Posted on Dec 16, 2015
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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Are We Ready For The Decline Of Veteran And Military Nonprofits?

A new report reveals some startling trends about funding for veterans and military-specific nonprofits.

What do you think RP Members? Can we afford a decline in Non-Profit Organizations that provide help for Veterans?

Here are five key takeaways from the report, which provide enlightening answers while also leaving unanswered a host of questions.

http://taskandpurpose.com/are-we-ready-for-the-decline-of-veteran-and-military-nonprofits/

When you work in the veterans community, you get used to uncertainty. You don’t know how many veterans commit suicide every day. You don’t know which veterans and military family programs are the most effective. And you are never sure if the United States really needs 40,000-plus veterans nonprofits. The lack of clear, consistent data is a recurring theme.

In one small way, that is now changing. Last week, the Center for a New American Security released “Charting the Sea of Goodwill,” which attempts to provide data-driven insights into the state of veteran and military philanthropy in the U.S. The report’s authors — Phillip Carter and Katherine Kidder — mined data from the IRS and other authoritative sources to provide a fuller picture of the nation’s veteran and military nonprofits.

“Charting The Sea Of Goodwill,” conducts a comprehensive landscape analysis of the military and veteran-service organization space and its funding sources, and finds that while the support needed by more than 21 million veterans in America is growing, philanthropic support is fragmented and charitable contributions are not keeping pace. The authors of the report provide a comprehensive overview of the state of philanthropy for the military and veteran community from 2001 until now.
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LTC Stephen F.
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The "fortunes," appeal, and influence of military and veteran non-profits tend to rise and decline with the public view of the military and the nation's use of military forces as an extension of foreign policy COL Mikel J. Burroughs. In the past 50 years we have seen unpopular wars, RIFs, military investment including pay declining and then catching up during the POTUS Reagan and later the POTUS GW Bush years.
THe best and surest help for veterans are friends, family, churches & synagogues, and employment. There are some dedicated non-profits such as American Legion, DAV, and VFW which have stood the test of time. I expect they will weather the storm and continue to provides service to veterans along with other VSOs.
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SGT William Howell
SGT William Howell
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LTC Stephen F. Well said, Sir! A lot of these "Non Profits" have made their CEOs rich. When the money runs out they will close up shop and move on.

The VFW, American Legion, DAV and VFW have been there to help for decades. They will be there with open arms long after these others have come and gone.
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SGT Robert Hawks
SGT Robert Hawks
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I agree the VFW and American Legion. Did themselves a disservice by not embracing Vietnam veterans and they are losing members to death everyday they have made strides to recruit the Gulf War Iraq and Afghanistan veterans there are just not as many that served as in the Vietnam War but as the War on terror continues and those veteran numbers will grow giving them a larger pool to recruit new members who will keep them viable in the future
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SSG Audwin Scott
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No we are not ready and we definitely can't afford a decline in support of our veterans!
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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SSG Audwin Scott If anything as our veteran population from Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm/Desert Shield, OIF, OEF, and the other newly coined missions conintue to get older we will need more in my opinion!
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SSG Audwin Scott
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PO2 Mark Saffell
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Doesn't this tend to happen in waves with lows and highs depending on what forces are ingaged in around the world? When I was in back in the mid 70's I would have guessed this to be a very low point. The military where looked down on back then.
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