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Veterans’ charitable organizations in general took
a media hit last year when the charity watchdog group, the
American Institute of Philanthropy, issued a widely publicized
report that was harshly critical of several veterans’ foundations.
The AIP found that some veterans’ charities were spending
excessive percentages of the donations they took in—over
80 percent in some cases—to pay fundraising expenses,
including salaries.
The good news is that the Vietnam Veterans
Assistance Fund did not even come close to falling into the
flunking category. In fact, VVAF spends a very small percentage
of the funds it receives on administrative expenses.
“For
the past ten to fifteen years, 95 percent of the donations
to the Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund have been spent on
programs,” VVAF Executive Director Joe Sternburg
said. VVAF’s Board of Directors, moreover, “receive
no salary or stipends,” Sternburg said. “Only
travel expenses are reimbursed. We have meetings three times
a year. The rest of the time we do our Board work by teleconference.”
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