Sound Off

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.

Letter from a Soldier

Dear Sir,
I have not been stationed in the US since 1995, and the nature of my job will keep me overseas throughout my career. Although I am not always viewed as that soldier with “dusty boots,” I know all too well what it is like to be away from home for so long — especially during the holidays.

I would like, however, to take this opportunity to thank you, and America, for being the fine, grand, noble Nation that makes each and every one of us out here serving in the military extremely proud of the country and the people we protect.

You don’t necessarily have to pray for us soldiers, as we have chosen this life….and we will sacrifice our life for OUR people and OUR country. No, do not pray for us this holiday season…..Pray for OUR Nation and Her people……for only then will the life we ‘chose’ be worthwhile.

Yes, I do pray for peace on Earth…always. But, “there will be wars, and rumors of wars,” so, in the meantime; maybe, just maybe, this year you can put out a suggestion to OUR American people…… We tend to fly our flag on 4th of July, we tend to fly our flag on Veteran’s Day……maybe this year, through your web-site, you could maybe “ask” the American people to put a small American Flag on their Christmas Tree, amongst their ornaments, (or within their own religious ceremony/custom) just to “remember.”

A small reminder that “we” are free to celebrate whatever holiday, however we please, because of that flag and what She represents. Sir, I have volunteered to protect ALL Americans… Christian, Jewish, Agnostic, even Atheist…. it is my proud honor to do so…. and all I ask is that maybe, during this “holiday” season (whether one believes in it or not) is your help in asking “America” to wave Her flag in Unity and be thankful for our Grand Nation. It would mean a lot to us out here, wherever we are……

EPILOGUE
The Giving Season has arrived and with it an outreach email to the Friends of the Invictus Foundation to consider a donation to the Invictus Foundation in 2020. A donation can easily be made by going to www.invictusfoundation.org and hitting the donate button.

For your review I have attached a jpeg visually representing that ten years of effort in executing the first phase of our capstone strategy has been achieved. WHN 2020 Coverage This year we completed our eighth and final regional Welcome Home Network covering the New England states.

Starting in 2021 we will begin moving forward on the funding and development of eight regional Invictus Centers for TBI & Psychological Health. As with the WHNs we will build out the Centers moving West to East. Our first one will be built in Orting, WA on a beautiful piece of land that fits one of our strategic requirements that the Centers be built in a pastoral setting.

Each Center will cost 3M dollars to build. Attached is a jpeg of an architectural rendering of the Centers. Invictus Center As I promised with the Welcome Home Networks there will be no long-term endowment required to keep the Centers operating. They will be self-sustaining.

For the past ten years we have built out the WHNs by the generosity of corporate sponsors, grants, high net worth individuals and grass roots fund raising. Now we will begin to move into the capital construction phase of building the Centers which are the capstones to our strategic and tactical capstone strategy. They will require capital construction costs of 3M dollars each to build. To raise those types of funds we will need to have a more robust fund-raising infrastructure than we currently have in place.

My “ask” of the Friends of the Invictus Foundation is specifically around the strengthening of our fundraising infrastructure. I have researched and sought proposals from three companies I believe offer the Foundation the best value for its money. I have narrowed it to one contractor and the cost of engaging them to help us strengthen our fundraising efforts would be $25,000 thousand dollars. This line-item expense will help us put in place the infrastructure necessary to raise the 3M dollars in capital construction costs to build our first Center in Orting.

Thanking you in advance for your review and consideration of our Christmas Ask.

The Invictus Foundation is Proud to Announce the Addition of Mr. Jack Gutman, D-Day Hero, to its Advisory Board

SEATTLE, October 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ —The Invictus Foundation™, a national nonprofit organization providing individual and family behavioral health counseling services with licensed behavioral health practitioners across the U.S to uniformed service members, veterans and their families, takes great pride in announcing the addition of Mr. Jack Gutman, D-Day hero, as the newest member of its Advisory Board.

“For a very long time I have been searching for a member of the Greatest Generation who took part in the Normandy invasion and the nightmare that has become known as “Bloody Omaha”; Omaha Beach. When I saw Jack’s interview on a nationally televised news broadcast I knew I had found that individual. Click on this link to see Jack’s interview.

“In order to heal other veterans so they don’t feel so alone in their suffering I wrote a book about my experience, Mr. Gutman states. In my book One Veteran’s Journey to Heal the Wounds of War, I reveal my own nightmarish experience as an eighteen year old Navy corpsman on Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. My book is a genuine reflection of the scope and duration of my struggle with Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD). In it I describe my life-long panic attacks, night terrors, depression, and addictions, the latter which I used to “distract” myself from going mad”. Click on this link to review the book and its reviews.

“Jack was a kid sent to do a man’s job, and he did that heart wrenching job with valor, dignity, sometimes humor, kindness and grace. He is a living embodiment of why we should always and forever be grateful to those who sacrificed so much to keep us free.” Mr. Whalen states.

“Specifically important to me was that Jack has become a powerful voice added to the chorus of warriors past and present encouraging active duty military personnel and veterans to seek help. By

doing so they provide themselves and their families the opportunity to be taught the life skills necessary to practice resiliency in managing the aftermath of what was done and seen by them in the crucible of war.”

“I was pleased when Peter asked me to become a member of the Invictus Foundation’s Advisory Board. He and I are committed to a lifetime collaboration around the Invictus Foundation’s vision and mission of improving access and service levels for behavioral health services to uniformed services personnel, veterans and their families as well as the physical recovery and fitness aspects of their “new normal.”

About the Invictus Foundation

Invictus Foundation™ is a national nonprofit organization providing individual and family behavioral health counseling services regardless of their ability to pay to active duty military service members, veterans and their families. Invictus Foundation partners with behavioral health providers across the U.S. to provide improved access and increased behavioral health services to uniformed personnel, veterans and their families.

We at the Invictus Foundation want to thank all who donated to our If We Send Them We Must Mend Them campaign. You helped us achieve our goal of raising $2000 dollars to provide behavioral health services to active duty military personnel and veterans who are taking their lives at the rate of 22 a day. The final number raised was $2400 dollars.

Last year our Welcome Home Networks provided 300,000 thousand psychotherapy visits to these men and women many of which were pro bono (free).

Your donations help us continue our mission to improve availability and access of behavioral health services to active duty military members and veterans.

With gratitude, I am

Peter J Whalen
Founder & CEO
Invictus Foundation

To the Friends of the Invictus Foundation

Aristotle’s Rule of Three was, “tell them once, tell them what you just said, then tell them again.” We at the Invictus Foundation subscribe to that rule.

We are just two days away from winding down our September Suicide Prevention Campaign. Since our Campaign began on September 20th and the time it ends on October 20th 660 active duty military and veterans lives will have been lost to suicide!!!

We at the Invictus Foundation are doing all we can with the resources given to us by donors such as yourself to message them we love and care for each and every one of them. Last year we provided 300k visits to them across our Welcome Home Networks.

However, we urgently need your help in continuing our efforts to create grass roots efforts in the form of community outreach efforts that improve the availability and accessibility of behavioral health care services to these men and women.

We at the Invictus Foundation believe that the crucible of war inflicts a moral injury on those that experience the crucible of war and that they must have access to services at the local level that will provide them with the coping skills they will need over a lifetime to come to terms with what they have seen and done while in the crucible of war.

Please join us in our mission to bring down these horrifying numbers by helping to pay for services they so desperately need. To take this action step turns Welcome Home from a slogan to a commitment to help end the epidemic of suicides among those that have risked life and limb to make sure the rhythm of our everyday lives goes on without interruption for the rest of us.

Thanks for listening. Now we ask you to act!

Friends of the Invictus Foundation,

By the end of each day we lose 22 active duty military and veterans to suicide-almost one an hour. JFK once called on this Nation to, “ask not what your Country can do for you but what you can do for your Country”.

That we lose 22 men and women a day that answered that call to suicide is heart breaking. To do a deep dive into the causative effects of this rate of suicide among military members and veterans would take far longer than your attention span would allow.

Suffice it to say that jingoisms and slogans do not help these Kids with their feelings of disconnectedness and feeling abandoned by our society at large. Welcome Home is just a slogan to these Kid’s when they are well aware that 22 of their battle buddies a day are taking their own lives while the rhythm of everyday life seems not to notice.

We at the Invictus Foundation notice everyday and are doing all we can with the resources given to us by donors such as yourself to message them we love and care for each and every one of them. Last year we provided 300k visits to them across our Welcome Home Networks.

However, we urgently need your help in continuing our efforts to create grass roots efforts in the form of community outreach efforts that improve the availability and accessibility of behavioral health care services to these men and women.

We at the Invictus Foundation believe that the crucible of war inflicts a moral injury on those that experience the crucible of war and that they must have access to services at the local level that will provide them with the coping skills they will need over a lifetime to come to terms with what they have seen and done while in the Crucible.

Please join us in our mission to bring down these horrifying numbers by helping to pay for services they so desperately need. To take this action step turns Welcome Home from a slogan to a commitment to help end the epidemic of suicides among those that have risked life and limb to make sure the rhythm of our every day lives goes on without interruption for the rest of us.

Thanks for listening. Now we ask you to act!

To the Friends of the Invictus Foundation

There is no greater need for prevention of suicides than in the military/veterans space. Twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide! Suicide prevention and the reduction of the current numbers remain a priority and focus of the Invictus Foundation. We ask all who receive this correspondence to click on the link below. It will take you to our Campaign. Once there we ask that you help us obtain our goal of raising $2000 dollars to contribute toward programs we are operating to improve accessibility and availability of behavioral health services for our men and women in uniform, veterans and their families to help reduce this truly horrific statistic.
https://www.givegab.com/campaigns/stop22