PLATINUM2023

PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA HQ

aka PVA   |   Washington, DC   |  www.pva.org

Mission

Paralyzed Veterans of America a congressionally chartered veterans service organization founded in 1946, has developed a unique expertise on a wide variety of issues involving the special needs of our members veterans of the armed forces who have experienced spinal cord injury or dysfunction. PVA will use that expertise to be the leading advocate for: - Quality health care for our members, - Research and education addressing spinal cord injury and dysfunction, - Benefits available as a result of our members military service, - Civil rights and opportunities which maximize the independence of our members and all people with disabilities. For more information visit www.SupportVeterans.org and/or www.pva.org.

Notes from the nonprofit

Paralyzed Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization founded in 1946, has developed a unique expertise on a wide variety of issues involving the special needs of our members – veterans of the armed forces who have experienced spinal cord injury or dysfunction.

We use that expertise to be the leading advocate for:

Quality health care for our members,
Research and education addressing spinal cord injury and dysfunction,
Benefits available as a result of our members' military service,
Civil rights and opportunities that maximize the independence of our members.
To enable Paralyzed Veterans to continue to honor this commitment, we must recruit and retain members who have the experience, energy, dedication, and passion necessary to manage the organization and ensure adequate resources to sustain the programs essential for Paralyzed Veterans of America to achieve its mission

Ruling year info

1955

President

Mr. Charles Brown

Main address

1875 Eye Street, NW Suite 1100

Washington, DC 20006 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

13-1946868

NTEE code info

Military/Veterans' Organizations (W30)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (E01)

Mutual/Membership Benefit Organizations, Other N.E.C. (Y99)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2021, 2019 and 2018.
Register now

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Paralyzed Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization founded in 1946, has developed a unique expertise on a wide variety of issues involving the special needs of our members – veterans of the armed forces who have experienced spinal cord injury, disease and/or dysfunction.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Veteran Service Organization

Founded in 1946 by veterans of World War II, PVA started out as a small organization - a group of individuals committed to helping each other, sharing their hard-learned strategies for living with spinal cord injury (SCI), and working to improve their communities. Over sixty years ago PVA was there to help our paralyzed heroes, and now continues a long legacy of commitment to providing hope for all individuals with disabilities. Beyond our broad scope of SCI research & education, PVA continues to respond to the needs of our members veterans of the armed forces with spinal cord injury or dysfunction through pro bono legal representation, veterans benefits services, legislation & advocacy, access to quality healthcare, architecture and accessibility, and sports & recreational activities. PVA has awarded more than $50 million in SCI research and education grants, filed hundreds of thousands claims on behalf of our members with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and served millions of individuals with disabilities. And we want to do more in 2014 and beyond. Through the generosity of more than 30 million friends nationwide and a network of 34 Chapters across America, we hope to further educate all individuals to prevent more injuries from occurring, and ultimately to find a cure.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Awards

Platinum 2017

GuideStar.org

Top Rated 2017

Great Non-profits.org

Platinum 2018

GuideStar.org

Top Rated 2018

Great Non-profits.org

Platinum 2019

GuideStar.org

Top Rated 2019

Great Non-profits.org

Top Rated 2020

Great Nonprofits

Top Rated 2020

Impact Matters Nonprofits

Top Rated 2021

Great Nonprofits

Platinum 2021

GuideStar

Affiliations & memberships

Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2017

Association of Donor Relations Professionals 2018

Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2019

Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2020

Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2021

Forbes Business Council 2021

Association of Fundraising Professionals 2022

DMA 2022

ANA 2022

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Veteran population

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Women and girls, Men and boys

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Department of Veterans Affairs-veteran population.

Americans with spinal cord injury/disease.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Women and girls, Men and boys

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Veterans with spinal cord injury/disease

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Disabled Americans

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of overall donors

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Health, Social and economic status, Work status and occupations, Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

20 Million Donors on File. 20% Of U.S. Households. 2.7 Million Donors in FY2020. 5.7 Million Gifts

Disabled Americans

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Women and girls, Men and boys

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of advocacy contacts with government leaders

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Women and girls, Men and boys, Adolescents, Adults, Seniors, Young adults, Caregivers, Families, Economically disadvantaged people, Homeless people, Veterans, People with diseases and illnesses, People with HIV/AIDS, Substance abusers, People with disabilities, People with hearing impairments, People with intellectual disabilities, People with learning disabilities, People with physical disabilities, People with psychosocial disabilities, People with vision impairments

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of patient visits

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Health, Extremely poor people, Homeless people, Low-income people, Working poor

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Number of clients represented on Veterans issues.

Number of polls conducted with advocacy audience(s)

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Age groups, Health, Work status and occupations

Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of clients served

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of families served

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Veteran Service Organization

Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Paralyzed Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization founded in 1946, has developed a unique expertise on a wide variety of issues involving the special needs of our members – veterans of the armed forces who have experienced spinal cord injury or dysfunction.

PVA will use that expertise to be the leading advocate for:

Quality health care for our members and all Veterans,
Research and education addressing spinal cord injury and dysfunction,
Benefits available as a result of our members' military service,
Civil rights and opportunities that maximize the independence of our members.
To enable PVA to continue to honor this commitment, we must recruit and retain members who have the experience, energy, dedication, and passion necessary to manage the organization and ensure adequate resources to sustain the programs essential for PVA to achieve its mission.

Paralyzed Veterans of America is here to help veterans with disabilities, their families and their caregivers gain easy access to everything they need to thrive– from expert help to cut through government red tape to secure earned military benefits to the specialized help to secure a good job and career.

Life is complicated at the best of times but add a spinal cord injury and it can seem impossible. That's where Paralyzed Veterans comes in with the broad range of services that can be found on www.pva.org--to help Veterans with disabilities reach their full potential.

Paralyzed Veterans of America currently has over 60 National Service Offices nationwide. By contacting one of these offices, veterans can speak with a National Service Officer (NSO) to ensure they are receiving the benefits to which they are entitled. All of our NSOs are highly trained in VA law, benefits and healthcare.

Paralyzed Veterans members are welcome to join any of our chapters, regardless of their state of residence. Paralyzed Veterans chapters provide members with information affecting them both on a local and national level, sporting opportunities, social events, volunteer opportunities, and a myriad of other programs.

Our veterans are our heroes for life. After serving our country, serious injury shouldn't stop them from living the full, rewarding lives they deserve. At Paralyzed Veterans of America, we fight for better health care and benefits, aid in the search for a truly satisfying career, and provide the path to adventure through adaptive sports. What's more, we are committed to ongoing care by educating clinicians about spinal cord injury, and we're deeply invested in the future—a cure.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    All Veterans and all individuals with disabilities.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more about GuideStar Pro.

Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA

Board of directors
as of 01/16/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mr. Charles Brown

PVA

Term: 2021 - 2022

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 1/13/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Disability status
Person with a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 01/13/2022

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.