Too Much Forgotten in Wounded Warrior Project Reporting

"The greatest casualty is being forgotten"
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 4, 2016


This story has been bugging me all day. A buddy told me there was another story on CBS News about Wounded Warrior Project. This time it is about a major donor calling for action.

"Outraged, the Kanes cancelled this year's benefit tournament and started a petition on Change.org calling for a public audit. Fred also called senior management, and said he thought CEO Steven Nardizzi should be fired."

From Charity Navigator

Wounded Warrior Project "The greatest casualty is being forgotten"

EIN 20-2370934
Name in IRS Master File WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC
NTEE Code P60
NTEE Classification Emergency Assistance (Food, Clothing, Cash)
NTEE Type Human Services - Multipurpose and Other
Classification Charitable Organization

Did you catch that? Being forgotten? Seriously? Seems that there is a group of Marines that were totally forgotten about in all this. Nadrizzi keeps talking about being "Our logo is pretty sacred to us. It represents everything we believe in as an organization," that is laughable as well since we know the names of the Marines in the photograph taken by Laura Rauch in Iraq while working for AP. Staff Sgt. Matthew LeVart is carrying Cpl. Barry Lange on March 21, 2003 of India Company 3rd Marines. (Click the link and see the picture for yourself in case you missed it plus all the other fabulous images she captured.)

Not the first time they sued a charity but the last time it made the news was when they sued Keystone Wounded Warriors May 12, 2015.

"We need to be protective when folks design logos, use names, and act in a way that might confuse the public, that might lead them to believe (another charity) is the Wounded Warrior Project when they are not," Nardizzi said.

By the way, this is where Nardizzi said he treats it like a business.

Seems that is exactly what all these folks did but while we noticed, it seems the rest of the seniors donating to them were oblivious to all the other generations of veterans they won't even talk to. (From the CBS report below.)

"I feel like I am representing all these people who have donated over the years, all these seniors over 65 sending $19 month, all these people on fixed incomes. If no one is going to talk about this right now and it has to be me, then it has to be me," Fred Kane said.

Bet you caught that too. I have such smart readers. Yep, the very folks donating the bulk of the funding for this group are not even on the to-do-list. Safe bet you're wishing all the other corporations funding them, especially around Veterans Day, had even bothered to notice that fact.

Ok, so WWP says they are donating money for "emergency assistance" but we've all heard from OEF and OIF veterans being told they do not give money. So what's up with that?

In all the other reports, it seems reporters have skipped the biggest thing we're all talking about at our events. All the money, in the millions, they have been giving to colleges for "research" when donors intended the money to go to the veterans needing the help they always talk about on TV with those commercials. 

So what happens now is anyone's guess. Do they replace the CEO and then the Board of Directors, yet do it only to shut everyone up or do they do a complete overhaul of the whole thing?

The other thing is, if we figured all this out back in 2012 then why did it take 4 years for anything to happen while veterans were waiting for the help, to be "honored and empowered to aid and assist each other" when that is the funniest bit of all? WWP wants money so they can help each other?

We're with these groups of veterans all the time and they do fine aiding and assisting each other without a dime from anyone. They do it since they risked their lives for each other in the first place. Guess that's what happens when you do it for the right reasons instead treating veterans like a project or a business.

Top Wounded Warrior donor calls for CEO's resignation
CBS NEWS
By CHIP REID, JENNIFER JANISCH
March 3, 2016

Earlier this year, a CBS News investigation found the Wounded Warrior Project spends far less of its donations on veterans compared to others. And if we were surprised, so were some major donors.

Wounded Warrior Project now on Charity Navigator's watch list

With two sons serving in Iraq, raising money for Wounded Warrior Project was more than a cause for Fred and Dianne Kane. It was a calling.

Since 2009, the Kane's charity Tee-off for a Cause raised $325,000 for WWP through golf tournaments in the Carolinas. WWP even honored Fred Kane with an award for being a VIP donor.

But allegations that only a little over half of donations went to help wounded vets came as a blow.

"Hearing that there was this waste of money, donor dollars that should have been going to servicemen and women that were injured, and that it was spent on their having a good time -- it's a real disappointment," Dianne Kane told CBS News.
read more here

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