Sound Off

If We Send Them We Must Mend Them

One of the many hats I wear as the CEO of the Invictus Foundation is that of Chief Fundraising Officer (CFO). As with all my other hats it comes with no salary (: In this role I believe that it is incumbent upon me to fully explain why with all the “white noise” out there this time of year clamoring for your year-end donation dollars the Invictus Foundation’s “ask” should be acted upon. The answer to that question is “because we have earned it”. We believe that “donor fatigue” is real and that hard earned money should and will go to charitable organizations that can prove they have earned it.

I intend to reinforce my answer through throwback commercials that reinforce some principle guiding precepts of the Invictus Foundation: (1) Hard work and organizational craftsmanship produces value, (2) public relations hype and slick, expensive commercials do not trump actions speak louder than words and (3) telephone calls and web based meetings will never replace old fashioned fashion eye contact and a handshake to project donor-centricity.

The first precept is reinforced in this video Click on Link. The second precept is underscored in this video Click on Link. and finally the third precept is brought to life in this video Click on Link. We at the Invictus Foundation have built something of long-term value and have done so by strategically and tactically paying attention to the above precepts to build out the Invictus Foundation.

Our adherence to these precepts produced the attached results in 2018. 2018 Annual Report. We produced this value with an AFR (Administrative and Fundraising) cost of 5% i.e. 95% of every donated dollars goes into services and programs. That number is substantiated and validated by GuideStar, a third-party reviewer of charitable enterprises, where we have a Gold Star rating with them for transparency to donors.

To donors I have likened the Invictus Foundation to the “Quiet Company” whose actions and results do speak louder than words. We use the three-legged stool of grants, corporate donations and grass roots fund-raising to fund our services and programs. Like most non-profits 80% of our donations come from 20% of our donors. Ironically, we operate under conditions similar to what our young men and women in the military experience; 1% of them are expected to be the sentinels of Freedom’s Gate so the rest of us can enjoy those freedoms. Where is the Outrage – A Must Read

In closing, I respectfully ask that you donate to the Invictus Foundation’s vision and mission by going to www.invictusfoundation.org and clicking on the donate button. With your gift you will turn the phrase “support our troops” from a slogan into action. Your gift will support an effort that will contribute to our Nation’s military, veterans and their families who have given so selflessly of themselves to us and replace despair and disconnectedness with hope, resiliency and recovery for those suffering from the invisible wounds of war.

 

At this hour, a military family is missing a loved one at Christmas. Maybe their soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman or Marine is away for training. Maybe their loved one is deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Southern Border or an undisclosed location. Or perhaps their loved one is one of almost 7,000 Americans – including 24 this year – to return from the Middle East in a flag-draped casket.

As we celebrate Christmas, there is no group of Americans who deserve our gratitude more than the one percent of our population that volunteers to serve. Every moment of every day, U.S. troops and their families are making enormous sacrifices to protect the 99 percent of us who don’t wear the uniform, as well as innocent people abroad.

Unless it’s Veterans Day or Memorial Day, it’s increasingly difficult to keep the military’s sacrifices at the forefront of our national consciousness. That’s why this Christmas, the Invictus Foundation is asking you to say a special prayer for our troops, veterans and all military families. Asking God to watch over our heroes is not only appropriate, but will remind everyone at your Christmas table celebration that somewhere – at this very moment – an American warrior is defending liberty.

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.

Thanks in advance for your time. And as always, thanks for being a Friend of the Invictus Foundation. It is our goal to inform and educate our readers on the vision and mission of the Invictus Foundation.

Sincerely,
The Team at Invictus Foundation

If We Send Them We Must Mend Them

At this hour, a military family is missing a loved one at Thanksgiving. Maybe their soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman or Marine is away for training. Maybe their loved one is deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Southern Border or an undisclosed location. Or perhaps their loved one is one of almost 7,000 Americans – including 24 this year – to return from the Middle East in a flag-draped casket.

As we give thanks, there is no group of Americans who deserve our gratitude more than the one percent of our population that volunteers to serve. Every moment of every day, U.S. troops and their families are making enormous sacrifices to protect the 99 percent of us who don’t wear the uniform, as well as innocent people abroad.

Unless it’s Veterans Day or Memorial Day, it’s increasingly difficult to keep the military’s sacrifices at the forefront of our national consciousness. That’s why this Thanksgiving, the Invictus Foundation is asking you to say a special prayer for our troops, veterans and all military families. Asking God to watch over our heroes is not only appropriate, but will remind everyone at your table that somewhere – at this very moment – an American warrior is defending liberty.

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

The War After the War

A cut from Mary Gauthier’s brilliant album “Rifles and Rosary Beads.”

Take the time to listen and to reflect. Powerful truths in the lyrics of this song.

We urge those who want to understand how the invisible wounds of war are inflicted upon these men and women to purchase Mary’s Rifles and Rosary Beads. It was nominated for a Grammy Award and its songs speak powerfully to the impact of war on those who fight it on our behalf.

Thanks in advance for your time. And as always, thanks for being a Friend of the Invictus Foundation. It is our goal to inform and educate our readers on the vision and mission of the Invictus Foundation.

INTRODUCTION

I am really excited to have Bryan join the Invictus Foundation team. He is superbly qualified to be our expert knowledge base in building world-class resiliency programs for the men and woman suffering from the physical and invisible wounds of war at the planned Invictus Centers for TBI & Psychological Health in Orting, WA.

Many people do not understand that veterans are not eligible for the more generously funded DOD satellite military facilities. To access those Centers such as the Intrepid Spirit Centers you must be on active duty. Veterans are left with decidedly more modest centers. Our dream is to build regional centers that are fed by our regional Welcome Home Networks that emulate the Lakeshore Foundation in Alabama.

Many people often ask me, “Peter, isn’t that where our taxpayer dollars are supposed to be going in the funding of the VA”. The answer is yes and no. Inarguable that is one of many of their mandates. However, the System is overwhelmed, outdated and hopelessly behind the curve in helping our military personnel and veterans cope with what they have experienced in the crucible of war. The private sector has a vital role to play in alleviating some of the short-fall in TBI and psychological health services.

I believe one of my chief roles is to show private sector donors how they can assist in this short-fall in the most cost-efficient manner while simultaneously generating tremendous goodwill for its brand in the community in which these Centers will be placed. The below quote gives an accurate description on the financial cost of ten years of war in the Middle East let alone the human cost of waging it over those years.

Costs won’t peak soon

The true cost of war can’t be known for years and decades after the last bullet has been fired. A disability tied to military service might take years to emerge, and might steadily worsen after it does. Bilmes, the Harvard professor who co-wrote “The Three Trillion Dollar War” with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, said the peak for paying out claims from World War II didn’t come until the 1980s. The peak for the Vietnam War, which ended nearly four decades ago, hasn’t yet been reached. “We expect to see the same kind of lag this time around,” Bilmes said

One of our generation of warriors proudest achievement was to have the Nation understand, albeit belatedly, that you don’t blame the warrior for an outcome that was politically dictated by the hapless policies of politicians. As von Clausewitz famously said, ” war is the continuation of politics by other means”. My passion for the last nine years has been to “pay it forward” to benefit this Nation’s latest generation of warriors in providing them provider portals and planning world-class Centers as an actual physical demonstration of “Welcome Home from a Grateful Nation”.

I won’t stop until I have realized the dream of the Invictus Centers for TBI & Psychological Health.

Coach Hoddle will be responsible for the R&D of all physical activity programs that fulfill the mission of the Invictus Foundation

Coach Hoddle will be responsible for development, implementation and management of the programs of physical activity that fulfill the mission and vision of the Invictus Foundation. This responsibility will span the continuum of programming in fitness, aquatics, recreation and athletics. Coach Hoddle’s primary responsibility will be developing world class programs in the aforementioned areas for injured active duty military personnel and veterans sponsored through and by the Invictus Foundation.

Peter J. Whalen, CEO of the Invictus Foundation, states, “In the years ahead, Coach Hoddle will closely consult with me in preparation for the groundbreaking on our first TBI (traumatic brain injury) & Psychological Health Center. We anticipate the new Western Regional Center will be located in Orting, Washington. “Bryan will provide the expertise and knowledge base to help me bring the physical recovery and fitness aspects of this project to life,” Whalen said.

Coach Hoddle has worked extensively with injured soldiers helping amputees, traumatic brain injuries, blind and wheelchair soldiers. He has been honored by the Washington State House of Representatives with HR 4675 for his work teaching, coaching, working with athletes with disabilities and Soldiers/Veterans as well as having been awarded a 2014 USA Track and Field Presidential Award.

In August of 2002, he was named Program Director for the USA Paralympics Track and Field Performance Coaching Staff. In the summer of 2000, he served as Assistant Manager for the World Junior Track and Field Team. He was selected Head Coach for the 2004 USA Paralympics Track and Field Team held in Athens, Greece.

“I was so pleased when Peter asked me to assume the role of the Chief Program Officer for the Invictus Foundation,” states Coach Hoddle. “He and I have had a long-term collaboration around his dream 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” that stretch back to his founding of the Invictus Foundation nine years ago. I have always believed that he had the leadership skills, competency, credibility and character to one day bring his vision to life.”

Conclusion

One of my driving believes has always been a plan without execution is just a hallucination. We have accomplished a great deal in nine years with much left to achieve. 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, patience and an eye toward the long game.
The joy is in the journey not how quickly you get there.