Charity watchdog reportedly places Wounded Warrior Project on its watch list
Jan 31, 2016 09:16:11 #
The Wounded Warrior Project, the charity for wounded veterans, has been placed on Charity Navigators watch list over accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to CBS News.
According to the charitys tax forms, obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings increased from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery.
Charity Navigator is a watchdog organization that evaluates charities in the U.S.
Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News he admired the charitys work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years.
"Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," he told CBS News.
Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big catered parties.
Two former of 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.
"He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. He's come in on a Segway, he's come in on a horse, one employee told CBS News.
About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado, which CBS News reported cost about $3 million.
"Going to a nice fancy restaurant is not team building. 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.
Marc Owens, a former director of the IRS tax exempt organizations, was asked to review the charitys tax documents by CBS News. He told CBS he couldnt tell the number of people that were assisted through the organization.
Wounded Warriors Project has been questioned over how it spends more than $800 million it has raised over the last four years, but has strongly rejected the claims of the CBS report.
The charitys CEO has yet to comment on the report.
According to the charitys tax forms, obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings increased from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery.
Charity Navigator is a watchdog organization that evaluates charities in the U.S.
Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News he admired the charitys work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years.
"Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," he told CBS News.
Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big catered parties.
Two former of 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.
"He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. He's come in on a Segway, he's come in on a horse, one employee told CBS News.
About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado, which CBS News reported cost about $3 million.
"Going to a nice fancy restaurant is not team building. 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.
Marc Owens, a former director of the IRS tax exempt organizations, was asked to review the charitys tax documents by CBS News. He told CBS he couldnt tell the number of people that were assisted through the organization.
Wounded Warriors Project has been questioned over how it spends more than $800 million it has raised over the last four years, but has strongly rejected the claims of the CBS report.
The charitys CEO has yet to comment on the report.
Jan 31, 2016 09:31:11 #
In my life time, 77 yrs, I have constantly been amazed at how the "do gooders" can quickly ruin a good thing by GREED!
Jan 31, 2016 09:50:23 #
Bigmac495
Loc: Indiana
CowboyMilt wrote:
In my life time, 77 yrs, I have constantly been amazed at how the "do gooders" can quickly ruin a good thing by GREED!
Yes, just look at our government!!
Jan 31, 2016 09:54:39 #
CowboyMilt wrote:
In my life time, 77 yrs, I have constantly been amazed at how the "do gooders" can quickly ruin a good thing by GREED!
Yep. When I was still operating my business a few years ago, and after contributing over $11,000 to Wounded Warriors Project, I stopped donating. I didn't like their attitude at the time, my piddly donation meant nothing to them. I changed my donations to The Fisher House, DAV, and T.A.P.S. after that...the vast majority of their money actually goes to benefit the wounded warriors and their families.
Jan 31, 2016 10:28:45 #
JMHO wrote:
Yep. When I was still operating my business a few years ago, and after contributing over $11,000 to Wounded Warriors Project, I stopped donating. I didn't like their attitude at the time, my piddly donation meant nothing to them. I changed my donations to The Fisher House, DAV, and T.A.P.S. after that...the vast majority of their money actually goes to benefit the wounded warriors and their families.
Wounded Warriors has been discredited for some time as an organization operated primarily to help wounded veterans. It operates as much for the people in charge, advertising extraordinarily heavily to keep their pipeline flowing. The efficiency of its conversion of donations into actual help is pathetic, like March of Dimes that was set up to help polio victims but morphed into a black hole of donor funds. As you point out, there are other organizations deserving of donations as they actual operate for the benefit of wounded veterans, and not only veterans with visible physical problems but also severe PTSD.
Feb 1, 2016 23:23:18 #
There is a country singer and Hollywood big star who spoke for this wh**ever it is. Do you think they know what was going on. Or where they in the dark. Will they pull their names from this organization. They get paid for this
Feb 1, 2016 23:23:53 #
There is a country singer and Hollywood big star who spoke for this wh**ever it is. Do you think they know what was going on. Or where they in the dark. Will they pull their names from this organization. They get paid for this.
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