I wouldn’t just believe that — they have a link in that article to another one and the response from WWP. Bill O’Reilly is a big supporter — I doubt he would be if this wasn’t a legitimate charity.
http://kencrow.us/2013/12/14/is-wounded-warrior-project-scamming-the-hearts-of-the-american-people/
WWP response (posted in article above)
“One would expect that if someone wants their information to be considered legitimate, it should be fact-checked and accurate. Nothing could be further from the truth with this article.
The claim that WWP does little, if any, direct support of Wounded Warriors and Wounded Warrior programs is false. WWP has 19 direct programs and services such as Family Support Programs, Combat Stress Recovery Program and Transition Training Academy that veterans and their families participate in every day.
The article also makes claims that based on our 2011 990, we spent $95 million on administrative and fundraising costs and less than 10% of donations actually reached wounded warriors. That is absolutely incorrect.
If you actually read our 990 here http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/media/477620/wwp-900-fy-2012.pdf, (page 10) you will see it reflects $95.5 million in TOTAL expenses including 69.5 million spent on our programs and services. Moreover, the IRS form 990 does not present a complete picture of donations and expenditures the way independently audited financials do, and it does nothing to measure impact.
Based on Wounded Warrior Project’s fiscal year 2012 audited financial statements, 81.6 percent of total expenditures goes directly to our 19 programs and services for Wounded Warriors and their families. We pride ourselves on being a leader in the industry in reporting results from our programs.
You can visit:
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission/who-we-serve.aspx to see the real impact we are making. For more on our strategy for growing and meeting the needs of this generation of wounded service members, visit wwpinc.org/npt.”
265,000 brain injuries? Somebody is lying.
There are real horror stories about this group, I hope they are all wrong.
I’ve been involved with VSO’s for some time, and I’ve seen a lot of good work at the local levels.
It’s the national leadership, with high profile offices inside the beltway and big, 6-digit paychecks for the people at the top.
It may be a “legitimate charity” and still have massive overhead at the national level. The two are not mutually exclusive.
WWP is a good group. While I was at Fort Carson I saw what they do firsthand and I encourage support of their efforts.