Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation

What it reported doing in 2024

Veterans Service Activities - The mission is to secure, manage and distribute resources to support veterans, active-duty personnel, the National Guard and reserve, their families, and communities. The VFW Foundation, in support of this mission, assisted over 12 military families in need of financial assistance with disbursements of $27,245 through the Un-Met Needs program to help families experiencing financial hardships with mortgage, car loans, utilities and other payments. The VFW Foundation provided grants of $200,000 that were used for recognition events for military members and their families and other programs to assist veterans. The VFW Foundation provided grants of $583,000 to the VFW that were or will be used to help veteran families impacted by natural disasters. The VFW Foundation expended $1,375,000 to provide scholarships for the VFW's Help-A-Hero Scholarship program. This program provides up to $5,000 in scholarships to veterans or current military personnel with a rank of E-5 or below. Additionally, the VFW Foundation expended $2,150,000 to support VFW Service Officers. These officers play a key role in assisting veterans in dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies. These officers are formally trained and accredited to represent veterans and their dependents or survivors. This structure ensures that no veteran, dependent or survivor needs to deal with the agencies administering veteran's programs without expert representation. For the 2025 federal fiscal year, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported over 608,000 veterans and eligible dependents represented by VFW Service Officers received more than $16.2 billion in earned benefits.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 97%; rating input score 97
• Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
• Fundraising efficiency: $11.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.5%; rating input score 99; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -13%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.37; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings