Aerial Recovery

What it reported doing in 2024

Heal the heroes is aerial recovery's foundational program and the engine that powers every mission. The program addresses a documented national crisis: more than 6,200 u.s. Veterans take their own lives each year (one every 84 minutes). The primary drivers include the loss of mission, community, and purpose that follows separation from service. Heal the heroes confronts these drivers directly by replacing them with something real: a new mission, a new team, and a new calling.the heal the heroes program is available to veterans and first responders, whether already serving on aerial recovery's teams or newly identified through field recruitment, community outreach, or partner referrals. Participation is not a prerequisite for joining aerial recovery's teams; it is a resource actively made available to eligible team members, and a pipeline through which many operators are developed. Aerial recovery also provides mental health support, resilience resources, and peer care to team members who do not meet the veteran or first responder criteria but who serve in demanding operational environments.the program operates through aerial recovery's five-phase impact engine: recruit: veterans and first responders seeking renewed purpose are identified and invited through field operations, partner referrals, and community outreach.retrain: participants undergo structured, trauma-informed programming that rebuilds discipline, trusted community, and mission-readiness. Non-veteran team members receive parallel preparation appropriate to their role.repurpose: skills from military, emergency service, or civilian backgrounds are redirected into humanitarian operations, including specialized tracks such as animal rescue and equine therapy at redemption ranch.rescue: participants and trained operators deploy globally to conduct disaster relief, anti-human trafficking operations, and animal rescue missions.recover: operators receive trauma-informed resilience and recovery care post-deployment. Survivors receive support, communities rebuild, and new candidates are identified to restart the cycle.investment in operator recruitment, training, restoration, and readiness is direct program expenditure, not administrative overhead. The operators who deliver every mission are heal the heroes participants and mission-qualified civilians built with this same integrated system in mind. There is no program delivery without the people this program builds.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 60.5%; rating input score 61
• Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: $20.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Fail
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 25.1%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 1%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 44.3% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 49.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings