wounded warrior scandal new york times

The devastating effects of the New York Times’ Fake News on the WWP will be felt by wounded veterans for years. And it has become a brand name, its logo emblazoned on sneakers, paper towel packs and television commercials that run dozens of times. It contributes millions to smaller veterans groups. He said he felt guilty about what he saw as widespread waste. New York Wounded Warrior Walks. Wounded Warriors, Empty Promises. But like other former employees, he said the group swiftly fired anyone leaders considered a “bad cultural fit.”. “If the same warrior attends six different events, you could record that as six warriors served,” said Renee Humphrey, who oversaw alumni outreach in Southern California for about four years. Wounded Warrior Project's CEO, Steven Nardizzi, and COO, Al Giordano, were fired by the charity's board amid criticisms about how it spent more than … Recent reports from The New York Times and CBS alleged that the nonprofit has been misspending its donations on lavish conferences and unnecessary business trips for employees.. He said Mr. Jones had told him “there were going to be some changes.”. New York. “To best effectuate these changes and help restore trust in the organization among all of the constituencies WWP serves, the board determined the organization would benefit from new leadership, and WWP CEO Steve Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano are no longer with the organization,” the news release said. Soon after the amputation, he said, he was racked by haunting emotions from Iraq and checked himself into suicide watch at a psychiatric ward. Both bills passed in amended forms that did not significantly affect the charity, Mr. Nardizzi said. In January 2016, The New York Times reported that only 60 percent of the revenue of the Wounded Warrior Project is spent on programs to help veterans; the remaining 40 percent was overhead. Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau, via Associated Press. Mr. Millette said the charity encouraged him to highlight its role in helping him recover from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. The board of Wounded Warrior Project, one of the nation's largest veteran support groups, has fired two top officials amid news reports accusing the group of wasteful spending. The Wounded Warrior Project program provides adapted equipment for injured veterans to cycle together. But some employees assert that the productivity goals were set so high that they eroded program quality. Former staff members said they had less time to develop therapeutic programs and so relied on giving veterans tickets to concerts and sporting events. March 18, 2016; A week after the top executives of the Wounded Warrior Project were fired amid accusations of … Another time a woman called to donate part of her son’s life insurance after he was killed in Afghanistan, he said. New York, New York. Former employees said they questioned the charity’s focus on money and marketing techniques. Many of them were themselves wounded veterans. They just took me to a Red Sox game and on a weekend retreat.”. Veterans organizations in the United States often reflect the era in which they were created: After World War I, they resembled fraternal orders. The spokeswoman, Ayla Tezel, said that more than a third of the charity’s employees are veterans, and that the organization is rated one of the top nonprofits to work for by The NonProfit Times. Mr. Nardizzi doubled his spending on fund-raising and has increased it an average of 66 percent every year since. As the backpack project grew, Mr. Melia hired a few employees, including Mr. Nardizzi, a lawyer who had never served in the military but was an executive for a small nonprofit, the United Spinal Association, which served disabled veterans. Official charity review ratings have been restored and Linnington discusses next steps. John Melia, founder of the Wounded Warrior Project, addressing the Wounded and Injured Veterans’ Summit in Auburn, Ala., in 2006. "The allegations were so bad that I wanted to find out how true they were," Doug White ’75 says. How you can help. To fill seats, they often invited the same veterans. San Antonio, Texas. But Mr. Melia’s ex-wife, Julie Melia, who worked at the charity at the time, said in an interview that her former husband felt like the organization was “stolen from him.”. Charity Watch, an independent monitoring group, gave Wounded Warrior Project a “D” rating in 2011 and has not given it a grade higher than C since. As donations increased, Wounded Warrior Project executives began using data to measure staff productivity. One current employee said her last-minute ticket cost $7,000. That evening is emblematic of the polished and well-financed image cultivated by the Wounded Warrior Project, the country’s largest and fastest-growing veterans charity. We had our first Walk for Wounded Warriors today 4/13/13 and it was AWESOME! Bobby Bank/WireImage, via Getty Images Leaders also grew intolerant of … Mr. Nardizzi was given $473,000 in compensation in 2014. Nearly 30 injured veterans and active-duty service members pedaled through New York City on Thursday as part of the Wounded Warrior Project’s latest Soldier Ride. The council’s mission includes defending charity spending on overhead and executive salaries, its website says. In separate investigations, CBS and The New York Times reveal the inner workings of Wounded Warrior Project. For Wounded Vets, a Pedal Through Manhattan - The New York Times About 40 percent of the organization’s donations in 2014 were spent on its overhead, or about $124 million, according to the charity-rating group Charity Navigator. The Wounded Warrior Project’s roots are more humble. “I would fly to New York for less than a day to report to my supervisor.”. After Vietnam, many focused on advocacy in Washington. “It is now time to put the organization’s focus directly back on the men and women who have so bravely fought for our country and who need our support,” Mr. Odierno said in a statement. Jesse Longoria, a former Marine sniper whose right arm was amputated in 2012 after complications from injuries sustained in Iraq, with his 16-month-old son, Noah. As a result, some philanthropic watchdog groups have criticized the Wounded Warrior Project for spending too heavily on itself. Wounded Warrior Project came under fire in January after CBS News and the New York Times interviewed dozens of former staff members accusing … “It was a very coercive conversation.”. “We put warriors on a pedestal and the nation wrapped its arms around that concept.”. He said that the organization regularly followed up with veterans who receive Wounded Warrior Project services and that the vast majority reported having good experiences. It also reported claims of work environment of coercion, and multiple terminations. They began raising millions of dollars and broadening their services to include adaptive sports for disabled veterans, employment and benefits help, and retreats to teach veterans to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. To the Editor: I read with disgust your slanted article on the Wounded Warrior Project. Wounded Warrior Project CEO Michael Linnington speaks out after news controversy, scandal and reviews following an investigation on misuse of funds and allegations about the former CEO and founder. By Jack Murtha, CJR January 28, 2016 a Follow the author a Share on Twitter b Share on Facebook Email this story. “I would push back and they would get very frustrated and yell. When one of our military members is wounded, their families suffer right beside them, often leaving their home quickly to spend long periods of time with their loved one as they recover at Walter Reed Medical Center. “I loved it,” the former Marine sniper said. Today, on a list of 27 founders that was created by the charity’s current leadership and handed out to all new employees, Mr. Melia’s name appears well below the name of the charity’s for-profit fund-raising consultant. Former workers recounted buying business-class seats and regularly jetting around the country for minor meetings, or staying in $500-per-night hotel rooms. “I look at companies like Starbucks — that’s the model,” Mr. Nardizzi said. Several former employees said they had been fired for raising concerns. While that percentage, which includes administrative expenses and marketing costs, is not as much as for some groups, it is far more than for many veterans charities, including the Semper Fi Fund, a wounded-veterans group that spent about 8 percent of donations on overhead. The generals keep … In February, the group’s board hired the New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to perform an independent review. Mr. Nardizzi and Mr. Giordano were instrumental in building the organization into a fund-raising juggernaut that took in more than $372 million in 2015. Veterans participate in a Soldier Ride on Jan. 8 in Marathon, Fla. In 2012, after he had been working for the charity about a year, he had to have his right arm amputated because of lingering damage from Iraq. Please note that we will do our best to respond via your preferred method during your preferred time of contact (if noted) when we can. But in its swift rise, it has also embraced aggressive styles of fund-raising, marketing and personnel management that have many current and former employees questioning whether it has drifted from its mission. According to The Times, former employees claim the organization spent millions every year on travel, dinners, hotels and conferences—all of which were … The organization began producing inspirational ads featuring wounded veterans fighting to recover. “Well, they didn’t. He said the charity swiftly fired anyone that leaders considered a “bad cultural fit.”. The bad news about the Army’s treatment of wounded soldiers keeps coming. “How many others are not scaling up to cure cancer, to help the environment, because there is a belief we shouldn’t invest in those things?” said Mr. Nardizzi, who was given $473,000 in compensation in 2014. A nger and dismay greeted the announcement last week that the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans, had fired its … William Chick, a former supervisor, spent five years with the Wounded Warrior Project. The nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project entered 2016 with a more than $400 million budget and reason to believe its meteoric growth would continue. wounded warrior scandal. Some of its own employees have criticized it, too. “It’s a hard balance, but I think we strike the right balance,” he said. Mr. Nardizzi said in an interview that Mr. Melia left to pursue business ventures. Once a child came by the office to donate a piggy bank. Mr. Nardizzi said his staff was constantly monitoring metrics to try to get the most out of every dollar donated. The Wounded Warrior Project ousted its top two executives Thursday after accusations of lavish spending and financial irregularities by the charity. Mr. Chick, who was fired in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor, said he saw the Wounded Warrior Project help hundreds of veterans. But as donations poured in, many former employees say the group became wasteful. The organization fired Mr. Chick later the same day for insubordination. All staff members flying to the charity’s office at a military hospital in Germany traveled in business class, employees said. In an interview at the organization’s four-story headquarters in a palm-lined office park in Jacksonville, Fla., Mr. Nardizzi, 45, said spending on fund-raising and other expenses not directly related to veterans programs has enabled the Wounded Warrior Project to grow faster and serve more people. After being attacked by the New York Times and CBS News last year, Wounded Warrior Project has fallen on hard times, and many severely wounded veterans are no longer receiving assistance. The Wounded Warrior Project cuts a different profile. The review confirmed many of the findings by The Times and CBS, according to a news release from the public relations firm, and the board has instituted changes to limit first-class travel, track changes and increase accountability. “He said you better do this or you are going to look disloyal to the organization,” Mr. Chick said. “I wasn’t speaking anywhere unless I was collecting a check,” said Mr. Millette, who worked for the program for about two years, until he left in 2014. But Erick Millette, a former employee who was quoted about his disillusionment with the organization in the January article, said a board member, Richard Jones, had contacted him Thursday and thanked him for speaking out about problems at the charity. He was fired in 2014 for what executives told him was insubordination. “The challenge now is to regain trust — the trust of donors and of veterans.”, Wounded Warrior Project’s Board Fires Top Two Executives, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/us/wounded-warrior-board-ousts-top-two-executives.html. In reports by CBS News and The New York Times in January, current and former employees described the organization’s spending millions on employee retreats and first-class airfare while building programs for veterans that were useful for marketing but did little to serve veterans’ needs. Its founder, John Melia, was a Marine veteran who had been injured in a helicopter crash off the coast of Somalia in 1992. In 2013, according to tax forms, the Wounded Warrior Project gave $150,000 to a nonprofit called the Charity Defense Council and Mr. Nardizzi joined its advisory board. Steve Nardizzi, the chief executive of the Wounded Warrior Project, speaking at the 2010 Soldier Ride at Macy’s in Herald Square, Manhattan. The Warriors to Work program, for instance, was intended to provide one-on-one counseling to develop résumés and interview skills, then place veterans in suitable jobs. The metrics were intended to improve efficiency and help fund-raising. The spending began to attract attention. Wounded Warrior Project 370 7th Avenue, Suite 1802 New York, New York 10001. The organization paid Mr. Melia at least $230,000 after he stepped down, according to tax forms. It estimates that 80,000 veterans have used its services. The group spent 40 percent of donations on overhead, according to charity watchdog groups. It seemed to me like it was a big lie.”, Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly on Itself, Insiders Say, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/us/wounded-warrior-project-spends-lavishly-on-itself-ex-employees-say.html, William Chick, who was fired from the Wounded Warrior Project in 2012 after a dispute with his supervisor. By January 2016, both the New York Times and CBS published their own exposes that caused even more investigations. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, launched his investigation in March 2016, following reports by the New York Times and CBS News of excessive spending on events and airfare and a … Erick Millette, an Iraq veteran, said he quit after growing disillusioned about his work with a program called Warrior Speak, which involved veterans’ telling their stories of healing to audiences. In 2014 alone, the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) received more than $300 million in donations, yet it only spent roughly 60 percent of that on vets, CBS News … Under Mr. Nardizzi’s direction, it has modeled itself on for-profit corporations, with a focus on data, scalable products, quarterly numbers and branding. The Wounded Warrior Project spent more than $34 million on fund-raising in 2014, according to tax records. “You had the same few guys who loved going to free events.”. After Jesse Longoria recovered from a roadside bomb blast that nearly killed him in Iraq, he got a job with the organization training veterans to help other veterans. Mr. Longoria said he was offered money in exchange for signing a nondisclosure agreement, but refused. On the opening night, before three days of strategy sessions and team-building field trips, the staff gathered in the hotel courtyard. Doug Mills/The New York Times. He was not in the room at the time but was held responsible for the fight, his boss at the time, Mr. Chick, said in an interview. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 2014, after 10 years of rapid growth, the Wounded Warrior Project flew its roughly 500 employees to Colorado Springs for an “all hands” meeting at the five-star Broadmoor hotel. Jacksonville, Florida-based Wounded Warrior Project was the fastest-growing veteran's service organization before it was rocked by a scandal in 2016. Does the degree to which an organization can admit to and change problems that offend its donors make a difference in how long takes them to recover from scandal? UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR 4 CBS Evening News (2016) and the New York Times (2016) discovered that in “2014...the Wounded Warrior Project flew its roughly 500 employees to Colorado Springs” for a $3 million “‘all hands’ meeting at the five-star Broadmoor Hotel” (as cited in Phillips). “It got under my skin, started eating at me,” he said. Wounded Warrior Project hit back at the initial report Wednesday evening, posting online a letter to CBS News demanding a retraction. Mr. Nardizzi fought back. In March 2016, Wounded Warriors’ top executives Steven Nardizzi and Al … The nonprofit, which raised … When wounded troops began returning from Iraq in 2003, Mr. Melia remembered how he had arrived in a stateside hospital with only his thin hospital gown, and began visiting military hospitals to distribute backpacks stuffed with socks, CD players, toothpaste and other items. Other former employees said they had signed such forms, and could not speak. When Mr. Nardizzi took over, in the depths of the 2009 economic downturn, most charities had dialed back their fund-raising efforts, figuring that the nation was in no position to give. Thank you. New York Warrior Alliance started in 2007 originally as Operation Wounded Warrior, a Military Ministry. By Dave Philipps. 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