Preamble
It has been over a decade since I began the Invictus Foundation. I began it with this bedrock understanding and belief. That for those of us that have experienced the crucible of war that it has a profound impact both physically and emotionally on those men and women we send to fight in them on this Nation’s behalf.
When I say profound, I am talking about decades not years. It is a fundamental truth that most Americans do not comprehend. There is statistical data that points to a tailing effect of 30 years or more. Long after the physical wounds heal and scar over the emotional scarring remain.
Understanding this fundamental fact drove me to start the Invictus Foundation in March of 2010 with ten thousand dollars of my own seed money. I remain steadfastly dedicated to its vision and mission.
Welcome Home Network Service Metrics for 2021
For FY 2021 the Invictus Foundation’s national Welcome Home Network totaled 1,170,000 referrals across eight regions over 50 states. From this base of referrals, we achieved 936,000 patient encounters. We had a 20% no show rate. The national average for behavioral health services is 37%.
The ramping of our numbers over time represents both the growth in the scope and reach of our Welcome Home Network coverage out over time and the need for community-based programs among our military members, veterans, their families and public safety officers in the states and regions the Welcome Home Network now serves.
Welcome Home Network Provider Coverage
Our Welcome Home Network provider coverage of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage & family counselors, substance abuse counselors and mental health workers stands at 730,000 behavioral health providers across eight regions and all fifty states.
These metrics confirm the Invictus Foundation continues to scale the capacity of its Welcome Home Network. This growth and development continue to improve service coverage and access for TBI and behavioral health services for our military members, veterans, and their families at the community level across the Country.
Invictus Foundation Begins the Capstone Phase of its Vision and Mission
Our Phase 1 strategic and tactical plan was to build out eight regional Welcome Home Networks across the Country. Phase 1, which we called the Network Phase, has been completed. We are now entering into Phase 2 of our strategic and tactical build out plan for the Invictus Foundation. We are calling Phase 2 our Capstone Phase.
Over the next decade the Invictus Foundation plans to construct and operate eight regional Invictus Centers for Traumatic Brain Injury & Behavioral Health Science Centers.. The Centers will offer intensive day treatment programs and extensive outpatient programs encompassing a continuum of evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, education, training, ongoing community outreach and research for our military, veterans, their families, public safety officers and the Community -at- large.
Once built, each Center will immediately seek Federal grants as a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) under the Community Mental Health Act and simultaneously seek accreditation by TRICARE as a designated Medical Treatment Facility. They will also seek to align with each State’s health planning function to ensure maximal leverage of resources available to each Center through public, private and quasi-public funding mechanisms.
When the Capstone Phase is completed, we will integrate Phase 1 into Phase 2 and will end up with an integrated delivery network (IDN) of providers (community based and brick & mortar based)) providing services to our constituency through a permeable membrane of outreach activities that will flow out to and in from the community- at- large.
Our Welcome Networks will act as feeders into the Centers for those men and women needing a higher level of intensity of treatment across the spectrum of Traumatic Brain Injury, Mild Brain Injury, Associated Brain Injury and behavioral health issues, These issues include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicide prevention, depression, alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, relationship issues, Military Sexual Trauma (MST), rehabilitation/aftercare(community integration) and pre/post deployment screening to this Country’s military, veterans, their families and families of the fallen.
We are projecting that each Center will cost 12 to 13 million dollars each. Our plan is to build the first Invictus Center for TBI & Behavioral Health Services in Orting, Washington. Our goal is to break ground for the Center in mid-year 2025.
Development Model for the Invictus Centers Capital Construction
We will use a philantro-capitalism model which allows donors to determine whether they want to donate because they have an affinity for the vision and mission of the Invictus Foundation (affinity donors) or others who will accept a more modest return on their donation but do want a return on their donation (ROI donors).The distinction between the two funding group is the affinity group eschews and ROI and allows any profits to be rolled back into the continued development and growth of the Centers.
From a tactical operating perspective each regional Center would establish a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) dedicated to providing oversight for that regional Center. The LOC would report directly to the Board of Directors of the Invictus Foundation. Each LOC would have an ex-officio Invictus Foundation board member on the LOC to ensure uniformity and consistency of the vision and mission of the Invictus Foundation.
Funding Model for the Invictus Centers Capital Construction
It is the Invictus Foundation’s intent to use as its funding model a Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that fuses operating profitability of the Centers with the year over year valuations of the land that the Centers will be built upon to pay down the capital construction debt for each Center. We estimate the break-even point for each Center’s profitability will be 3-5 years out from their opening.
Invictus Foundation’s Goals & Objectives for 2022
- Continued strengthening of our technology backbone that ties together our eight regional provider networks across our national platform
- Continuing to expand and strengthen our behavioral telehealth platform across our national platform
- Initiate research and development of our first regional Invictus Center for TBI & Psychological Health to be built in the Seattle metropolis
The Back Story of the Invictus Foundation will be Embedded in Each Yearly Annual Report
I believe it is instructive for our donors to be reminded of the tenants used to build the success story of the Invictus Foundation. Why? Because to me the Invictus Foundation confirms that a high impact programs and services company can be built through the generosity of corporate philanthropy, NGOs and grass roots funding without one dollar of public funding being involved.
Below are the foundational tenets of the Invictus Foundation
Funding Principles
We never sought public money. Why? As the CEO of the Invictus Foundation I strongly believe that it puts a strait jacket around creative and out-of-the box thinking demanded of lean and efficient philanthropic organizations. How? By encouraging bloated administrative & fund raising (AFR) percentages it results in a “trickle down” impact on programs and
services. The high impact results achieved by the Invictus Foundation’s programs and services over the last decade has been accomplished entirely through private sector funding which, in my opinion, demands an optimization of dollars spent on programs and service and far less on overhead.
In-House Fund Raising
We use telephonic and email outreach to donor bases historically exhibitu affinity for Veterans causes to fund raise. We assiduously avoided going the route of outsourcing fund raising who, as best as we could determine, take roughly 45-50% of every dollar raised in fundraising costs. A ridiculous percentage that amounts to nothing more than the “tail wagging the dog”.
Social Media & Mass Marketing
We resisted from day one the siren call of using social media platforms and mass marketing to seek donations. We believe that out over last decade we have been proven to be correct in being cautious about social media tools to raise funds. We use our social media platforms as a public service announcement tool to let our local communities know that our community outreach services are available. Our goal is to have the messaging penetrate into the local community that our primary objective is to increase accessibility and
availability of our services in their respective communities. Given the growth of our services across our Welcome Home Networks the messaging is reaching its intended target audience and growing our Networks volume year over year.
Organizational Efficiency and Resiliency
We have, from the beginning, grown the Invictus Foundation around six sigma principles. The best way, in my opinion, of viewing six sigma principles is through the prism of another science; physiology. Specifically, BMI-Body Mass Index. An Organization should be able to measure whether “organizational bloat” has crept into its programs and services. When “bloat” creeps into an Organization’s muscle and sinew the result is administrative and fund raising percentage increases that negatively skew and Organization’s point of service capabilities.
Annual Zero Based Budgeting
Six sigma principles permeates every function of the Invictus Foundation particularly its finances. We use annual zero based budgeting to ensure our “financial carburetor” runs on a lean mixture to optimize the impact of our programs and services that we are able to provide thanks to the generosity of our donors. Like a car, if the monetary outflow is to “rich” the
Organizational engine begins to “smoke”. The smoke indicates the burn rate between program and services delivery and sales, governance and administration (SG&A) to deliver them is to “rich” and must be adjusted to a leaner mixture.
Business Process Outsourcing
This is the primary management tool we use to achieve the above referenced balance between operational readiness and overhead. The Invictus Foundation employs no full time staffing. Rather, we use BPOs to access intellectual capital around key functions within the Organization and supplement that as necessary with staff that is part-time temporary and are 1099 contractors.
Administrative and Fund Raising Tolerances
We are proud of the fact that the Invictus Foundation in its ten years of being in existence has never exceeded more than a five percent administrative and fund raising percentage. That ability is integrally tied to zero based budgeting techniques and the use of BPOs to accomplish operational readiness. As the CEO of the Invictus Foundation I take no salary. I have taken 40+ years of organization and management of health care enterprises, which is his vocation, and applied it to my avocation; the Invictus Foundation. I began the Invictus Foundation ten years ago with the fundamental belief that “the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it”.
Technology as a Force Multiplier
Technology has absolutely allowed the Invictus Foundation to accomplish its vision and mission at a fraction of the cost that it once took in the rolling out of regional managed care plans all around the Country. I was a young health care executive at the time helping Aetna roll out its managed care across the Country at costs per region that ran into the millions of dollars.
A Focus on High Impact Programs and Service
By combining six sigma techniques, employing zero based budgeting annually and harnessing technology as a force multiplier we have been able to push ninety-five cents of every dollar donated down to the point of service.
Metrics
We believe “that which is not measured is not done”. We measure all aspects of our services and programs both qualitatively and quantitatively quarter over quarter to measure their impact. Given our Welcome Home Networks tremendous growth out over ten years our programs and services have had a significant impact.
Conclusion
We have accomplished a great deal with much left to achieve in the coming decade. We have proven to our supporters that we are in it for the long haul and are executing our strategic and tactical game plan with intelligence and patience. The joy is in the journey not how quickly you get there.
Thanks to all of our supporters for being a Friend of the Invictus Foundation. It is our goal to continually inform and educate our supporters on the vision and mission of the Invictus Foundation.
