Coming Home: Who’s Giving to Support Veterans in an Era of “Forever Wars?”
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“Thank you for your service” is easy enough to say when you see men and women in uniform. But how can Americans really show support for people who put their lives on the line overseas while 99.5 percent of the population stays home? And when tours of duty are over, how is philanthropy helping soldiers handle the physical and mental tolls of their service and easing the transition back to civilian life?
It’s no small question, given that a RAND report last year found that 2.77 million service members had served on 5.4 million deployments around the world since 2001, with at least 2 million of those soldiers doing tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Inside Philanthropy has been reporting on veterans grantmaking for more than five years, tracking key funders and notable initiatives in this space. While supporting veterans is not a top priority of the sector, we’ve written about a steady stream of such giving that’s played out both nationally and locally, involving institutional, individual and corporate funders—a trend that took off after 9/11.
Polling in recent years has found that the vast majority of Americans feel proud of the soldiers who have served in the military since the twin towers fell, even while much of the public has grown weary of the draining “forever wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Data from Candid, the entity formed by the Foundation Center and Guidestar, shows that nearly 13,000 grantmakers have made more than $1.6 billion in grants for work related to veterans since 2003. Last year, 1,500 non-federal funders made grants totaling $58 million to support veterans. Philanthropy’s efforts pale in comparison to the U.S. government. This year alone, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, commonly known as the VA, requested a $220.2 billion budget for 2020, an increase of nearly 10 percent. That funding ensures benefits and services including health care, pensions, readjustment benefits, housing and insurance. The budget for mental health services alone is $9.4 billion, including $222 million for suicide prevention.
Despite that disparity, the philanthropic community continues to find important ways to support the military community.
Private Funders and Foundations
Looking at individual giving, there’s a common thread among the top philanthropists who support veterans: Typically, they or their close family members have served.
Wall Street billionaire Steve Cohen’s father served in the Pacific during World War II. More recently, his son served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a tour in Afghanistan. In 2016, Cohen made one of the largest commitments to the cause to date: $275 million to help military vets and their families navigate post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Today, the Cohen Veterans Network offers free treatment for PTSD and other mental health conditions at health clinics throughout the U.S. In just three years, Cohen is already more than halfway toward his goal of opening two-dozen centers, and has started funding research.
Carlyle Group co-founder Daniel D’Aniello, a supply officer in the United States Navy, contributed $20 million to support the construction of the National Veterans Resource Center, home of Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), seeing the center as “a game-changer in the ongoing efforts to better the post-service lives of our veterans and their families."
Investor and financier Eric Gleacher made a $10 million gift to his alma mater, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, to fund a scholarship program for veterans seeking MBAs. That gift was also personal. Per Gleacher, "My experience in the Marine Corps gave me a boost in self-confidence, and my Booth education gave me direction... It was a winning combination, and I want to make it possible for those who have served our country to have the same opportunity." Gleacher also inspired his friend and fellow Booth alum’s family foundation to join him in supporting vets. Charles “Mike” Harper served in uniform as well, joining the Army toward the end of World War II. The Harper Family Foundation recognized his service by doubling Gleacher’s $10 million gift, something his son, Dr. Mike Harper, says matched his father’s “allegiance to both his country and the military.”
Though Howard Schultz, former chairman of Starbucks, credits his interest in supporting military causes to Robert Gates, a former defense secretary who served on the company’s board, he often talks about his father, an Army man who returned from WWII to face low-wage jobs as a laborer.
Today, supporting post-9/11 veterans is one of the Schultz Family Foundation’s three focus areas, targeting 3.8 million vets and the quarter of a million service members who transition from active service each year. Its portfolio includes more than 30 nonprofits, from Blue Star Families to TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors . In January, the foundation committed $7.5 million to fund the Onward to Opportunity (O2O) program at the IVMF, one of the largest skills employment programs available, operating on 18 military installations.
Born in Baltimore, GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after nearly failing out of high school. During a tour of duty in Vietnam, Parsons was wounded in action, earning a Purple Heart. He continues to help veterans face the sometimes invisible scars they bring home through the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation. A leader in leaving no man behind, the foundation committed a $10 million matching grant to the Semper Fi Fund’s Double Down for Vets campaign again this year. In the past seven years, that annual practice has helped raise more than $100 million for the fund.
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, breaks the mold as a non-veteran, but he nonetheless veterans issues one of his foundation’s focus areas. Craig Newmark Philanthropies has committed millions to organizations from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) to the Bob Woodruff Foundation and DonorsChoose, supporting schools in military communities. That work is grounded in Newmark’s conviction that military service members and their families live America’s ideals, and model the foundation’s core values of fairness, opportunity and respect.
Corporate Funders
There’s a strong business case for hiring veterans, from government incentive programs to the skills training vets receive in uniform. So a significant number of corporations are actively involved in employing vets and helping them make the transition to civilian jobs. An even greater number offer veterans discounts and special offers. But surprisingly few corporate foundations make supporting veterans a top priority. According to CECP’s survey, the percentage that focus on military and veterans issues remained stubbornly at 8 percent between 2016 and 2018.
There are a number of notable exceptions, however. And like private funders, the closer the companies are to walking a mile in combat boots, the deeper the commitment.
The Home Depot Foundation is a good case in point. Thirty-five thousand of its associates are veterans, representing nearly 10 percent of its workforce. In the foundation’s view, supporting veterans equals supporting employees—who then actively bolster the investments through volunteerism and skills training. In 2011, the foundation aligned its strategy with Home Depot’s core values, and made a quarter-billion-dollar commitment to supporting vets. Last year, it doubled that, committing a half-billion through 2025. The foundation actively partners with 22 national organizations, and has a special interest in keeping vets in their homes, by adapting homes for wounded vets.
USAA is another good example. The company’s mission is to help its members achieve financial security. And all 12.8 million of them have either served or are serving in the U.S. armed forces. Of USAA’s 34,000 global employees, one in four are veterans or military spouses.
The USAA Foundation has always been committed to supporting veterans, but it only fully aligned its funding with veterans causes in 2014, after a rigorous strategy exercise. The USAA Foundation currently works to address veteran homelessness, inclusive medical care, and programs that help employers hire and retain vets. But it also focuses beyond the veteran, with a signature program that supports military family resiliency, including spouses and children, and families of the fallen.
First Data Corporation, the global leader in payments technology, threw its support behind veterans, recently announcing a $7 million, seven-year commitment to the IVMF at Syracuse. That support demonstrates the company’s commitment to veterans in two ways: both as an employer, and as a provider of services to veteran-owned businesses.
Nearly 15 percent of Boeing’s workforce—20,000 people—are veterans. Last year, the company backed military and veterans efforts and organizations to the tune of $30 million. The year before, it announced a $5 million, multi-year donation to the United Service Organizations’ (USO) national job-readiness program for transitioning members of the military. This week, the company announced its latest grants in this space, with funding going to more than a hundred organizations working on a range of challenges that face veterans and their families.
Comcast was founded by Navy vet Ralph Roberts in 1963. Since then, the company has sustained its commitment to supporting the military community through national nonprofits like Bunker Labs, which helps vets realize their entrepreneurial spirit by starting and growing businesses—a goal of 25 percent of transitioning service people.
Funding Collaborations
In 2014, more than 30 corporations and philanthropic organizations made the Philanthropy-Joining Forces Impact Pledge to support veterans and military families. Led by then-First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, the coalition raised commitments from leading philanthropies and corporations including Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the Robin Hood Foundation, and the Lincoln Community Foundation.
That funding ends this year. Other coalitions should rise in its place. And as the burden of keeping America safe falls to fewer people, it’s not too early for philanthropy to anticipate the vacuum ahead, as funders who know what it means to serve are fewer and further between.
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