The ousted Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Wounded Warrior Project are finding relief in a new independent report on the allegations against the military charity . Wounded Warrior Project's CEO, Steven Nardizzi, and COO, Al Giordano, were fired by the charity's board amid criticisms about how it spent more than $800 million in donations over the last four years. 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. I have been involved with the Wounded Warrior Project for over 12 years. Then, in late January 2016, a pair of damning high-profile news reports hit like a one-two punch, throwing the organization into turmoil. Since then, however, the rate of investment has grown substantially. saved my life, he said. In fiscal 2016, the organization's revenue exceeded $226 million; the closest runner-up was Disabled Veterans of America, with nearly $135 million. On the ratings service Charity Navigator, the Wounded Warriors Project earns an overall score of 84.5 out of 100, good for three stars. 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.. William Chick, a former supervisor, spent five years with the Wounded Warrior Project. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. He was fired in 2014 for what executives told him was insubordination. They gave me a Xeroxed map of the hospital grounds and it was not very well photocopied, he explains on the video. 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. 7. It got under my skin, started eating at me, he said. 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. Slightly more than half of the Kanes' donations directly benefitted veterans, according to CBS News. Now, they're doing that follow-up, and they have the capacity to deal with the mental health issues," he said. " That said, there are clear indications that the organization is improving its financial practices. 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. Steve Nardizzi, the chief executive of the Wounded Warrior Project, speaking at the 2010 Soldier Ride at Macys in Herald Square, Manhattan. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Seeing them do that restores my faith in the organization.". The veterans charity group fired CEO Steven Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano late last week, following a January . The organization was reportedly out of favor with some senior officials in the Pentagon, due to the public image it perpetuated of veterans as typically coming home from combat grievously wounded and with long-term needs. Kaine, in the recent interview, also questioned Nardizzis apparent public absence while his organization has been under scrutiny. 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. Did you mean: wounded warrior scandal Wounded Warrior Project's top execs fired amid . Mr. Millette said the charity encouraged him to highlight its role in helping him recover from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. But Linnington maintains it's not just about the bottom line for him. A major donor to the Wounded Warrior Project veterans' charity called Thursday for the nonprofit's CEO's to resign in light of allegations of lavish spending on staff meetings, according to . From so much bad came some good, as the military medical health care system was reorganized. Wounded Warrior Project rocked by fundraising scandal Wounded Warrior Project probed for lavish spending while vets suffer The U.S. Attorney's Office in Indiana has brought charges. How was the organization founded and by whom? Its a hard balance, but I think we strike the right balance, he said. Several Effective Altruist organizations, including The Life You Can Save and GiveWell, provide information to donors about the impact of various charities addressing global poverty. They were celebrating their biggest year yet: $225 million raised and a work force that had nearly doubled. 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. John Melia, founder of the Wounded Warrior Project, addressing the Wounded and Injured Veterans Summit in Auburn, Ala., in 2006. But, as it turned out, reports of the death of Wounded Warrior Project have been greatly exaggerated. 76% OF WARRIORS EXPERIENCED FEWER PTSD SYMPTOMS after receiving treatment through Warrior Care Network 2 Do you have a location near me? 5. Who does Wounded Warrior Project serve? 1 witness for the wounded was Staff Sgt. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Wounded Warrior Project's Board Fires Top Two Executives Give this article By Dave Philipps March 10, 2016 The Wounded Warrior Project ousted its top two executives Thursday after. "Before, you'd have a retreat and, after that, it was nothing. But some employees assert that the productivity goals were set so high that they eroded program quality. Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. 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. Why do the misdeeds of one nonprofit cause mistrust of all nonprofits? The percentage of respondents who stated that WWP was effective at collaborating with other military and veteran nonprofits jumped from 63% to 85% from 2017 to 2018. As a result, some philanthropic watchdog groups have criticized the Wounded Warrior Project for spending too heavily on itself. 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. As this weeks Retro Report video explains, the biggest scandal in recent times involving the care of wounded American troops was actually worsened because medicine on the battlefront had made such remarkable advances. Wounded Warrior Project hit back at the initial report Wednesday evening, posting online a letter to CBS News demanding a retraction. 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. They needed to take responsibility, and they werent doing it.. Soon after the amputation, he said, he was racked by haunting emotions from Iraq and checked himself into suicide watch at a psychiatric ward. The councils mission includes defending charity spending on overhead and executive salaries, its website says. All rights reserved. Over the past few years, WWP staff members have treated themselves to nights at five-star hotels, booked first class cross-country flights to attend minor meetings in-person, attended lavish conferences, and spent nearly 40 percent of their donations . The two top . Anyone can read what you share. Chief Financial Officer . In particular, the organization expressed outrage that CBS. Wounded Warrior Project says 80% of their money is spent on programs for veterans. Have they proved reliable in the past? The Wounded Warrior Project is a legitimate multimillion-dollar nonprofit organization with nationwide recognition that helps wounded, ill and injured veterans. 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. 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. 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. "We wrap our arms around those that want to help veterans now, versus looking to protect our brand at every inch and ounce of measure," he said. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mr. Giordano tried to refute the news media accounts, Mr. Kane said, and explained that the executives silence had been recommended by a public relations firm as a way to defuse criticism. The Special Operations Warrior Foundation was founded in 1980, after the daring attempt to rescue 53 American hostages in Iran, which ended in the tragic loss of eight servicemen who left behind. He said the. Its founder, John Melia, was a Marine veteran who had been injured in a helicopter crash off the coast of Somalia in 1992. Linnington also said the organization supports the Elizabeth Dole Foundation in caregiver work, Veterans of Foreign Wars in assisting veterans with VA disability claims, and the National Military Family Association in caring for veterans' families, among many others. Sometimes employees make poor choices that cant be overlooked, Ms. Tezel said. The spending began to attract attention. It is perfectly reasonable to hold Wounded Warrior or any other organization nonprofit, for-profit or governmental accountable for lavish spending or gaming its own metrics. 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. You do not reflect the sentiments of the more than 80,000 wounded soldiers we have helped, focusing instead on a few malcontents. In 2014, the Wounded Warrior Project lobbied in California and Florida to fight proposals that would have required nonprofits to increase financial transparency. A current ad campaign, "I am Living Proof," featured in a number of bold bus-stop ads near WWP's Washington, D.C., headquarters, shows wounded vets standing in a posture of confidence. or redistributed. Wounded Warrior Project's Chief Executive Officer Steven Nardizzi reported a salary of $473,000. 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. He said that the organization regularly followed up with veterans who receive Wounded Warrior Project services and that the vast majority reported having good experiences. series about Walter Reed Army Medical Center. But investigations revealed that the organization spent millions of donor dollars on first-class airfare, employee retreats and extravagant salaries. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Some were injured or became. But like other former employees, he said the group swiftly fired anyone leaders considered a bad cultural fit.. Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau, via Associated Press. "I find it frustrating when you see these solicitations, and they ask you to help a needy veteran, and you look into the finance and see most of the money is actually being spent educating the public that injured veterans have needs, rather than meeting the needs.". I'm optimistic that the organization's leadership will continue to improve the organization, which will help to serve the military men and women who have served us.". There were charges of spending too much on expenses (e.g., fund-raising, travel, and [] Skip to content Log In Right now we are in a position where we can still meet our obligations, he said. As WWP has worked to become more collaborative with other organizations, Linnington indicated it has also pulled back from the aggressively protective posture regarding brand and logo that drew criticism in the past. However, everything changed when CBS News started researching its own story about the Wounded Warrior Project, one with a . Mr. Nardizzi doubled his spending on fund-raising and has increased it an average of 66 percent every year since. 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. 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.. The kind of fundraising figures that most organizations in the space could only dream about. Mr. Longoria said after he was fired, he fell into depression but was also relieved. "So the needs of our population when that average was 27 years old is different than it is at 38, and it will be different when it's 48.". This year, WWP surpassed the 100,000 mark in terms of veterans they provide assistance to. When we dislike one member of a group, our dislike spills over to other members of that group, even if theres no good reason to think badly of them. 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. Fred and Dianne Kane, the parents of two Iraq War veterans, have donated $325,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project since 2009 through their personal charity, Tee-off for a Cause. While that percentage, which includes administrative expenses and marketing costs, is not as much as for some groups, it is far more than for many veterans charities, including the Semper Fi Fund, a wounded-veterans group that spent about 8 percent of donations on overhead. Once the allegations were brought to our attention, we moved quickly, said the chairman of the board, Anthony Odierno, a retired Army captain who was wounded in Iraq and was helped by the Wounded Warrior Project during its early years. Still, if the Wounded Warrior Project were to collapse, it could have wide-ranging effects because it gives millions in grants to smaller veterans groups, like Team Rubicon and Team Red White and Blue. Why don't you offer services to ALL veterans? He merely notes that "a lot of what was reported was incorrect," and that, in particular, the reported costs of travel and amenities at all-hands events were far overblown. The nonprofit sector provides social services that governments cant or wont, including providing food, shelter and free higher education to the poor. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. So we've tried to paint service as a good thing and, I think if you look at the exceptional nature of the young people that are joining the military today, we're seeing a shift now in a higher propensity to serve, I think, over the last year or two.". On March 18, 2016, The New York Times published an article titled, "Senator Wants Data on Wounded Warrior Project, a Charity Under Fire." People could spend money on the most ridiculous thing and no one batted an eye, said Connie Chapman, who was in charge of the charitys Seattle office for two years. 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. We must also pressure nonprofits to be transparent about their activities and finances and measure the impact of their work. Several cases of patient neglect and shoddy living conditions were reported as early as 2004. When wounded troops began returning from Iraq in 2003, Mr. Melia remembered how he had arrived in a stateside hospital with only his thin hospital gown, and began visiting military hospitals to distribute backpacks stuffed with socks, CD players, toothpaste and other items. As he told Retro Report: It just missed the bridge of my nose and exited over my left ear. Since 2009, the group raised nearly $1 billion. It was litigious, suing other veterans' organizations that featured a logo that evoked its own, a service member in silhouette carrying a wounded comrade on his back. 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. Two former employees, who were so fearful of retaliation they asked that CBS News not show their faces on camera, said spending has skyrocketed since Steven Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009, pointing to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs. This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies. That's a pretty significant drop in a short period of time," he said. " The Wounded Warrior Project is in hot water. It wasn't just about lavish all-hands gatherings, although those quickly became a thing of the past. The problem is the horns effect, one of the many thinking errors that are a consequence of how our brains are structured. Another time a woman called to donate part of her sons life insurance after he was killed in Afghanistan, he said. Whats their motivation for telling us? In an email to big donors, a fundraiser for the organization . In January both The New York Times and CBS News reported that the Wounded Warrior Project, which raised more than $372 million in 2015, had spent millions on travel, dinners, entertainment and lavish staff meetings, like one at the five-star Broadmoor hotel in Colorado, where Mr. Nardizzi made his entrance by rappelling from a tower. By the time the board met Thursday to dismiss the two men, contributions were down and it had in hand an internal investigation that convinced it that the top leadership had to go. So we had to rebuild.". 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. Trace Adkins talks about his support of U.S. veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project in Rolling Stone's third Salute to . The group did lose points on its fundraising score, with roughly 22 cents spent to make a dollar, per the most recent available data. 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. January 27, 2016 / 8:32 PM / CBS News. "Yeah. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The saddest part is that it endeavors to hurt an organization that does so much to help our wounded soldiers. As commanding general of the Military District of Washington and commander of Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region, a position he held from 2011 to 2013, he said he welcomed many arriving C-17 Globemasters transporting wounded veterans back to the United States from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Under Mr. Nardizzis direction, it has modeled itself on for-profit corporations, with a focus on data, scalable products, quarterly numbers and branding. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The annual surveys of the wounded warriors the organization serves help direct its focus, Linnington says. Jesse Longoria, a former Marine sniper whose right arm was amputated in 2012 after complications from injuries sustained in Iraq, with his 16-month-old son, Noah. The metrics were intended to improve efficiency and help fund-raising. The board of Wounded Warrior Project, a well-known veteran-support charity, parted ways with its chief executive and another top official after a board-commissioned review found the nonprofit. CBS News' investigation into the Wounded Warrior Project's spending on veterans has sparked heated debate online. Wounded Warrior Project execs ousted over spending scandal March 11, 2016 | 3:18am Two top execs at the Wounded Warrior Project one of the largest war veterans support organizations in. Former workers recounted buying business-class seats and regularly jetting around the country for minor meetings, or staying in $500-per-night hotel rooms. 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. - Fox News wounded-warrior-projects-top-execs. 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. "When the negative media event hit in January-February-March of 2016, public support dropped 50%," he said. Whats their motivation for telling us? By Friday afternoon, both phones had been disconnected. Jan 26, 2023. He said he was now interested in returning. Today, after major reforms, what has changed for Americas injured soldiers? 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. Look at how they're focused on the real, important issues that have to do with veterans, and go from there.". The development was confirmed by Abernathy MacGregor, a public relations firm hired to represent the veterans charity. One employee was quoted as calling it "extremely extravagant. Current price: $30.00. I'm a warrior. 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. In an interview at the organizations four-story headquarters in a palm-lined office park in Jacksonville, Fla., Mr. Nardizzi, 45, said spending on fund-raising and other expenses not directly related to veterans programs has enabled the Wounded Warrior Project to grow faster and serve more people. Linnington, who retired from the Army in 2015 and served as the first permanent director of the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency before taking the helm at Wounded Warrior Project, said he made the move over to the organization because of the positive impression it had made on him while he was still on active duty. The Walter Reed Story, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/booming/and-this-was-called-care-the-walter-reed-story.html. The two top executives of the Wounded Warrior Project among the largest veterans charities in the country were fired Thursday after an investigation into accusations of lavish spending on. But whether those fixes went far enough is, as the video demonstrates, still not clear. See a recent article in the New York Times and a blog post from GuideStar CEO Jacob Herald. The charity came under fire after an earlier CBS News investigation in January revealed large amounts of spending on administration, meetings, and travel. By 2009, the group had grown to about 50 employees and $21 million in revenue. 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. Legal Statement. Compared with service members who served in Vietnam, troops sustaining combat wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan had roughly twice the chance of surviving. I loved it, the former Marine sniper said. 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 year, he doubled the spending on fund-raising and started running television ads imploring viewers to send in donations. Can we corroborate the information? And it took all this bone and everything with it and, of course, my left eye it took with it.. 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.. 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. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. It was like he had been kidnapped, said one employee who did not want to speak publicly because she feared being fired. Show your support for Wounded Warrior Project with this tee! After Vietnam, many focused on advocacy in Washington. By the time I left, we were just throwing guys in jobs to check off a box and hit the numbers.. Citing whistleblowers, stories by CBS and The New York Times detailed allegations of waste and abuse, lavish all-hands conferences and unbridled spending on ticketed outings that did little lasting good for the veterans they purported to help. 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. I have met over 1,000 soldiers and their caregivers whose lives have been positively affected by the organization. "And secondly, with the American people who support our warriors.". "We focus our advertising campaign on warriors that have succeeded. Im right here. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital 6. 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.". 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. 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. Ive Ive never left the hospital grounds. 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. "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. " "If you look at our 990 [annual IRS financial filing], we went from $380 million a year to $200 million. 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. "I was always grateful for that mission," Linnington said. Michel duCille/Washington Post, via Getty Images. The Wounded Warrior Project is working to rebuild trust with its donors and veterans. 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. "They were using the smallest percentage of wounded veterans to suck money out of hard-working Americans," he said. Now I wonder how employees can live lavishly off a large percentage of the contributions that should be serving people in need. 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. According to Charity Watch, the Wounded Warrior Project is, in fact, rated C. To stop donating to it is a response that makes sense. Celebrity endorsements from the likes of Trace Adkins and Jimmy Buffett. CBS News and The New York Times found the. Mr. Nardizzi fought back. During WWP's nadir and through its turnaround, its roster of wounded warriors and "family support members" has only grown -- a fact that speaks as much to the persistent and growing need as it does to the organization's success in the space. Mr. Kane said the leaders failure to take responsibility shows a total lack of regard for the mission, the alumni, the employees, proud supporter organizations and the thousands of other individual and corporate donors. He canceled his own contributions and encouraged others to do the same. Anyone can read what you share. "Veterans, our lives, literally, depend on it.". Market data provided by Factset. 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.
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