Stevens letter: Veterans charities

A veteran myself, I was very interested in Robert Moore’s letter to the Statesman Nov. 19, dealing, in part, with organizations claiming to be beneficial to veterans. Many of them are — some of them are not. Some shield themselves under patriotic words designed to increase donations — such as “veterans,” “wounded,” “disabled,” “service,” etc. Consider:

1) One organization in 2014 (which usually takes in over $100 million annually) spent only 60.6 percent on actual programs for military personnel, while spending 26.5 percent (of $100 million) on fundraising, and $213,619 on the CEO (that was lowered from previous years), and had a reserve (unspent donations) over $15 million. How did that $15 million help any veterans?

2) Another indicates it specifically helps wounded veterans. It used only 59.9 percent of its budget to help wounded veterans, paid 34 percent for fundraising, the CEO $473,015 and had a reserve of OVER $94 million. Why wasn’t that $94 million used to help wounded veterans?

There are two online organizations that can help you find out where your hard-earned donations really go. Neither of these are infallible, but they can help you find out how your donation are really used: www. charitynavigator.org and www.charitywatch.org.

Use them — I bet you’ll find some unpleasant surprises.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Stevens letter: Veterans charities."