It was initially billed as a bombshell.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that the state is seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit that accuses the leadership of the flagging nonprofit of diverting millions of dollars for their own personal use. According to the suit, the senior leadership of the NRA squandered millions in donations on personal trips, private jets and expensive meals. The suit argues that the four executives, including CEO Wayne LaPierre, shouldn’t be permitted to ever again serve on the board of a New York charity.
— CNBC, 8/6/20

Now, while the political world stood aghast and others gleefully applauded, do they realize the can-of-worms James may have opened?

While the National Rifle Association has had questionable methods, echoed most recently by former NRA president Oliver North, leadership squandering “millions in donations on personal trips, private jets and expensive meals” is not exclusive to this one activist nonprofit. In fact, the very nature of the nonprofit invites abuse.

Most successful businesses have clear missions that must be met. Burger King wants to sell the most hamburgers possible; Ford the most vehicles, etc. But if you look at the average nonprofit mission statement, they’re kept as vague as possible (“save the planet”, “help children”) as actually accomplishing said goal would eliminate the need for that nonprofit.

No successful business spends 60-80% of their sales income on salaries and benefits for their staff. No business could survive with such a top-heavy business model.

In 2015, then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared on national television that the state was the first in the nation to “functionally end” veteran homelessness. As a veteran, I was personally insulted by the clear sophistry of his statement and have monitored the activities of the Veterans Administration AND the thousands of nonprofits in the United States with the word “veteran” on their title since. If the American people took the time to look at the IRS Form 990 of some of these veteran nonprofits, they’d see a startling consistency.

Almost two-thirds of their donations go to staff salaries and benefits.

What’s also a constant is the very generous pay the principals give themselves. Whether we’re talking the American Civil Liberties Union or Tea Party Patriots, you’ll see executive directors paying themselves very well off the donations they constantly ask for.

But what works against these executives is their unbridled arrogance and narcissism. All one need do is look up the name of the head of any nonprofit and then check out their Facebook page. While some of the pictures they upload are of galas and other events with their volunteers, you may also get a good look at their nice home, vacation pics on picturesque beaches, golf courses surrounded by palm trees, or their menu choices at nice restaurants in foreign countries.

So, if the left wants to get all bent over the lavish spending by the NRA, then we should look at ALL nonprofits and how much donor monies are squandered on opulent salaries for their principals. Will Leticia James devote the necessary manpower to find out how many millions of donor money the Southern Poverty Law Center is hiding in the Cayman Islands?

If she won’t go there but pick on the NRA, you know her lawsuit is not about diverting donations for personal use because if it was, she’d have more nonprofits in her cross-hairs than she’d know what to do with.

Thanks to self-serving politicians with no term or office limits, exploitative nonprofits and the social worker class, it’s automatically assumed most veterans are troubled and oh-so close to ending it all. From experience in dealing with all of the above in having to deal with the condescension and almost uniform callous indifference, we understand what drives some veterans to the very alcohol, drug abuse, and potential suicide social workers claim to want to head off.

How Do I Know I Need A Social Worker?

If you really aren’t sure what you need, but things just don’t feel right
— Department of Veteran Affairs

You may have just opened the door to a predator. This is not to say all veteran social workers are bad. We just haven’t personally experienced any of the motivated ones yet.

Not all veterans have “issues” when they reenter the civilian world. So, who started that stigmatizing notion?

While we’re all led to believe a concerning percentage of military personnel exit service with post-traumatic stress disorder, the numbers tend to vary greatly.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates have increased among members of the UK armed forces, new research suggests. The overall rate of probable PTSD among current and ex-serving military personnel was 6% in 2014-16, compared with 4% in 2004-06.
— The Guardian, 10/8/18

Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year.

Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.

Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
— Department of Veteran Affairs

It appears it all depends on who’s doing the diagnosing because the Department of Veterans Affairs is also a magnet for mostly women who’ve never served in the Armed Forces and because of their educational indoctrination, probably don’t care much for the military. (We were once told by a nonprofit department head that she’d have more money to help veterans if the government didn’t spend so much for “armaments”. Cart before horse…?)

Do an online image search for “veteran social worker” and you’ll see a consistent….

It all starts as an early-targeted career path, so ideological noses are held and academic proficiency appears (in some cases) sacrificed.

Don’t “axe” us why….

WHAT IS A MILITARY SOCIAL WORK DEGREE?
A military social work degree is most often found as a Master of Social Work (MSW) program. It studies the many ways to help people solve and cope with problems. Then applies these concepts to support active-duty personnel, veterans and their families.

Those who want to use counseling methods need a master’s degree and state license. They’ll also need 2 years of supervised field work. A military social work degree may ready you to pursue this licensure. Or, at the bachelor’s level, may ready you to help out as a case manager.
— Education Connection

From the onset, veterans are portrayed as helpless human beings with “problems” that can only be addressed by a social worker’s “case management”, thus close life supervision. It’s clear stigmatized veterans are a great employment lure and keeping them vulnerable and dependent is profitable.

50 Highest Paying Jobs in Social Work

#4 Veteran’s Affairs Social Worker
Average Salary: $85,639.63 (as of 2022)
Job Outlook: Excellent (20% growth rate within the next decade)

Not bad. Decent money right out of the box, not to mention those great “golden handcuff” bennies associated with working for he federal government. So, the more the perception goes out that veterans are potentially crazy and are in need of supervision, “growth” is assured.

The 2014 Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members compared service members to the general population and found that the rate of major depression is five times higher among soldiers, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is nearly 15 times as high, and intermittent explosive disorder is six times as high.

They seldom reveal what the rate of depression was upon discharge and compare that to after the veteran had to deal with an unmotivated social worker or nonprofit for a period of time. That might not be a good number.

VA social workers are responsible for ensuring continuity of care through the admission, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up processes. This includes coordinating discharge planning and providing case management services based on the patients clinical and community health and social services resources. Social workers often provide long-term case management services to veterans who are at high risk of being admitted to a hospital, those who have very complex medical problems, and those who need additional help and support. They are available when needed to provide and coordinate a variety of services including counseling and support services. Social workers can advocate and go to bat for those who have a hard time doing it by themselves.

The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs employs approximately 12,000 social workers.
— Best MSW (Master of Social Work) Programs

Veteran social workers also have advocacy nonprofits to make sure the jobs keep coming. After all, they’re only being paid with that never-ending supply of taxpayer dollars.

The Association of VA Social Workers encourages the development of comprehensive Social Work services to veteran beneficiaries through education, collaboration and advocacy to enhance the effectiveness of all Social Workers throughout the entire US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Healthcare system. The Association advocates for the recruitment, retention, and increased recognition of  Social Workers of the VA. At this time, there are more than 12,000 social workers throughout the VA system. More than 1500 student interns are preparing for their Masters level social work degrees (from colleges and universities approved by the Council on Social Work Education), many of whom are receiving VA educational stipiends during their field placements in the VA. (How VA Social Workers Help Veterans)
— Association of VA Social Workers

According to the Association, only one of their 2018 “Social Workers of the Quarter” was a veteran. The rest appear to have gone straight from college into the field and wound up working with… veterans.

When inexperienced people are given, in essence, supervisory roles that has profound impact on a veteran’s life, it can go to their heads and for too many we’ve experienced, it does.

Earlier this year, I invited some of my former VA colleagues back to the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to talk about their experiences as VA social workers. When asked about some of their favorite aspects of working in such a large system, they all overwhelmingly said that one of the best job perks was having so much autonomy.

A gold mine for your average power tripper.

Once social workers are initially trained in the core functions of the system, there truly is a great deal of opportunity to work autonomously within your program area team. Read more about just some of the things VA social workers do. In many instances, you are working on processes and problem-solving within a team structure and support, but with a great deal of independence and trust.
— SocialWorker.com

The “autonomy” to make a veteran jump through as many hoops as they want, despite the fact that veterans reach out to them when they’re most vulnerable. Some of these fat-and-happy social workers can’t relate to the sense of urgency and should a veteran become irritated by the indifference, social workers have a varying amount of ways to retaliate and put veterans back in their place.

And we won’t even get into the dysfunctional marriage between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Urban Development when it comes to social worker interagency miscommunication and/or selective interpretations when it comes to veterans in housing distress. All so they can impose themselves on extorted veterans and justify their existence with makework….

A key component of the program is VA’s case management services. These services are designed to assist Veterans in obtaining and sustaining permanent housing and engage in needed treatment and other supportive services that improve Veterans’ quality of life and end their homelessness. Case Management is the heart of this program and is a requirement for participation in the HUD-VASH voucher program.

Make the Call.
You Fought for Our Home. We’ll Fight for Yours.
— HUD-VASH Eligibility Criteria

Sure.

Almost a month ago, we submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the VA to request “the number of veteran VASH housing vouchers given to the Commonwealth of Virginia during FY2019, how many were used by veterans and how many were rolled into Section 8 housing for general public use.” We have yet to have been even issued a reference number, let alone a response. Rolling VASH vouchers into Section 8 (while keeping veterans unaware of their earned benefit) assures local social workers a greater pool of preferred, single mom-illegal alien-refugee recipients at the expense of veterans.

If one of these social workers found themselves potentially days from losing their housing, you know they’d be tapping into all of the potential “rapid re-housing” options they advertise and be in a new place within a week.

How Does it Feel?

Sadly, should any homeless veteran find themself in urgent need of housing, the FIRST thing a social worker suggests is that he or she go to a shelter. It should be a requirement for all social workers in training to give their home and car keys to their trainer. Then that social worker trainee should be left on the street and let them stay in a shelter for three weeks. After that experience, we sincerely doubt a shelter would be their first suggestion to a veteran in peril.

The best route for veteran independence is finding a good job; not the low wage positions they’re normally steered towards by nonprofit “employment specialists” who spend more time telling said veteran to find jobs online and apply rather than being a “specialist” and make those connections for the veteran. In fact, another constant is the veteran constantly being told by a veteran dot gov or a nonprofit is what they can’t do while that employee or social worker hangs up the phone and continues to earn a paycheck.

It’s not like a veteran can complain because the social worker is the gatekeeper when it comes to access to benefits earned, being made to wait via giving the veteran conflicting or incorrect information, or when the social worker gets around to it, because he or she can subtly cut the veteran off altogether if desired.

So, until the Veterans Administration is purged of the social worker industrial complex and is staffed primarily by understanding veterans and/or the caring family members of veterans, the demonization and abuse of veterans will continue and the problems of depression, drug and alcohol abuse brought on after having to deal with them will continue.

Homelessness and suicides will be the social worker’s promotional tool to keep themselves relevant and employed because if veterans were to actually be properly served, we wouldn’t need so many more social workers and we can’t have that, right?

Despite the nonprofit model of high salaries and overhead with few documentable success stories to promote, the American taxpayer will be footing the bill for yet another year to help keep tax-exempt, nonprofit principals and employees comfortably housed and very well fed.

In particular, look at the amounts of “contribution and grants” coming into these nonprofits vice the “salaries, other compensation, employee benefits” supporting those who claim to care about veterans and you may not need an explanation as to why veterans are still in need of stable housing today.

Note: Some of these nonprofits claim to have “ended” veteran homelessness but still maintain active web pages soliciting donations to help house homeless veterans….

ALASKA

Catholic Social Services: Anchorage CoC (Continuum of Care)

ALABAMA

Housing First, Inc.: Mobile City & County/Baldwin County CoC

ARIZONA

UMOM New Day Centers: Phoenix, Mesa/Maricopa County CoC

Primavera Foundation: Tucson/Pima County CoC

CALIFORNIA

Goodwill of Silicon Valley (dba Goodwill Industries of Santa Clara County): San Jose/Santa Clara City & County CoC

SHELTER, Inc.: Richmond/Contra Costa County CoC

The Salvation Army, a California Corporation: Los Angeles City & County CoC; Santa Maria/Santa Barbara County CoC; Oxnard, San Buenaventura/Ventura County CoC

The Salvation Army is listed as a “church”, they are not required to file a Form 990, so you’re just going to have to take their word for it.

Volunteers of America of Greater Sacramento and Northern Nevada, Inc.: Sacramento City & County CoC; Roseville, Rocklin/Placer, Nevada Counties; Davis, Woodland/Yolo County CoC; El Dorado County CoC

CONNECTICUT

Community Renewal Team, Inc.: Connecticut Balance of State CoC

FLORIDA

Advocate Program, Inc.: Miami-Dade County CoC; Monroe County CoC

Jewish Family & Children’s Service Of The Suncoast Inc: Sarasota, Bradenton/Manatee, Sarasota Counties CoC; Punta Gorda/Charlotte County CoC; Ft Myers, Cape Coral/Lee County CoC; Naples/Collier County CoC

GEORGIA

Central Savannah River Area Economic Opportunity Authority, Inc.: Georgia Balance of State CoC; Augusta-Richmond County CoC

IDAHO

El-Ada, Inc.: Boise/Ada County CoC

ILLINOIS

Thresholds: Chicago CoC; Cook County CoC

INDIANA

United Way of Central Indiana, Inc.: Indiana Balance of State CoC; Indianapolis CoC

LOUISIANA

Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans: Lafayette/Acadiana Regional CoC; Lake Charles/Southwestern Louisiana CoC; Shreveport, Bossier/Northwest Louisiana CoC; New Orleans/Jefferson Parish CoC; Slidell/Southeast Louisiana CoC; Alexandria/Central Louisiana CoC; Houma-Terrebonne, Thibodaux CoC; Louisiana Balance of State CoC

Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans has no Form 990 available online as…

Volunteers of America is exempt from filing Form 990 under Section 6033(a)(2)(A)(i), as an exempt organization described in Section 170(b)(1)(A)(i). However, in the interest of transparency, the organization completes a pro-forma Form 990.
— Volunteers of America, Our Financials

Get a load of these overall numbers.

Wellspring Alliance for Families, Inc.: Monroe/Northeast Louisiana CoC

MASSACHUSETTS

Volunteers of America of Massachusetts, Inc.: Boston CoC; Cambridge CoC; Quincy, Brockton, Weymouth, Plymouth City and County CoC; Massachusetts Balance of State CoC; Somerville CoC

MARYLAND

Alliance, Inc.: Cumberland/Allegany County CoC; Baltimore CoC; Harford County CoC; Annapolis/Anne Arundel County CoC; Howard County CoC; Baltimore County CoC; Carroll County CoC; Cecil County CoC; Frederick City & County CoC; Garrett County CoC; Mid-Shore Regional CoC; Hagerstown/Washington County CoC; Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester Counties CoC

“Alliance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mosaic Community Services”

MAINE

Preble Street: Maine Balance of State CoC

MICHIGAN

Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency: Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Westland/Wayne County CoC; Washtenaw County CoC; Monroe City & County CoC

Southwest Counseling Solutions: Detroit CoC; Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Westland/Wayne County CoC

NORTH CAROLINA

United Way of Forsyth County, Inc.: Winston-Salem/Forsyth County CoC

North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness: Greensboro, High Point CoC

Passage Home, Inc.: Raleigh/Wake County CoC

NEW JERSEY

Catholic Charities Dioceses of Camden, Inc.: Atlantic City & County CoC; Camden City & County/Gloucester, Cape May, Cumberland Counties CoC; Salem County CoC

NEW MEXICO

Goodwill Industries of New Mexico: Albuquerque CoC; New Mexico Balance of State CoC

NEW YORK

HELP USA, Inc.: New York City CoC

H E L P Social Service Corporation has no formal mission statement or Form 990 available for public scrutiny….

Westchester Community Opportunity Program, Inc.: Poughkeepsie/Dutchess County CoC; Newburgh, Middletown/Orange County CoC; Yonkers, Mount Vernon/Westchester County CoC; Rockland County CoC; Sullivan County CoC; Kingston/Ulster County CoC

OHIO

FrontLine Service: Cleveland/Cuyahoga County CoC; Ohio Balance of State CoC

OKLAHOMA

Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa, Inc.: North Central Oklahoma CoC; Tulsa City & County CoC; Northeast Oklahoma CoC; Southeastern Oklahoma Regional CoC

TEXAS

Families in Crisis, Inc.: Texas Balance of State CoC

Caritas of Austin: Austin/Travis County CoC

These numbers were a little odd.

Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth, Inc.: Fort Worth, Arlington/Tarrant County CoC

VIRGINIA

Virginia Supportive Housing: Richmond/Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover Counties CoC; Charlottesville CoC; Virginia Balance of State CoC

And this is just a sampling of the proposed federal awards for fiscal year 2019 ($326 million) to nonprofits who receive donations, state and federal grants and do more to provide steady employment and incomes for their employees than the veterans they exploit.

Most retail businesses try and keep their employee costs between 15-30% to remain competitive, but as nonprofits don’t need to observe such fiscal disciplines, spending close-to or over half of their revenues on salaries and bennies, regardless of mission accomplishments explains why veteran homelessness is an issue they really don’t wish to ever be solved.

h/t Code of Vets

Should you find yourself in an altruistic mood, Facebook offers you a selection of nonprofits they deem worthy of your support. As you may have guessed, almost all are far-left.

Like the Southern Poverty Law Center is hurting for donations….

Aside from the fraud-ridden Wounded Warrior Project nonprofit, there doesn’t appear to be any choice offered for a nonprofit many on the right would donate to and few are any run by minorities. Not like this is really a surprise.

Should you wish to donate to a “personal cause” other than that which Facebook endorses, here’s their screening process to determine worthiness.

Looks harmless enough.

Now, here’s where things get interesting.

You’re offered a limited amount of choices and hope you fit into one of their categories.

If your fundraiser doesn’t fit into any one of the above, things now become subjective.

If approved, any donations that do come in may go through Facebook first. Maybe not for an outright “fee”, but they may hold onto your cash for a couple of days or so they can accrue interest before forwarding the donation to you. It’s probably also a given the same interest gathering process occurs should you donate to one of their endorsed, chosen nonprofits.

How benevolent and generous.

Again, there is a constant when it comes to any nonprofit, but especially those that claim to be helping veterans: keep the mission vague and goal literally unattainable. That way there is no gauge for real success that ever has to be achieved and the potential for fraud is the more attainable mission. It WILL keep those running the nonprofit, literally, fat and happy….

Danielle Goodwin was arrested at 2:15 p.m. in the driveway of her home at 4 Kingsford Road in Hanover, Police Chief Charles Dennis said. Police said Goodwin exercised “unauthorized control” of $24,641.11 in Project VetCare funds while serving as the charity’s executive director.
— Union Leader, 8/30/17

That is, if they can stay out of jail.

According to the preliminary report, the AG’s Charitable Trusts Unit received a report in March 2016 of possible diversion of Project VetCare’s assets. An investigation revealed a diversion of large sums of money by Goodwin, the charity’s executive director, for the benefit of her family, an employee and some members of the board of directors.

“However, due to the charity’s deficient financial record-keeping, the full extent of the possible misuse of funds cannot be determined,” the report states.

For any of us, it would be “stealing” or “grand larceny”. For what we guess is a hefty, liberal woman, it was “unauthorized taking”. See how that works?

Danielle Goodwin is obligated to pay back $90,000 upon the sale of her Hanover home, which is listed for sale for $899,000. A sale is now “under contract,” according to the report.
— Valley News, 8/24/17

Our personal experiences with almost every veteran nonprofit we’ve examined has not been a good one and we look at them all with a heavy dose of skepticism as you should before you donate to any, because there are a lot of scams in the name of veterans out there.

The ugly business of stealing money meant for vets
Veterans Charities Don’t All Make The Grade
IRS forms show charity’s money isn’t going to disabled vets
Veterans Charity Fraud: Despite Widespread Outrage, Groups Continue To Abuse Public Trust
Veterans Charity Raises Millions to Help Those Who’ve Served. But Telemarketers Are Pocketing Most of It.
State and federal officials accuse veterans nonprofit of misleading donors
Dozens of fake charities scammed donations for veterans then pocketed the cash: FTC

“Thank you for your service.”