Army Emergency Relief

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, army emergency relief distributed $13.6 million in grants and $49.7 million in zero-interest loans to help more than 31,000 soldiers, retired soldiers, and their families. Financial assistance was delivered across five areas of support and contributed to the well-being of the army community. The five areas of support include: care during a crisis, basic needs & housing, health & wellness, workforce development and family support. The largest category of the five was care during a crisis at $5.2 million. This consisted of $2.3 million for emergency responses, which included emergency travel, funeral expenses and safe travel from domestic violence. The other $2.9 million covered natural disaster relief and other critical life events. The second-largest category was basic needs and housing at $2.8 million, which included permanent change of station moves; food; housing, including support with rent; utilities; and small house repairs. Aer's third biggest category was $1.3 million for workforce development covering spouse relicensing, recertifications and career skills program support. Aer also provided critical financial assistance under health and wellness at $1.1 million, which covered dental care, special-needs medical equipment, austere location support, cranial helmets and wounded warrior support. The next grant category was family support with aer disbursing $500,000 for things like childcare, paternity leave and immigration fees.in addition, aer has two debt relief categories of support for a total of $2.7 million. The first category of debt relief equaling $1.9 million assisted soldiers trying to reduce their debt by successfully completeing aer's financial literacy training. Over 5,000 soldiers passed the training and received reductions in their loan balance to help achieve financial stability. The second category of debt forgiveness was loan balances at $800,000 for soldiers facing hardships or other valid circumstances. Aer carefully reviewed each soldier's financial case and made a determination if the loans would cause to much stress and become a detriment to the army mission. Both reductions in debt further demonstrates aer's commitment to helping relieve financial stress.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • 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: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 28th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -0.1%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.83; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings