Is the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation Real or Fake?

Answer 1

My name is Hallie Powell and I am the Executive Director of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The work we do for thousands of Veterans is not offered by other organizations and is necessary to help many of those in need get through tough times. We are often the only organization that responds to emails of desperation. If we don't help, people would suffer. Whether it is donating blankets to the homeless, giving money to a starving Veteran who lives out of his car, or paying for car repairs to help a group of Veterans get to the grocery store and doctor appointments, if there is a need, we help in whatever way we can. As a small nonprofit, we must rely on telephone fundraisers as one avenue of donation in order to help Veterans and their families who are in need.

Unfortunately for us, telephone fundraising is very expensive, as it is run by for-profit fundraising companies. However, this is the only way we are able to help so many in our current capacity. We utilize all available resources to get the job done.

Since 2014, we have made it a goal to expand to other methods of fundraising and increase the percentages we can give directly to Veterans. We added PayPal to our website, began applying to grant opportunities, and contacted corporate donors. Should you donate through PayPal or directly to the address listed on our website, we do not have to pay the high fees associated with telephone fundraising. These other methods of donating will help our program percentages in the future.

Addendum:

A quick web search shows that this is the lowest ranking charity helping Vietnam veterans. According to Charity Navigator, only about 8.3% of their revenue goes to programs. It seems that nearly any charity that uses Community Support, Inc. (CSI) as its fundraiser has bad statistics. The CEO, J. Thomas Burch, allegedly sped away in a Rolls Royce when confronted by CNN.

Answer 2

My name is Hallie Powell and I am the Executive Director of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, of which the American Veterans Support Foundation is a special project. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The work we do for thousands of Veterans is not offered by other organizations and is necessary to help many of those in need get through tough times. We are often the only organization that responds to emails of desperation. If we don't help, people would suffer. Whether it is donating blankets to the homeless, giving money to a starving Veteran who lives out of his car, or paying for car repairs to help a group of Veterans get to the grocery store and doctor appointments, if there is a need, we help in whatever way we can. Please see our Annual Report on the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation website to see a description of some of our work.

As a small nonprofit, we must rely on telephone fundraisers as one avenue of donation in order to help Veterans and their families who are in need. Unfortunately for us, telephone fundraising is very expensive, as it is run by for-profit fundraising companies. However, this is the only way we are able to help so many in our current capacity. We utilize all available resources to get the job done.

Since 2014, we have made it a goal to expand to other methods of fundraising and increase the percentages we can give directly to Veterans. We added PayPal to our website, began applying to grant opportunities, and contacted corporate donors. Should you donate through PayPal or directly to the address listed on our website (2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, #336, Washington, DC 20006), we do not have to pay the high fees associated with telephone fundraising. These other methods of donating will help our program percentages in the future.

If you should have questions about our work or have possible problems with our telephone fundraisers, please feel free to contact me at hallie@nvvf.org.