EOD Warrior Foundation
Disarming Challenges for the EOD Family
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
EOD stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the disarming and disposal of bombs. EOD technicians serve in the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. On average there are over 7,000 brave men and women serving as EOD technicians who willingly put themselves in harms ways to protect the lives and property of others. When EODs technicians are wounded they sustain some of the most severe and often life-changing injuries including loss of limbs, burns, paralysis, blindness and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Many EOD warriors also experience Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). Recovery and rehabilitation from these injuries can be extensive and require months and sometimes years of inpatient and outpatient care and has a significant emotional and financial impact on the injured EOD warrior and their families. For the families of fallen EOD warriors, surviving family members face many changes and challenges in their lives as they grieve the loss of a loved one.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
EOD Memorial Care
The EOD Warrior Foundation is dedicated to honoring the legacy of our fallen EOD warriors by providing for the maintenance and care of the EOD Memorial at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The EOD Memorial honors EOD warriors who gave their lives in the performance of their duties. Names on the memorial date back to the formation of the EOD specialty in World War II.
Education
The EOD Warrior Foundation awards education scholarships to EOD family members, with priority given to family members of fallen and wounded EOD warriors. The scholarships are intended to assist with tuition, books and fees at two- and four-year colleges. Scholarship funds are awarded competitively to eligible students, based merit in categories that include academic merit, community involvement, letters of recommendation and essays.
Financial Relief
The Foundation provides financial assistance to EOD warriors and families to help alleviate the financial burdens and stress during their most difficult times. The foundation awards two types of grants; initial grants and follow-on grants.
Initial Grants: The foundation believes the family is an integral part of the healing and rehabilitation process and strives to quickly reunite the EOD technician with their family. A $5,000 grant is issued to provide immediate financial support to newly combat-injured EOD personnel and their families when they return stateside for treatment. The grants are often used to enable broader family support for the wounded warrior and their immediate family.
Follow-on Grants: Additional awards are granted to wounded, injured and ill EOD personnel and families of wounded and fallen warriors on a case-by-case basis. These awards provide financial assistance for expenses such as child care, adaptive equipment, retreats, travel expenses and debt relief.
Hope & Wellness
The foundation provides additional support and resources to assist our EOD warriors and families as they face many challenges and changes and uncertainty in their lives. We help to create a network of mentors and connections to resources to assist them as they move through the recovery and grief process and adjust to a new life.
Keeping connected.
Warrior and family care. We help create peer visitor relationships with our EOD personnel by having outpatient EOD technicians and their families checking in on newly wounded, ill and injured EOD warriors. Our wounded care staff does weekly visits to meet with the warrior and their families and hosts various events throughout the year. The foundation also provides iPads and internet access for inpatient personnel to stay connected to distant family, friends and their military units.
As warriors, their families, and caregivers continue through the long process of recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration, the foundation is there is to provide meaningful support and assistance. The foundation seeks to provide comfort, support and assistance for families of wounded and fallen EOD warriors; and to connect them with support systems and other families to let them know they are not alone. The foundation staff reaches out to families to provide emotional support and helps to get them connected to the EOD community.
Types of our support and resources are:
Connections to fellow warriors for peer support and mentoring
Visits and sustained outreach and contact with warriors
Morale events that include, retreats, dinners and various other activities
Connect warriors to resources and support systems
Job preparedness assistance
Connection to homeownership education, counseling and support resources
Where we work
Awards
Golden Pear Award 2020
American Fundraising Foundation
Affiliations & memberships
Better Business Bureau Accreditation 2024
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of external speaking requests for members of the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, Military personnel
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In 2020 we saw a decrease in the numbers of speaking opportunities due to COVID.
Number of programs documented
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our 4 pillars of support are the Foundation's programmatic areas.
Number of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Men and boys, Non-adult children
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of academic scholarships awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, Military personnel
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of new donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, Military personnel
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of referrals to resources offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of people provided assistive technology
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Families, Military personnel
Related Program
Financial Relief
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, Military personnel
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
In 2020 volunteers decreased because of COVID restrictions & cancelled events. We are working hard to track volunteers and grow our volunteer program to engage more volunteers around the world.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The EOD Warrior Foundation (EODWF) serves the EOD community by providing financial assistance and support to active-duty and veteran wounded, injured or ill EOD warriors, families of our wounded and fallen EOD warriors and by maintaining the EOD Memorial.
The Foundation offers four pillars of support: Financial Relief, Education, Hope & Wellness, and EOD Memorial care, and handles each request on a case-by-case basis. The immediate and ongoing assistance and resources provided by the foundation provides support above and beyond the budgetary constraints of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Our support includes financial assistance and additional services such as morale events, peer-to-peer support, educational programs, connections to resources and sustained contact with our EOD warriors and their families.
We work to disarm the challenges of the EOD family by providing our support with compassion and caring to every individual we serve.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Fortunately, the EOD community is as resilient as it is steadfast. The EOD Warrior Foundation is supported by an indivisible network of EOD family and friends. This support enables wounded EOD warriors and their families and families of fallen EOD warriors to face the future with hope, knowing they are not alone, as they forge a new life and ensures the EOD heroes who make the ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten.
The 6 game-changing strategies that will drive our success are:
1. Expanding current programs and adding new programs
2. Research and execute marketing and communications plan
3. Executing a comprehensive fundraising strategy
4. Maintaining updated governance, policies, and procedures
5. Ensuring Board and staff alignment and cohesion
6. Implementing and expanding a volunteer engagement and management strategy
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Through fundraising initiatives, and strategic partnerships with both non-profit organizations and corporations, we are able to successfully execute our programs each year. In addition to our small staff, we have an involved and supportive Board of Directors, as well as a team of volunteer Ambassadors located across the United States, and other volunteers for specific events and programs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have had great success with our scholarship program, retreat and family programs, financial relief, and of course maintaining the EOD Memorial Wall. In 2022 we broke ground on and celebrated the completion of the EOD Remembrance Garden that hosts a statue in honor of all EOD Warriors, and is a place where family and friends can go to reflect and remember.
We are continuing to grow our scholarship program, which now supports trade schools and Masters level scholarships, and has increased to over $350,000 in scholarships for EOD families annually.
At the end of 2022 we officially kicked off a research campaign with a team of independent researchers focused on Cracking the Suicide Code in the EOD community - a critical need for this small community. At the beginning of 2023 our Mental Health Case Manager began with the Foundation. As a licensed mental health clinician she will bring knowledge and expertise to our small team to continue to develop programs in support of the best mental health opportunities (both conventional and unconventional) for EOD warriors and their families.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
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 share the feedback we received with the people we serve, 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?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild 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.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild 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.
EOD Warrior Foundation
Board of directorsas of 03/05/2024
Greg Mittelman
Greg Mittelman
Kellie Perry
Nicole Motsek
Rob Reynolds
Mark Sanders
Josh Herren
Brian Corris
Leon Tackitt
Peter Connolly
Leo Bradley
Sean Dennis
Chris Patty
Lisa Wirstrom
Brent Caslin
Frank Tobin
Board leadership practices
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
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:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/05/2024GuideStar 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
- 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.
- 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.