Our Spending Record on Veterans

What makes a nonprofit run efficiently?

Many say it’s the amount of money the agency spends directly on individuals and programs.

These days, with the economy still in recovery and many families struggling to stay afloat, charities have to put every donated dollar to good use.

That’s particular the case with nonprofits offering assistance to our nation’s veterans, many of whom are challenged to find work and readjust to life after the military.

At Veterans Support Organization (VSO), we believe in transparency in how we allocate the money donated to us by people across the nation. So I’d like you to know exactly how much we have given to veteran services and organizations serving veterans.

According to our 2010 tax return, we took in $8,833,806 and gave $318,890 in grants to individuals and organizations.

But we gave a lot more than just grants that year. VSO spent an additional $4,633,729 on our work program by providing jobs to more than a hundred people, most of them veterans. We also spent another $1,232,212 on housing more than a hundred veterans in five states.

How does this compare to other big veterans’ organizations?

Here are the numbers, according to 2010 tax returns:

-- Disabled Veterans of America (DAV) brought in $124,759,973 and granted $7,753,876.

-- Wounded Warriors Project generated $74,058,348 and granted $3,035,031.

-- Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) took in $93,326,178 and granted $10,470,982.

-- Vietnam Veterans of America pulled in $6,823,490 and granted $1,130,420.

Running nonprofits efficiently is hard work. For us at VSO, our niche is helping veterans. It’s to provide jobs to those who are unemployed or are homeless or close to being homeless.

We’re proud of our record of getting and keeping our nation’s veterans off the streets, and in helping them restore their pride. 

Richard VanHouten is the founder and CEO of Veterans Support Organization.