Oro Valley Post 132 Special Charity Donation Newsletter, November 20, 2022.
Information about charities that benefit service members and veterans and their families.
This time of year, many members ask about tax deductible donations to charities which benefit service members and veterans and their families. There are many such highly rated charities, but there are more that dispense only a small percentage of donations to the charity’s identified beneficiaries.
How to donate wisely and avoid charity scams:
Think you know where your money is going? Only a small percentage of charities have a 4-star rating. The majority of charities deliver less than 50 cents, of every dollar donated to the intended beneficiaries. That drops precipitously for charities that advertise on TV or use frequent mailings. A good charity research source is https://www.charitynavigator.org/.
The following are a few of the highly rated charities benefiting veterans and their families. They are not listed in any particular order:
– Gary Sinise Foundation, 4 Star: The Foundation builds specially adapted homes for severely wounded veterans, hosting day long morale-boosting celebrations at military medical centers across the country, and providing meals to veterans and their families across the country. https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/
– The Armed Services YMCA, 4 Star: Provides free or low-cost youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility programs for junior enlisted military & their families to make military life easier. https://www.asymca.org .
– American Legion Oro Valley Post 132: Always a good choice and every dollar is used to fund our local programs. 100% of the tax-deductible donations go to the Post’s award-winning programs that benefit local veterans and service members in need. As with the other listed charities, donations to the American Legion Oro Valley Post 132 can be made as an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). For online donations go to the Post’s website https://www.ovamericanlegion132.com then click on the yellow “Donate” button and complete the process.
– Wounded Warriors Family Support (WWFS), 4 stars (this is not the Wounded Warrior Project charity advertised on TV): WWFS provides support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured or killed during combat operations. Wounded Warriors Family Support improves the quality of life of the military families through programs like caregiver respite, family retreats, mobility-equipped vehicles, job training, combat-wounded parking signs, and assistance with unmet needs. https://www.wwfs.org.
– Our Military Kids, 4 stars: provides support in the form of grants to the children of National Guard and Military Reserve personnel who are currently deployed overseas, as well as the children of Wounded Warriors in all branches. The grants pay for participation in extracurricular activities and tutoring programs that nurture and sustain children while a parent is away in service to our country or recovering from injury. https://www.ourmilitarykids.org.
– Soldiers’ Angels, 4 stars: A volunteer-led organization providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, their families, and veterans. Soldiers’ Angels has hundreds of thousands of volunteers assisting veterans, wounded and deployed personnel and their families in many meaningful ways. Soldiers’ Angels is one of the few nonprofit organizations with a seat on the VA National Advisory Committee and permission to work within the VA Health System. https://soldiersangels.org/.
If you don’t recognize some of these charities, that is probably a good thing. Promotion of a charity by TV, radio, print and mailings are sure indicators of high administrative costs, often as high as 70%. When in doubt, research the charity.