He started by handing out backpacks of comfort items to wounded troops. "If you look at our 990 [annual IRS financial filing], we went from $380 million a year to $200 million. It is a nonprofit video news organization that aims to provide a thoughtful counterweight to todays 24/7 news cycle. But, as it turned out, reports of the death of Wounded Warrior Project have been greatly exaggerated. The charity came under fire after an earlier CBS News investigation in January revealed large amounts of spending on administration, meetings, and travel. The kind of fundraising figures that most organizations in the space could only dream about. But along with the money came charges of excess. "[Now], I would tell you to look at the organization, the changes they've made and make an educated decision. Recently, a social movement called Effective Altruism has been pushing the nonprofit sector to become more transparent and accountable. And it took all this bone and everything with it and, of course, my left eye it took with it.. The secret sauce was the brand, and the mission, said Dave Ward, a vice president who left in 2015. In particular, the organization expressed outrage that CBS. Anyone can read what you share. "Four years ago, I would have told you to keep your money in your pocket and take it somewhere else," he said. Its founder, John Melia, was a Marine veteran who had been injured in a helicopter crash off the coast of Somalia in 1992. Can we corroborate the information? Kaine, in the recent interview, also questioned Nardizzis apparent public absence while his organization has been under scrutiny. Many Americans gave their trust and donated their money to this nonprofitto the tune of more than $372 million in 2015. 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. 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. 1 witness for the wounded was Staff Sgt. Mr. Nardizzi and Mr. Giordano did not return repeated calls to their cellphones. 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. Our average age is 38 years old," Linnington said. In 2016, they had a bit of controversy, when they fired s. Besides devastating both donors and wounded veterans, this news could undercut public support for the nonprofit sector as a whole. There was no one there to tell us what was going on or how we were going to get through this.. Your article zoned in on some disgruntled former employees rather than the roughly 500 staff members who work tirelessly to honor and empower our wounded. Kules added the charity did not spend $3 million on the Colorado conference, but he was not there and was unable to say what it did cost. The Wounded Warrior Project, WWP, is a not-for-profit charity that aims to assist wounded veterans with their needs. The groups founder, a wounded Marine named John Melia, announced late Friday that he was interested in returning to the organization, which he left in 2009 after a dispute with Mr. Nardizzi and Mr. Giordano. We all have the power to ensure that we can truly trust nonprofits to spend our money wisely. We knew VVA had done pioneering work on Agent Orange, so we created a collaborative grant to pair them with TAPS to start gathering data on [toxic exposure] and to help ensure trans-generational knowledge transfer from the Vietnam-era generation of veterans to today's post-9/11 generation.". 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. Mr. Nardizzi said his staff was constantly monitoring metrics to try to get the most out of every dollar donated. Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly on Itself, Insiders Say 1244 William Chick, who was fired from the Wounded Warrior Project in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor. "It's like walking through a minefield, donating to an efficient veterans charity," he said. 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. In 2015, Wounded Warrior Project seemed, in the world of veterans' support organizations, to have it all: a compelling mission. 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. CBS News' investigation into the Wounded Warrior Project's spending on veterans has sparked heated debate online. 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. 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. For fiscal year 2015, Wounded Warrior reported a 92.9 percent satisfaction rate with the organizations services. All rights reserved. Compared with service members who served in Vietnam, troops sustaining combat wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan had roughly twice the chance of surviving. 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. Some were injured or became. Steve Nardizzi, the chief executive of the Wounded Warrior Project, speaking at the 2010 Soldier Ride at Macys in Herald Square, Manhattan. 76% OF WARRIORS EXPERIENCED FEWER PTSD SYMPTOMS after receiving treatment through Warrior Care Network 2 Where was Steve Nardizzi and why didnt he face the reporter? Mr. Kane asked, naming the outspoken chief executive who had been accused of much of the excess. And it did not appear to prioritize collaboration with other veterans' organizations, taking criticism for relatively small grants it made to support other groups and for passing up opportunities to join forces for advocacy and shared knowledge. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is the President of Intentional Insights, an education nonprofit, and a tenure-track professor at Ohio State University. Right now we are in a position where we can still meet our obligations, he said. The Wounded Warrior Project is working to rebuild trust with its donors and veterans. Annually, the group receives more than $300 million in donations (Cerully, Smith, Wilks, & Giglio, 2015). Under Mr. Nardizzis direction, it has modeled itself on for-profit corporations, with a focus on data, scalable products, quarterly numbers and branding. 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. 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 country's most prominent veteran's . With the support of our community of donors . Lavish Spending by the Wounded Warrior Project, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/opinion/lavish-spending-by-the-wounded-warrior-project.html, Jennifer Brown/Northjersey.com, via Associated Press, Helping Veterans Recover, Spending Lavishly on Itself. Millette also marvels at the way the organization has overhauled itself and rebuilt, even as many predicted that it would crumble under the pressure. WWP has also pressed forward in its role as a legislative advocate, recently mounting a campaign to expand an adaptive housing benefit available to veterans -- legislation named after longtime WWP staff member Ryan Kules. 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. 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. Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News at the time he admired the charitys work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years. We must also pressure nonprofits to be transparent about their activities and finances and measure the impact of their work. L.A. County Sheriff: 30% of workforce "unavailable". "Donors would be unhappy that so much of their money wasn't being used given the plight of veterans," he said. Money poured in. In all those areas, Linnington said Wounded Warrior Project is making strides. He said the. 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.. Find Wounded Warrior Project shirts, headwear and other WWP merchandise at WWPShop.org 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. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The most recent financial report on Wounded Warrior's web site shows $372 million in donations for the 2014-15 fiscal year. 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. "These are groups that just get together over a pizza and a soda, to talk about the issues that are affecting them and their families, and look for ways to support each other.". So we had to rebuild.". He's come in on a Segway, he's come in on a horse, one employee told CBS News. Veterans participate in a Soldier Ride on Jan. 8 in Marathon, Fla. He said he felt guilty about what he saw as widespread waste. Anyone can read what you share. 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. [2] 5. Who does Wounded Warrior Project serve? Today, The New York Times released a damning report on the renowned . That's thanks in part to a soul-searchingly earnest restructuring effort helmed by CEO Mike Linnington, a retired three-star Army general who arrived at the organization in 2016 with a mandate to turn things around. Its a mind-set that keeps the sector small and dooms efforts from the start. In the wake of what organization insiders call "the 2016 event," WWP has cut significantly back on all-staff outings; moved away from pricey ticketed events in favor of addressing complex quality-of-life issues for veterans; made efforts to be more collaborative in the veterans' organization community; and even tweaked its advertising strategy to tell a more positive story about veterans, an effort WWP says is calculated not to bring in the most advertising dollars, but to do the most good for the community. Kurnyta noted the organization had a near-perfect score in transparency: 97 out of 100. To fill seats, they often invited the same veterans. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He has never spoken publicly about his disagreements with Mr. Nardizzi, and declined to be interviewed. Im right here. The group, based in Jacksonville, Fla., has been challenged over how it spends more than $800 million raised in donations over the past four years. Two great sources to check are: The Better Business Bureau's Give.org charity guide (you can also access it through bbb.org ). 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. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Now I wonder how employees can live lavishly off a large percentage of the contributions that should be serving people in need. You had the same few guys who loved going to free events.. Its chief operating officer, Albion Giordano, earned just over $369,000. Slightly more than half of the Kanes' donations directly benefitted veterans, according to CBS News. But some employees assert that the productivity goals were set so high that they eroded program quality. Mr. Chick, who was fired in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor, said he saw the Wounded Warrior Project help hundreds of veterans. They were celebrating their biggest year yet: $225 million raised and a work force that had nearly doubled. from the invisible wounds of scandal They needed to take responsibility, and they werent doing it.. 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. or redistributed. "Wounded Warrior Project was there when I needed them most," says another ad, featuring veteran Chris Wolff, his hand on the wheel of his chair as if poised for action. One employee was quoted as calling it "extremely extravagant. Name recognition that went beyond the military community, thanks in large part to tightly produced and memorable TV ads. CBS News and The New York Times found the. In news media accounts and at a Congressional hearing, the No. The veterans collected donations at those events. Market data provided by Factset. Many soldiers have told me they would have committed suicide were it not for the Wounded Warrior Project. The annual surveys of the wounded warriors the organization serves help direct its focus, Linnington says. About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado, which CBS News reported cost about $3 million. "Wounded Warrior Project helped me reclaim my life," one reads, over a photo of single-amputee wounded veteran Sean Karpf, smiling proudly. It's really about the resilience, the exceptionalism of our warriors.". But by then, Mr. Melia and Mr. Nardizzi were fighting over the charitys future, with Mr. Nardizzi pushing for more aggressive expansion than Mr. Melia, former employees said. 6. From so much bad came some good, as the military medical health care system was reorganized. 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. The easiest way to do this is to take the perspective of a savvy investor and research donation options to make sure you do the most good per dollar donated. 7. The same push for numbers hit a program that brings wounded veterans together for social events. Recently, however, they have been accused of being a scam and donating an insignificant portion of their funds to their declared cause. They gave me a Xeroxed map of the hospital grounds and it was not very well photocopied, he explains on the video. Ive gone to all of my appointments. As he told Retro Report: It just missed the bridge of my nose and exited over my left ear. It contributes millions to smaller veterans groups. The statement also said apreliminary financial audit found that some policies, procedures and controls at WWP have not kept pace with the organizations rapid growth in recent years and are in need of strengthening.. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. For fiscal year 2015, Wounded Warrior reported a 92.9 percent. Board members called a few former employees this week to thank them for coming forward. See the metrics below for more information. "I was always grateful for that mission," Linnington said. But he acknowledged that was likely a function of WWP's phenomenally rapid growth and expansion. Last week, a major donor to the Wounded Warrior Project veterans charity called for the nonprofits CEO to resign in light of allegations of lavish spending on staff meetings, CBS News reported. The Wounded Warrior Project cuts a different profile. The spending began to attract attention. Then it took him weeks to track down the nurse who was supposedly overseeing his case, as he tells Retro Report. By Friday afternoon, both phones had been disconnected. Since then, however, the rate of investment has grown substantially. Anger and dismay greeted the announcement last week that the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans, had fired its top staff. Her termination was so abrupt that her work phone and credit card were shut off while she was leading an event. And though critics argue that the standards used by watchdog organizations to assess nonprofits are overly subjective and sometimes unfairly punitive, staff with two accountability groups who spoke with Military.com were generally bullish about Wounded Warrior Project's practices and outlook. March 11, 2016 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. 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. The councils mission includes defending charity spending on overhead and executive salaries, its website says. Anyone can read what you share. These stories focused on fundraising, the salary of the CEO, exorbitant spending on staff activities, and the low percentage of contributions actually going to veteran services. A report on spending scandal exposed by News4Jax and national media outlets in January blames the Wounded Warrior Project's board, former employees who spoke about the charity's spending practices . It did not dispute findings reported by The Times, including that the organization had fired a number of wounded veterans with little cause. But in its swift rise, it has also embraced aggressive styles of fund-raising, marketing and personnel management that have many current and former employees questioning whether it has drifted from its mission. The Wounded Warrior Fund,. Part of the organizations drive for growth has been a tough stance toward workers considered unproductive or disloyal. Wounded Warrior Project hit back at the initial report Wednesday evening, posting online a letter to CBS News demanding a retraction. 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 JANUARY, when I wrote about a publisher's creative team-up involving Wounded Warrior . Two top execs at the Wounded Warrior Project one of the largest war veterans support organizations in the nation were fired Thursday in a scandal over money spent on expensive corporate. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The Wounded Warrior Project spent more than $34 million on fund-raising in 2014, according to tax records. In 2013, according to tax forms, the Wounded Warrior Project gave $150,000 to a nonprofit called the Charity Defense Council and Mr. Nardizzi joined its advisory board. 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. Its a fund-raising machine that is a grant-maker for a number of other veterans organizations, said Phillip Carter, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, which also gets funding from the organization. Religion and Technology Should Unite for the Greater Good, The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. First: donations to Wounded Warriors fell by $70 million from 2015 to 2016. They just took me to a Red Sox game and on a weekend retreat.. 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. The Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation provides more than 98 percent toveterans. The group has also historically dinged WWP for having so much capital in reserve -- at one point, Borochoff said, it "socked away" almost one-third of what it brought in. Sept. 30, 2013 As this week's Retro Report video explains, the biggest scandal in recent times involving the care of wounded American troops was actually worsened because medicine on the. He was medevaced out of Iraq, but only nine days after his near-fatal injury, the Walter Reed staff discharged him into outpatient status. Wounded Warrior Project ( WWP) is an American charity and veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, services and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following September 11, 2001. 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. Wounded Warrior Project's Chief Executive Officer Steven Nardizzi reported a salary of $473,000. Also around that time, the group hired the global public relations firm Edelman, which has represented Starbucks, Walmart, Shell and Philip Morris, to improve public perception of the charity and its overhead spending. Today, on a list of 27 founders that was created by the charitys current leadership and handed out to all new employees, Mr. Melias name appears well below the name of the charitys for-profit fund-raising consultant. But whether those fixes went far enough is, as the video demonstrates, still not clear. But constraining nonprofits to a special class of organization that isnt allowed to market itself, pay competitive salaries or grow quickly is a longstanding tradition in America. 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. It no longer invests, for example, in its TRACK college preparation program for wounded warriors, preferring to let Student Veterans of America own the space. Chief Financial Officer . However, everything changed when CBS News started researching its own story about the Wounded Warrior Project, one with a . Kane said he has cut charitable ties with the Wounded Warrior Project, embarking on a new charge to effect change at the organization. Have they proved reliable in the past? Trace Adkins talks about his support of U.S. veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project in Rolling Stone's third Salute to . But people close to the organization also say that, as WWP expanded from a tiny organization distributing free backpacks to wounded veterans in the early 2000s to become one of the most well resourced and influential veterans organizations within a decade, it generated more than its share of ill will. Wounded Warrior Project's Top Execs Fired After Spending Scandal Wounded Warrior Project Denies Claims of Waste, Lavish Spending Wounded Warrior Project Accused of Wasting Donor Money. Wounded Warrior Project has earned a 86% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, launched his investigation in March 2016, following reports by the New York Times and CBS News of excessive spending on events and airfare and a toxic. 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. On March 18, 2016, The New York Times published an article titled, "Senator Wants Data on Wounded Warrior Project, a Charity Under Fire." 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. His marriage fell apart as the result of the pressure, he said; he received personal threats. The programs it did create for veterans often served more as showpieces for marketing than as efforts to address the actual needs of veterans. 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. In fiscal 2016, the organization's revenue exceeded $226 million; the closest runner-up was Disabled Veterans of America, with nearly $135 million. As the backpack project grew, Mr. Melia hired a few employees, including Mr. Nardizzi, a lawyer who had never served in the military but was an executive for a small nonprofit, the United Spinal Association, which served disabled veterans. With time and support from donors, new meta-charities will arise to evaluate other areas of nonprofit activity. By 2014, the group was spending $7.5 million per year on travel, according to tax forms. "Before, you'd have a retreat and, after that, it was nothing. Whats their motivation for telling us? Breaking down the group's finances, Charity Navigator says . He watched a young former Army captain who had lost an arm and a leg in Afghanistan offer CBS News awkwardly recited defenses of the group, the nations largest and fastest-growing charity for veterans. 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. The sergeant describes roaming Walter Reeds grounds wearing only a hospital gown and robe for two hours before making it to the small room he was assigned. 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But what of the veterans in need? When you are considering whether to give, let your heart be open to stories but also ask how representative those stories are of actual clients or results. Today, the charity has 22 locations offering programs to help veterans readjust to society, attend school, find work and participate in athletics. Another response would be for our candidates, who are battling about which countries to send troops to, to have a public conversation about the price our troops will pay and how they will be helped.