CharityWatch is unable to provide a complete rating of Disabled American Veterans (DAV) National Service Foundation (the Foundation) due to how the organization is structured. The Foundation publishes its own, separate financial statements, and primarily acts as a fundraising arm for its related organization, Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Because the two organizations' financial activities are not consolidated into a single audit or tax filing, it is not possible to rate the two as one organization, despite the them sharing certain board members in key position and engaging in significant related-party financial transactions. For the year-ended 12/31/2024, the Foundation reports spending $189,894 to raise just under $5 million in cash contributions. This reporting reflects that charity spent only $4 to raise each $100 of cash support. However, due to the limitations of the reporting (the financial information of the two organizations not being consolidated into one audit), it is not possible for CharityWatch to verify this information. The Foundation reports in its audit that it reimbursed DAV $116,856 in 2024 due to DAV personnel assisting the Foundation on a limited basis with "administering its business operations and fundraising program." However, the audit note does not provide breakouts reflecting what portion of the reimbursements were fundraising-related.
CharityWatch is also unable to provide a Program % for the Foundation. The Foundation reports granting $5,023,200 to DAV (Audit Note 6 - Related-Party Transactions). Since these inter-organizational grants represent 81% of the Foundation's Program Expenses, and 77% of its Total Expenses, CharityWatch classifies the Foundation as a fundraising arm for its related organization, DAV. CharityWatch's methodology is not designed to measure how efficiently one entity of a charity grants funds to one of its partner organizations. For this reason, we do not believe it is fair to publish a Program % for the Foundation alongside those of other charities that conduct their own substantial programs and/or primarily make grants to other, independent charities.
In addition, CharityWatch analyzed the Foundation's assets and liabilities in an effort to understand how long it could continue to operate at 2024 spending levels without raising any additional contributions or other revenue. More information about how this figure was computed can be found by visiting CharityWatch's Our Process page. From the Foundation's reported net assets of $188,612,595 we subtracted $3,145 of net Land, Buildings, & Equipment used in operations. This results in an adjusted net fund balance of $188,609,450. We then divided this figure by the nonprofit's total cash expenses of $1,497,183 (which excludes grants to related organizations). This results in a computed figure for years of available assets of 125.98. If we were to instead include the Foundation's distributions to its related organization, DAV, in the total cash expenses figure, the Foundation could continue to operate at 2024 spending levels for 28.9 years without raising another penny of revenue from any source. |
