one of the top nonprofits to work for by The NonProfit Times. A nger and dismay greeted the announcement last week that the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans, had fired its top staff. Wounded Warrior Project FAQs 1. The Wounded Warrior Project, WWP, is a not-for-profit charity that aims to assist wounded veterans with their needs. The Warriors to Work program, for instance, was intended to provide one-on-one counseling to develop rsums and interview skills, then place veterans in suitable jobs. from the invisible wounds of scandal The councils mission includes defending charity spending on overhead and executive salaries, its website says. What happened next is something out of Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain, the Catch-22 of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In an effort to narrow its focus, WWP has dropped some efforts in favor of supporting other organizations that specialize. When Mr. Nardizzi took over, in the depths of the 2009 economic downturn, most charities had dialed back their fund-raising efforts, figuring that the nation was in no position to give. The writer is head of investments and partnerships for the Forest Stewardship Council. He said you better do this or you are going to look disloyal to the organization, Mr. Chick said. They needed to take responsibility, and they werent doing it.. For fiscal year 2015, Wounded Warrior reported a 92.9 percent satisfaction rate with the organizations services. Mr. Nardizzi took over the organization, based in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2009. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It seemed to me like it was a big lie., Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly on Itself, Insiders Say, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/us/wounded-warrior-project-spends-lavishly-on-itself-ex-employees-say.html, William Chick, who was fired from the Wounded Warrior Project in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor. From the inception of WWP's grant program in 2012 to the end of 2015, it awarded in total about $36.5 million worth of grants. Another organization, Animal Charity Evaluators, gives recommendations on the most effective charities to prevent animal suffering. Anger and dismay greeted the announcement last week that the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans, had fired its top staff. Once a child came by the office to donate a piggy bank. The secret sauce was the brand, and the mission, said Dave Ward, a vice president who left in 2015. Wounded Warrior Project's Chief Executive Officer Steven Nardizzi reported a salary of $473,000. Veterans organizations in the United States often reflect the era in which they were created: After World War I, they resembled fraternal orders. In the wake of the charity's scandal, Wounded Warrior Project not only ousted its two top executive officers but also slimmed its executive staff by 50 percent overall. So WW cut their spending- not to themselves, but to the people who needed their money most. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "We're looking for under 10 cents," she said. Since its inception in 2003 as a basement operation handing out backpacks to wounded veterans, the charity has evolved into a fund-raising giant, taking in more than $372 million in 2015 largely through small donations from people over 65. "The warriors that joined Wounded Warrior Project, you know, in 2003 are today 15 years older than they were when they joined. The country's most prominent veteran's . But after recent tax forms reflected questionable spending by the veterans charity on staff expenditures, including $26 million on conferences and meetings at luxury hotels in 2014 alone, Fred Kane called for Nardizzi to be fired.The expenditure on conferences and travel was up from just $1.7 million in 2010, according to reports. When the Wounded Warrior Project was hit in January with multiple accusations in the news media of lavish spending on travel, conferences and public relations, and a toxic corporate culture, Fred Kane, one of its major fund-raisers, was stunned by the organizations response. "It's like walking through a minefield, donating to an efficient veterans charity," he said. Show your support for Wounded Warrior Project with this tee! But he acknowledged that was likely a function of WWP's phenomenally rapid growth and expansion. Both bills passed in amended forms that did not significantly affect the charity, Mr. Nardizzi said. 2. You do not reflect the sentiments of the more than 80,000 wounded soldiers we have helped, focusing instead on a few malcontents. "When the negative media event hit in January-February-March of 2016, public support dropped 50%," he said. Among those who say WWP has regained their trust is Erick Millette, a medically retired Army staff sergeant who worked for the organization as a full-time public speaker and representative in the organization's "Warriors Speak" program from 2013 to 2015. That year, he doubled the spending on fund-raising and started running television ads imploring viewers to send in donations. The chief of Irans nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, acknowledged the findings of the IAEA report. On the ratings service Charity Navigator, the Wounded Warriors Project earns an overall score of 84.5 out of 100, good for three stars. Where is WWP located? And on Tuesday, it started a program to provide care for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, two of the most common injuries for veterans of recent wars. January 27, 2016 / 8:32 PM / CBS News. There are fresh concerns that public support for ongoing military assistance may be waning. The organization slashed all-hands training costs from $987,000 in 2016 to $110,000 in 2019 for a staff of nearly 700, according to numbers provided to Military.com, in direct response to public criticism. Already, more than $6.9 million in grants has been awarded for this fiscal year. In early 2016, New York Times Reporter Dave Philipps was working on a story about the Wounded Warrior Project which seemed like it would initially be a public interest piece discussing the work of this popular charity. The same push for numbers hit a program that brings wounded veterans together for social events. But I am concerned about our ability to meet our obligations in the future.. Some of the top picks of these charity evaluators include the Against Malaria Foundation, which protects families in the developing world against deadly malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and GiveDirectly, which transfers money directly to some of the poorest people in the world. [2] 2023 TIME USA, LLC. New York Times Reporter Paid $51 Million for Ryan Seacrest's LA . Michel duCille/Washington Post, via Getty Images. Suddenly, a spotlight focused on a 10-story bell tower where the chief executive, Steven Nardizzi, stepped off the edge and rappelled toward the cheering crowd. Linnington made clear that he wants to see the organization continue its climb out of a fundraising valley but said he is more concerned about fulfilling the mission than making up numbers. "[Now], I would tell you to look at the organization, the changes they've made and make an educated decision. The organization will still take action in cases of suspected fraud, he said. Do the sources know the information? He said the. The saddest part is that it endeavors to hurt an organization that does so much to help our wounded soldiers. Money poured in. Have they proved reliable in the past? That's because they include some promotional items, direct response advertising, and shipping and postage. He noted approvingly that the organization has hired more mental health professionals to do follow-up with wounded warriors, and invested dynamically in meeting the needs of female veterans. Mr. Odierno said the board took issue with cultural and policy findings as well as financial issues when deciding to replace the organizations top leaders. I loved it, the former Marine sniper said. Steven Nardizzi and Al Giordano were fired from their posts as chief executive and chief operating officer, respectively, for the Wounded Warrior Project on Thursday. Millette, the former WWP staff member who publicly blew the whistle on the organization, said his decision to speak out came at great personal cost. They also help WWP track how the needs of veterans are changing with time. Part of the organizations drive for growth has been a tough stance toward workers considered unproductive or disloyal. How do we help them? Many Americans gave their trust and donated their money to this nonprofitto the tune of more than $372 million in 2015. Wounded Warrior Project officials are firing half of their executives, closing nine offices and redirecting millions in spending to mental health care programs and partnerships as part of an. Mr. Odierno, who is the son of Gen. Raymond Odierno, a former chief of staff of the Army, became the groups interim chief executive Thursday evening and is conducting a nationwide search for a new leader. This follows reports from CBS News and The New York . I don't know, and frankly, that's not what I'm worried about. 3. Can we corroborate the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Wounded Warrior Project declined CBS News' interview requests for Nardizzi in January, but instead sent Director of Alumni and a recipient of their services, Captain Ryan Kules, who denied there was excessive spending on conferences. In an email to big donors, a fundraiser for the organization . IN JANUARY, when I wrote about a publisher's creative team-up involving Wounded Warrior . For Linnington, the mission when he arrived at Wounded Warrior Project was not about exoneration; it was about regaining the lost trust of the veterans the organization was founded to serve. It did not dispute findings reported by The Times, including that the organization had fired a number of wounded veterans with little cause. In 2014 alone, the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) received more than $300 million in donations, yet it only spent roughly 60 percent of that on vets, CBS News reported. To fill seats, they often invited the same veterans. Recent reports from The New York Times and CBS alleged that the nonprofit has been misspending its donations on lavish conferences and unnecessary business trips for employees.. Staying at a lavish hotel at the beach here in Jacksonville, and requiring staff that lives in the area to stay at the hotel is not team building," he told CBS News. "So when I saw what was going on in the media, I was, believe it or not, automatically attracted to try and help.". Regarding the criticism that WWP's portrayal of veterans in the past overemphasized traumatic wounds and veterans in need of lifelong help and support, Linnington said the organization's advertising approach is now different. If the same warrior attends six different events, you could record that as six warriors served, said Renee Humphrey, who oversaw alumni outreach in Southern California for about four years. The programs it did create for veterans often served more as showpieces for marketing than as efforts to address the actual needs of veterans. Youre looking at companies that are getting it right, treating their employees right, delivering great services and great products, then are growing the brand to support all of that.. The group did lose points on its fundraising score, with roughly 22 cents spent to make a dollar, per the most recent available data. These organizations have always been known to spend very little on anything but the veterans and their families, and the general public will now be terribly suspicious and wary. The Walter Reed Story, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/booming/and-this-was-called-care-the-walter-reed-story.html. In 2016, they had a bit of controversy, when they fired s. "Yeah. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Connie Chapman, who was the director of the Wounded Warrior Project office in Seattle for two years, at a friends home in Eatonville, Wash. People could spend money on the most ridiculous thing and no one batted an eye, she said. Millette also marvels at the way the organization has overhauled itself and rebuilt, even as many predicted that it would crumble under the pressure. While Military.com was unable to review survey findings in full, Plenzler said the 2018 study also found participants overwhelmingly considered WWP to be effective in two areas on which organizational leaders have chosen to focus more sharply: advocacy for caregiver legislation (93%), and advocacy on legislation regarding veterans' medical conditions related to burn pit exposure on deployments (86%). Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, The Wounded Warrior Project Scandal Should Encourage More Philanthropy. In a 19-page decision filed today (Jan. 12), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in Nebraska knocked down six alleged key errors in the Appeals Court Upholds Judgment For Wounded Warrior Project Read More The board refused to make the report public, but in a summary it found among other things that $26 million had been spent on conferences and events from Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014. How many others are not scaling up to cure cancer, to help the environment, because there is a belief we shouldnt invest in those things? said Mr. Nardizzi, who was given $473,000 in compensation in 2014. Did you mean: wounded warrior scandal Wounded Warrior Project's top execs fired amid . Market data provided by Factset. Her termination was so abrupt that her work phone and credit card were shut off while she was leading an event. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal refers to a series of allegations of unsatisfactory conditions, treatment of patients, and management at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C. culminating in two articles published by The Washington Post in February 2007. The Wounded Warrior Project began in 2003 as a basement nonprofit organization run by Mr. Melia, who was wounded in a helicopter crash off Somalia. But newly released numbers for fiscal 2018 show a bounce in the right direction, up 16% to $246 million. Her comment was, Where have you been? And I said, What do you mean where have I been? This claim is false. The kind of fundraising figures that most organizations in the space could only dream about. By 2014, the group was spending $7.5 million per year on travel, according to tax forms. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! I knew where the money was going to. Since 2009, the group raised nearly $1 billion. But it added that such events would be curtailed in the future.. WWP Performance Tee - Graphite. The most recent financial report on Wounded Warrior's web site shows $372 million in donations for the 2014-15 fiscal year. According to the charity's tax forms obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings went from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery. The organization has also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years on public relations and lobbying campaigns to deflect criticism of its spending and to fight legislative efforts to restrict how much nonprofits spend on overhead. But as donations poured in, many former employees say the group became wasteful. Updated: 7:53 PM EST November 8, 2019 JACKSONVILLE, Fla Jacksonville based Wounded Warrior Project was the fastest-growing veteran's service organization before it was rocked by a scandal. Another time a woman called to donate part of her sons life insurance after he was killed in Afghanistan, he said. Mr. Melia could not be reached, but Julie Melia, his former wife, said, He feels he can help get it back in the good direction.. Mr. Nardizzi doubled his spending on fund-raising and has increased it an average of 66 percent every year since. Celebrity endorsements from the likes of Trace Adkins and Jimmy Buffett. A three-judge panel has denied an appeal and upheld the original verdict in a battle between two charities that support returning American veterans and were using similar names. The Wounded Warrior Project asserts that it spends 80 percent of donations on programs, but former employees and charity watchdogs say the charity inflates its number by using practices such as counting some marketing materials as educational. One employee was quoted as calling it "extremely extravagant. In an interview Friday, he said donations had fallen, but declined to say by how much. Tracy Keil worries that will leave her. Former employees said they questioned the charitys focus on money and marketing techniques. Both ad campaigns depict a real part of the wounded veteran experience, and WWP staff acknowledge that donors respond more to portrayals of those with the greatest need. In particular, the organization expressed outrage that CBS. His report slammed the organization for not being transparent with donors about tens of millions that had been placed in reserve and not spent; and for "excessive" amounts of money spent on travel, fundraising and staff activities. Board members called a few former employees this week to thank them for coming forward. But while Millette, who spoke with Military.com earlier this year, said he still thinks the organization tends to lean too hard on showcasing veterans with dramatic visible wounds in its publicity materials and public events, he also said he has observed a remarkable overall turnaround in the organization. The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), a fast growing and media-savvy charity serving veterans, has recently been in the news and not in a good way. CBS News and The New York Times found the. About 40 percent of the organizations donations in 2014 were spent on its overhead, or about $124 million, according to the charity-rating group Charity Navigator. Some were injured or became. Within months, Wounded Warrior Project's two top executives -- CEO Steve Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano -- had been fired, and the organization itself was the subject of a congressional inquiry. But executives quadrupled the number of job placements the program was expected to make each year, reducing the amount of time specialists had to find good ones, said Dan Lessard, who ran the program for about two years. Anyone can read what you share. In 2012, after he had been working for the charity about a year, he had to have his right arm amputated because of lingering damage from Iraq. Copyright 2023 Military.com. Mr. Nardizzi fired Ms. Chapman, an Iraq veteran with PTSD, in 2012 as part of a management restructuring, she said. As someone who lives with post-traumatic stress, Millette said he is aware of the wealth of good Wounded Warrior Project could do with its resources in that space. Slightly more than half of the Kanes' donations directly benefitted veterans, according to CBS News. Is Wounded Warrior Project a legitimate charity? One significant ongoing organizational investment has provided for a two-week intensive post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury outpatient program at four hospitals: Massachusetts General Hospital, Emory University Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was impressed, he said, that so many of those nighttime arrival flights would be greeted by WWP staff members, and that he'd also see WWP teammates visiting veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It is a nonprofit video news organization that aims to provide a thoughtful counterweight to todays 24/7 news cycle. WWP offers wounded warriors and their families lifesaving programs that help them manage PTSD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), combat stress, and other conditions and help them thrive in their next mission. The 270 Wounded Warriors competing in a variety of sports from June 19-28 at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, come from every branch of military service. L.A. County Sheriff: 30% of workforce "unavailable". Mr. Millette said the charity encouraged him to highlight its role in helping him recover from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Whats their motivation for telling us? Linnington said the 2015-16 fiscal year will get posted in the spring . Former workers recounted buying business-class seats and regularly jetting around the country for minor meetings, or staying in $500-per-night hotel rooms. Annually, the group receives more than $300 million in donations (Cerully, Smith, Wilks, & Giglio, 2015). The Wounded Warrior Project no longer holds such events and already has increased the scrutiny on spending for travel and all expenses, he said, adding that he would be paid less than those before . That evening is emblematic of the polished and well-financed image cultivated by the Wounded Warrior Project, the countrys largest and fastest-growing veterans charity. For fiscal year 2015, Wounded Warrior reported a 92.9 percent. About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado, which CBS News reported cost about $3 million. But, he says, he doesn't regret what he did; he still believes his assessment of WWP at the time was accurate and his intervention necessary. He is a 1998 Elgin High School graduate who served in the Marine Corp. for eight years and . You lead from the frontgood or badyou dont hide, he said, If no one is going to talk about this right now and it has to be me, then it has to be me.. More than 6 out of 10 (64.2%) WWP-registered Alumni say they. Then, in late January 2016, a pair of damning high-profile news reports hit like a one-two punch, throwing the organization into turmoil. What I'm worried about is, how can we be the most effective in meeting the needs of our warriors in whatever resources we have?". (Linnington said more than 72% of WWP spending currently goes toward programs.). If that money goes away, its not clear these groups can make it on their own., After Complaints on Wounded Warrior Project, Pressure From Donors, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/us/after-complaints-on-wounded-warrior-project-pressure-from-donors.html. Mr. Chick, who was fired in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor, said he saw the Wounded Warrior Project help hundreds of veterans. Its a mind-set that keeps the sector small and dooms efforts from the start. "We have met with DoD a couple times, when I first came on board, to talk about how we can help inspire young people to serve," he said. " The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) has been helping injured veterans since its inception in 2003, 2 years after the deadly terror attacks that rocked the nation on 9-11. "Going to a nice fancy restaurant is not team building. It also began to focus on programs like group bike rides and concert-ticket handouts that left many staff members wondering about how much they were helping veterans. He started by handing out backpacks of comfort items to wounded troops. Millette, 41, who still lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where Wounded Warrior Project is headquartered, told Military.com he stands by all the claims he made about the organization -- $2,500 bar tabs and other prodigal spending at staff-only team-building events, a permissive "good old boys" atmosphere among leadership, and a tendency to push certain badly wounded veterans into the spotlight again and again for what appeared to be promotional purposes rather than for their benefit and well-being. Its a hard balance, but I think we strike the right balance, he said. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Under the Charity Watch rating system, Wounded Warrior Project has a modest C+, up from a C in 2015, said Daniel Borochoff, the accountability organization's president. Such ambitious programs would be impossible without significant spending on fund-raising and staff, said Mr. Nardizzi, who has become a vocal advocate of the idea that charities should be able to spend what they want on travel, fund-raising and executive salaries. The Wounded Warrior Project is in hot water. Re Helping Veterans Recover, Spending Lavishly on Itself (front page, Jan. 28): I was saddened to read of the wasteful spending at the Wounded Warrior Project. While the organization keeps a rating of three out of four stars, the numerical score reflects marginal improvements in program expense growth, Magdalena Kurnyta, a Charity Navigator associate program analyst, told Military.com. Many soldiers have told me they would have committed suicide were it not for the Wounded Warrior Project. About 40 percent of the organizations donations in 2014 were spent on its overhead, or about $124 million, according to the charity-rating group Charity Navigator. Breaking down the group's finances, Charity Navigator says . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. ', Her reply, he said, was, We can see in the computer that you went to all of your appointments, but nobody knows where you are.. "Wounded Warrior Project helped me reclaim my life," one reads, over a photo of single-amputee wounded veteran Sean Karpf, smiling proudly. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. In 2014, after 10 years of rapid growth, the Wounded Warrior Project flew its roughly 500 employees to Colorado Springs for an all hands meeting at the five-star Broadmoor hotel. The development was confirmed by Abernathy MacGregor, a public relations firm hired to represent the veterans charity. These houses are used to alleviate the out-of-pocket costs of families of veterans and wounded soldiers who are receiving treatment at medical facilities. But Linnington said the organization is closely tracking engagement, and estimated that 30% of members were actively engaged in WWP community events or taking advantage of free programs. While top executives kept a low profile, the organizations board pursued an independent investigation, conducted by outside lawyers who combed through financial filings and interviewed more than 50 current and former employees. A week later, he was back at work when a fistfight broke out between veteran mentors who had been drinking after one of his training sessions. Its founder, John Melia, was a Marine veteran who had been injured in a helicopter crash off the coast of Somalia in 1992. To continue addressing these social needs and address the distrust caused by nonprofit scandals, we need to improve our nonprofit sector. He noted, approvingly, that as of 2018, 64% of WWP spending goes to fund programs, up from about 54% in 2016. Borochoff also said, however, that despite the public scrutiny, Wounded Warrior Project has always had better business practices than many groups in the space, even some with a good reputation in the community. Our average age is 38 years old," Linnington said. The organization has previously been criticized for touting a wide network of veteran members, many of whom were inactive and had received few or no services from Wounded Warrior Project. The charity grew to offer more services in more locations, but in the process, former employees said, it became wasteful, spending millions on travel, food, drinks and team-building trips for staff members. Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big catered parties. or redistributed. Charity Navigator also assessed that Wounded Warriors total revenue for 2014 was well over $340 million. Although detailed defenses of Wounded Warrior Project have been mounted -- including a lengthy independent report from nonprofit expert Doug White, published in September 2016 -- Linnington spends little time trying to relitigate the past. Since then, however, the rate of investment has grown substantially. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. It's really about the resilience, the exceptionalism of our warriors.". But Mr. Melias ex-wife, Julie Melia, who worked at the charity at the time, said in an interview that her former husband felt like the organization was stolen from him.. Today, The New York Times released a damning report on the renowned . Erick Millette, an Iraq veteran, said he quit after growing disillusioned about his work with a program called Warrior Speak, which involved veterans telling their stories of healing to audiences. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, an outspoken accountability advocate who oversaw a Senate probe into WWP released in 2017, struck a hopeful note in a statement to Military.com. Dan Shannon of the Army, a father of three, who had served in Iraq, and, on Nov. 13, 2004, took a direct hit from an AK-47. I look at companies like Starbucks thats the model, Mr. Nardizzi said. Mr. Nardizzi said in an interview that Mr. Melia left to pursue business ventures. This year, WWP surpassed the 100,000 mark in terms of veterans they provide assistance to. I would push back and they would get very frustrated and yell. Magazines, Digital John Melia, founder of the Wounded Warrior Project, addressing the Wounded and Injured Veterans Summit in Auburn, Ala., in 2006.
