Donors may want to consider a charity's asset reserves when making giving decisions. A charity with a negative fund balance may lack financial stability, while a charity with a very high level of assets in reserve may not use your donation for many, many years into the future.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation's letter grade rating has been downgraded because it has three years or more of available assets
CharityWatch believes it is reasonable for a charity to hold less than three years worth of assets in reserve. See the High Asset List for a list of charities whose ratings have been reduced due to high assets, and CRITERIA to learn more about how CharityWatch considers a charity's asset reserves
*Why Not Ratable?CharityWatch is currently unable to rate this organization. This does not imply a negative or positive evaluation. Please see the Analysts' Notes section for a more detailed explanation. |
CharityWatch is unable to provide a complete rating of Veterans of Foreign Wars 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, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). 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 them sharing certain board members in key position and engaging in significant related-party financial transactions. For the fiscal year-ended 08/31/2025, the Foundation reports spending $475,286 to raise just over $5 million in cash contributions. This reporting reflects that the charity spent only $9 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. CharityWatch is also unable to provide a Program % for the Foundation. The Foundation reports granting $5,606,270 to VFW (Audit Note 10 - Related Party Transactions). Since these inter-organizational grants represent 93% of the Foundation's Program Expenses, and 81% of its Total Expenses, CharityWatch classifies the Foundation as a fundraising arm for its related organization, VFW. NOTE: The Foundation and VFW are separate entities that operate under their own bylaws and issue separate audited financial statements. CharityWatch provides a separate rating for Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). 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 fiscal 2025 spending levels without raising any additional contributions or other revenue. CharityWatch computed that the Foundation's Years of Available Assets were 17.77 as of the fiscal year ended 08/31/2025. 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 $23,319,058 we subtracted $10,086 of net Land, Buildings, & Equipment used in operations. This results in an adjusted net fund balance of $23,308,972. We then divided this figure by the nonprofit's total cash expenses of $1,311,682 (which excludes grants to related organizations). This results in a computed figure for years of available assets of 17.77. In simple terms, this means that the Foundation could continue to operate at fiscal 2025 spending levels for 17.77 years without raising another penny of revenue from any source. If we were to instead include the Foundation's distributions to its related organization, VFW, in the total cash expenses figure, the Foundation could continue to operate at fiscal 2025 spending levels for 3.37 years without raising another penny of revenue from any source. |
CharityWatch is unable to provide complete salary information for Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation because it does not pay salaries directly. Per the VFW Foundation's fiscal 2025 IRS Form 990, Hal Roesch, Executive Director, was hired on January 1st, 2025. Because the Foundation's fiscal year is different than the calendar year, its fiscal year ended 8/31/2025 Form 990 only contains employee compensation breakouts by employee for payments made between 1/1/2024 and 12/31/2024. This is because Part VII and Schedule J of the Form 990 require compensation breakouts based on IRS Forms W-2, which are calendar year forms. While Mr. Roesch's compensation is reported as $0 in VFW Foundation's fiscal year ended 8/31/2025 Form 990, this does not necessarily indicate that he received $0 compensation during 2025. Rather, his 2025 compensation is not required to be broken out until VFW Foundation publishes its IRS Form 990 for fiscal year ended 8/31/2026. According to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation audit of August 31, 2025 (Note 10, Related Party Transactions): "The Foundation reimburses the VFW for certain expenses incurred on its behalf. The total amount charged to the Foundation by the VFW for these reimbursable expenses amounted to $878,845 and $908,900 for the years ended August 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. In addition, the Foundation leases office space from the VFW and incurred rental expenses under the lease of $43,647 and $43,212 for the years ended August 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The Foundation also pays the VFW for certain accounting, human resources and legal services provided by the VFW employees. The Foundation paid the VFW $75,000 and $60,000 for these services for the year ended August 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively..."
"The organization’s board members are not compensated by the VFW Foundation. The President, Secretary/Treasurer, and the board position held by the VFW Commander-in-Chief work for and are compensated by an affiliated organization (VFW) for the positions they hold and the work they perform for that organization. Additionally, the VFW provides selected employees to work exclusively for the Foundation and on Foundation business and activities. The salary administration and payroll processing for the employees that work for the VFW Foundation is administered by the VFW." |