Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam

Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam

I have been a longtime supporter of the Wounded Warriors project, but that is about to change I believe. I hope you will read this article and once you have I hope you too decide to turn your backs on a scam that plays on the sympathies of goodhearted Americans and their generosity as Veterans get *The Shaft*.

by Alex Graham

As we are coming to find out, wounded Vets are big money. Considering I’m 146% disabled, I’m trying to figure out how to tap into this. The only thing I can see is to start my own 501(c)(3) and start cooking the books with a big $300 K a year salary for my work. Member and eagled-eyed scrutinizer Bruce spotted this heartbreaking article. Just when we thought it was safe to come out of the woods after the last news of the Big Six VSOs padding their bank accounts on the backs of all our disabled, along comes this article and investigation revealing nothing is sacred among thieves.

If you were thinking about donating to the Wounded Warrior Project, think twice. It would behoove you to get in your car and drive cross-country to deliver the funds to the charity you hope to help. More money would end up in their hands than entrusting it to the WWP for disbursement. The Beatles song Tax Man comes to mind- Here’s one for you, nineteen for me. Here’s what I received. It’s ugly.

I’m really sad to read this about the Wounded Warrior Project. I have definitely been a supporter up to now. The attached 2011 990 tax return is a real eye opener! For one, that’s a lot of BIG salaries they are paying at the first and apparently the second (outsourced) level for executive compensation! Obviously it’s not only corporations that can get greedy.

Sad to say, the Wounded Warrior Project is bled dry by a top heavy, greedy executive structure and the remaining funds are disbursed to multi-tier distribution organizations with similar management structures. By the time the money actually goes to direct benefits for veterans, there is probably less than 10% that reaches them. Below are results of an investigation by a retired USMC Colonel.

At a recent meeting of a veterans association with which I am involved, a suggestion was made that we contribute to “The Wounded Warriors Project” (WWP). As an officer of the association, I was asked to do some research and make a recommendation regarding contributing to WWP. As one who fervently believes that our wounded warriors and their care-giving families deserve our unqualified support, I also believe that the public should be informed of the appropriateness and effectiveness of charitable organizations that support veterans.

The results of my research are disappointing, to say the least. To summarize, the WWP collects a fee in the form of generous compensation paid to WWP executives who outsource fund raising, collection and distribution of funds to other 501.c.3 organizations which provide services that directly benefit veterans. The WWP would make Bernie Madoff proud!

There is a lot more to this story and it can be read here:
Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam | Veterans Today.

I have NO USE; I mean NO USE whatsoever for charities and funds that claim to help this cause or that cause when all they do is line their own pockets with funds that are meant to help the injured, sick, disabled and desperate Veterans of this nation.

It’s not bad enough that our Veterans, disabled Vets and retirees, have had their pensions and benefits cut under the COMMUNIST regime of Barack Hussein Obama, now we find out that our Vets are being stabbed in the back by the very organization that was thought to be sacrosanct and above suspicions, an organization that was thought to be doing a great job.

I have been standing for Veterans for a long time now; here are a couple of the stories from past postings on the TexasFred Blog.

Veterans Charities – How They Fared
Fla. politician resigns, 57 charged in scandal

I have no problem with making donations to an organization that does what it promises to do.

I have no problem with asking for or accepting a donation here on the blog; I do exactly what I say I will, I post a hard hitting Conservative blog, I put a lot of work and research into every post and MY readers know that.

They also know that I have been here for a long while and will continue to post about injustices, politics and other issues that matter to American Patriots! They know that I won’t be stopped and as such, they help me stay in business. That is, in MY opinion, a very worthy effort.

Apparently Wounded Warriors Project needs a lesson in accountability and honesty!

I say give it to them and I hope one of their biggest supporters, Trace Adkins, sees this story and discontinues his association with WWP as well!

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27 Responses to Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam

  1. Alan Caruba says:

    The tip-off also comes in the multi-million-dollar television ad campaign this organization maintains. That’s money that does not reach the wounded vets either.

  2. Ralph Roland says:

    After working with many 501c3’s in my last job, I always refer to http://www.guidestar.org for there info. So many big name charities are so top heavy, very little actually makes it to those who need it. Sad to see this about WWP.

  3. Deron says:

    This has been going around for a very long time now. I as you know Fred am heavily involved with the WWP and know for a fact that this is false. I know that the WWP spends more money on giving back to the Wounded Warriors than anything. I know that the man in question is also a successful business man outside of his duties with WWP. He is a very good guy and I personally know him, I am not just saying what others have told me. I know everyone has their own opinion and I know that with all of the organizations out there, there will be controversy but, I know for a fact the GOOD that WWP has done and continues to do on a daily basis. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I just want to put it out that I know this to be a bogus claim.

    • TexasFred says:

      Deron, you know I love ya man, and I respect you too, but I have to ask; do you have any facts and figures regarding the numbers and how much is taken is as opposed to how much actually goes to Vets?

      If you can show me irrefutable proof I will personally go after Alex Graham with everything I have… But I need links as citation… Not that I don’t believe you, your word has always been good enough for me, but some hard-core citation can take Graham down and put this issue to rest…

    • Alex Graham says:

      Mr. Deron, Do us a favor and recite from memory what the original founders of WWP are currently engaged in. I refer, of course to Mr. John Malia, his brother Jim and father John senior. It seems the Last Man Standing club over there consists entirely of two lawyers of the original altruistic 5. While you are at it, please explain the plethora of donations to nondescript, non-Veteran causes such as the Great Books Foundation. The list is fairly long. WWP engages in the Lather, Rinse and Repeat form of charitable giving. As a clearinghouse for donations solicited, there is a dealer prep, destination fee, and fuel surcharge added ( or rather perhaps subtracted) before the donation continues on it’s path to Veterans. WWP’s philosophy is simply “At least some of it gets to Vets.” That, sir, is idiot’s delight. Using that logic, donating money to a homeless drunk can be said to “feed him” simply by the number of calories consumed in the MD 20-20. There is a vocal minority that insists it takes money to make money and good charities need to attract the best. How does that logic comport with Mr. Nardizzi? He started this charity and chose his own salary. He was not hired away from a lucrative for-profit corp. I think most can see the perfidy of WWP’s unbridled greed. I’m sorry you are not so gifted. Try this post on for size and tell me how the financial ordnance hits its intended target:

      http://asknod.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/the-big-dog-and-pony-show-in-jacksonville/

      I work with extremely and severely disabled Vets each and every day so I know their sentiments. I also know because I am one. WWP and their hierarchy aspire to one thing-a comfortable lifestyle. Veterans are nothing more than the means to an end.

      Dean Graham, of Help Indiana Vets, is no relation to me. Bruce McCartney, a 4 tour Vietnam dustoff combat medic with a fistful of Purple Hearts sent me the info. We take no pleasure in bashing people-just greedy folks who steal from the mouths of Veterans and their families.

    • CWO USMC says:

      Does this mean the federal form 990 was incorrectly filed? It does show the salaries as you know.

  4. Mike Flynn says:

    Gunner Flynn:
    I suggest you check out “Semper Fi Fund” which helps the wounded from all services. I reviewed WW on Charity Watch and found their administrative cost too high while Semper Fi I believe only shows 6 or 8% and has the highest ratings from all the charitable reviewing sources. I’ve been contributing to Semper Fi Fund for over a year and I suggest you check them out on Charity Watch and a few others. You may decide to switch your $19 a month to them.
    Feel free to pass this along to others who may be interested.
    Colonel Mike

    On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 9:42 PM, Mike Flynn, wrote:
    I will be stopping my funds on Monday the 13th Jan, 2013…….please pass this on, to all vets……..

  5. Mike Flynn says:

    This from Internet………just passing it on

    INDIANAPOLIS (Fox59) – A national nonprofit group that pulls in more than $150 million annually for veterans has sued local group Help Indiana Vets.

    The lawsuit stems from a post on the Help Indiana Vets website, alleging national program Wounded Warrior Project is “a fraud.”

    Dean Graham, who founded Help Indiana Vets and posted the article, said he was shocked to hear he’s being sued.

    “I think they’re trying to shut me up,” Graham said.

    Graham’s allegations are that Wounded Warrior Project does not donate a majority of its profits directly to veterans in need. His article has been re-posted on Facebook and led to emails sent by former donors to the national group.

    In the lawsuit, attorneys for the Wounded Warrior Project argue that Graham’s post violates its trademark infringement and has cost it more than $75,000.

    “(Graham’s) false and misleading statements alleged herein have deceived many WWP supporters and have caused a number of WWP supporters to cancel their ongoing donations to WWP,” the lawsuit said

  6. BobF says:

    I was all set to give to WWP a while back then I read where they refused funds from churches in Florida because they were “religious in nature”. The Combined Federal Campaign lists their administrative costs as 25.1%. To me, that’s a bit too high for the amount of money they collect. When I was active duty, I would never give to a charity that had administrative costs over 10%.

    There are some other “charities” that collect money for various reasons related to military that I believe are questionable. If I died today on active duty and my wife didn’t have enough money to pay for my son’s college in cash, she either blew the money or was scammed out of it.

  7. TexasFred says:

    I saw this story and I knew it was going to be a controversial post before I wrote it..

    I hope that we can get some LINKS to facts and figures because so far I’m seeing a lot of opinion, and don’t any of you take me wrong, please, but without hard citation this is nothing but opinion…

    You guys get me some figures, SOURCED figures that I can use as citation and I will use them to blast this story out of the water… But I have to have irrefutable proof..

    • BobF says:

      Their 5-digit CFC charity code is 11425. On the right side after typing in the code, you’ll see the AFR number. That number 25.1 is their administrative costs.

      http://www.cfctoday.org/_root/index.php?content_id=5204

      Here’s the news report of them not accepting money from organizations which are religious in nature.

      http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_st_lucie_county/fort_pierce/wounded-warrior-project-denies-money-donation-from-a-fort-pierce-christian-school#ixzz2JllYmyIi

      I think it’s a great article you did Fred. People need to know what they’re giving their money to.

  8. TexasFred says:

    This is from an email I received from a new reader:

    I was aware of that about 3 months ago when it showed up on a handyheroes site in the UK. I reported it at that time and I was unsure as to where it went from there?

    I almost posted a donation link on my site until I investigated it myself. More than 90% of all non-profit firms do much good for the causes they claim to be funding. They are called non-profits because they pay themselves till there is no profit left!

    Tell folks that Veterans can be helped best by direct contact; there are more around than you think, and many are your neighbors. A simple; Thank you for your service goes a long way.

    The media fails us on a daily bases so thanks again for helping to inform Americans of the things that truly matter.

    Best regards,
    Steven

    Again, I am not saying any of you are wrong, hell, I may be the one that was wrong in posting this, but if I am and you can show me links as citation I will seriously blast the author of the original story from Veterans Today… That is MY promise to ALL of you!

  9. Dale Patterson says:

    This doesn’t surprise me at all. When I first heard of WWP a few years ago I contacted them and offered my services with rehab activities for vets. Their only response was “send money”. Didn’t care for the attitude but I let it slide. then a couple of years ago I tried again and got the same response but after going over and over what I felt I could do I finally got someone to say the coordinator for North Carolina would call me. Never happened. More recently someone in our Submarine Veterans organization brought them up as a possible charity project. After discouraging that idea I went to the Charitynavigator website and confirmed my thoughts about them.
    The thing that bothered me early on was that you could listen carefully to their fancy talk and never once hear anything specific that they had done for veterans, or anyone else. Then came their multimillion dollar TV spots, which are equally uninformative.
    That firmly convinced me that I would NEVER give them a dime!
    I contribute to VFW which has very low overhead support programs and Veterans Helping Veterans Heal, a local organization which provides housing and training for vets in serious need. I am going to recommend to my Subvets group that we support Fisher House. Charitynavigator shows 96.7% of their spending goes to programs.

  10. Bob Mack says:

    Valuable post, Fred. I hope for once your info is wrong. If not, I’ll be yanking the WWP link from my site. Keep us updated.

  11. Wayne says:

    Good info Fred and I plan to check out guidestar. I give to WWP on an irregular basis. This reminds me of the disappointment I experienced over the Red Cross scandal following the 9/11 attacks. With all the hurt and destruction, that stupid woman had the audacity to proclaim that new office furniture and carpet could finally be purchased. Now there is an example of a girl that Can’t Understand Normal Thinking.

  12. TexasFred says:

    Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam: “As a percentage of total revenue, administrative expenses amount to 61.63%, including fundraising expenses of 13.2%. This equates to 38.36% of revenues available to benefit wounded warriors.” SOURCE

    My opinion? 38.36% of revenues available to benefit wounded warriors tells me that someone is making an exorbitant salary and that there’s a lot of money not going to help those that need it most.. Is that a scam? Maybe, maybe not, but it damned sure involves some serious BS being handed out to donors..

  13. TexasFred says:

    Wounded Warriors Project earned our ire about a year ago when they made it clear they didn’t want to partner with gun owners to help them fundraise. Or Christians (read on). SOURCE

  14. Petermc3 says:

    With nothing more than a gut feeling about a charity spending multi millions on TV ad campaigns and giving away a blanket to hook you like the ASPCA T shirt and the various adopt a child in Obama’s country of birth scams that give you a picture of that child in the ad with perfect teeth and coif, I was sure there was a ni__er in the wood pile, as we used to be able to say out loud. About 20 years ago I happened to meet a Salvation Army couple in Passaic, NJ, whose home was little more than a glorified hovel. The wife, whose husband was a high ranking officer in the Army, said when asked, during his 30 years of service he had never made more than an $11,000 salary. I’m sure the WWP gives that much away in WWP blankets on a daily basis.

  15. TomR,armed in Texas says:

    Yes, the high profile TV ads and goofy blanket give away made me wonder about WWP. Locally they had teamed with several other non profits to provide a house for a disabled vet. I know the VA pays good compensation and has a large($65,000+) housing grant for 100% disabled vets. Something “just ain’t right” and there is a bad smell in the air. I hate to join the herd on speculation, but I will hold back any giving until solid proof is in that WWP is legit.

    To help homeless vets the Salvation Army does a good job. Most of the dozen non profits I support are up front about their costs or I know personally of their work and successes. Charity is an easily abused entity and there are a world of unscrupulous people just itching to live well off our good intentions.

  16. Minuteman26 says:

    Stopped giving money to WWP a couple of yrs ago when I found out they were anti gun. Figured that there had to be something wrong with a group that supports wounded soldiers and yet shies away from firearms. Now you tell me they are corrupt also. Who knew!? I give my money to the USO and Salvation Army. Both do an excellent job.

  17. Mike Flynn says:

    Fred,
    thanks for staying on this brother - am getting an even stornger feeling that there is some troubles/wrong with WWP, due to the way they collect/distribute thier money!
    The only other charity I give to is the Salvation Army, their CEO makes a few grand a year -!! yup………….the rest goes to the people it was intended for. I’m becomming more certain that WWP does not!

  18. Doris Konnerth says:

    Oh boy! I have a very soft heart for our veterans. I watched their ads nightly on Fox tv and then went on their web site which showed that 81. 6 % of donated funds went to programs for the vets. So,……I signed up for $19.00 a month, just this past week. My husband, not a very trusting soul, found your website and made me read all of the above. Now I am completely disillusioned. How can their website claim such false info? Please respond. Seems I’m going to have to stop the monthly withdrawals from my credit card. I’m the lady who shakes the hand of any young person I see in the mall, super market, or restaurant, in fatigues to thank them for their service. We live close to West Point and see our Military in the area often.

    • TexasFred says:

      Doris, it appears that many folks just like you have been *taken* by the WWP.. I can’t tell you how they can say one thing on their site and in their ads when facts point to numbers that are much different…

      It might be that there’s a lot of truth to the quote I saw the other day…

      There’s a lot of stuff on the Internet that just can’t be believed ~Abraham Lincoln~

  19. Patrick Sperry says:

    Take a look at those percentages that Fred posted. That said what I will post is indeed subjective. During my MBA course work we combined both ethics and management theories towards a sort of complaint that was voiced in class about such things. The local Vietnam Veterans of America was scrutinized. As well as a couple of other 501 3c’s.

    Heck, I know that non-profits have expenses. After all, two of the Ambulance services that I helped run were 501 3c’s!

    I will not bore anyone with the details but; Applying basic microeconomics norms, and then the same with macroeconomic theory? We determined that; (Anything other than “spike” instances of the cost of operation. Sudden increase in fuel expenses as an example.) More than a five percent expenditure towards maintaining the given “charity” was probably unethical. This would be for Colorado in 1990, but would be a decent rule of thumb in general.
    For the record, Colorado VVA? Three percent made it to the Vet’s! Mostly in RTD bus tokens…

  20. Capt Chuck says:

    I am a 100% disabled veteran who contributes to WWP. Most of my friends are 100% disabled veterans. If we find out WWP is scamming vets there will be NO safe place for these people to hide. We are sick and tired of groups like the VFW, DAV and all the rest of these so called veterans groups scaming vets under our name. I will personally be pounding on their door and kicking some ass.

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