CIVILIAN EXPOSURE
Building Awareness, Accountability and Assistance for People Exposed to Toxic Contamination Aboard US Military Bases
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Civilian Exposure is shedding light on contamination and health impacts to civilians and veterans aboard U.S. military installations. We build awareness, accountability and assistance for the exposed. Our primary audience consists of those exposed to toxic groundwater contamination at Camp Lejeune, NC. Our secondary audience consists of members of communities from 100+ other military bases currently on the EPA Superfund Site List for similar contamination. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 1 in 5 people live on or near a Superfund location with groundwater or soil vapor contamination. Over 150 Superfund sites are military bases. Up to 4 million claims are filed annually with the Veterans Administration. Up to 96% of contamination claims are denied (ex: Camp Lejeune claims).
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Media Awareness & Community Outreach
We are working hard to keep military base contamination in the news and top of mind. The majority of military and civilian personnel: 1) do not know of the contamination problem, 2) are not aware of ongoing research, and 3) do not have guidance to know if their health problems are connected. In addition, media attention to this problem has been tepid at best. As a media and business professional of almost 20 years, I knew my expertise could help.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of new website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Veterans, People with diseases and illnesses, Military personnel
Related Program
Media Awareness & Community Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Consistent, steady, organic and marketing growth.
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?
At Civilian Exposure, we serve the nation by shedding light on contamination and health impacts to civilians aboard U.S. military installations.
Our first and flagship effort involves:
Building Awareness, Accountability and Assistance for Civilians Exposed to Camp Lejeune Water Contamination
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The primary purpose for Civilian Exposure is to elevate media, community and medical awareness to the issue of military base contamination. As a result of ongoing outreach efforts, we have identified 3 key community needs that correspond with the 3 pillars of our mission: building awareness, accountability and assistance.
1. Awareness: Expand outreach through attendance at environmental science and journalism events, plus developing print, direct mail, PR and radio ads.
2. Accountability: As a non-profit news organization, we need to expand our staff in order to provide the most information to those that need it, as well as keep the spotlight on environmental negligence.
3. Assistance: It is now vital to launch our proposed Doctor Briefing Program (community doctors outside of the VA system are completely unaware of military base environmental exposure problems), a proposed Claims Assistance Program (to help expedite successful claims), and a new Charitable Community Healthcare Fund (to provide immediate financial assistance, if even just a modest amount, to those with the greatest need).
This outreach and education project uses Camp Lejeune toxic groundwater contamination as a flagship. We envision, however, that our work with those impacted at this base will serve as a blueprint for other bases across the country.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Through continuous community feedback, we've identified 3 key that correspond with our 3 mission pillars: building awareness, accountability and assistance.
1. Awareness: The primary purpose for Civilian Exposure is to elevate media awareness to the issue, with the goal of achieving sustained national-level attention through development and execution of an integrated national media and marketing plan, including becoming a central nonprofit news hub for this issue.
2. Accountability: CivilianExposure.org serves as a non-profit news organization and content/information aggregator dedicated to education about military base environmental contamination, health problems and injustice. We go out into these communities locally, regionally and nationally to get the stories. We cover the courts and the Congress when military base contamination legislation and laws are involved. We work within a network of professional media and marketing connections/partnerships to relay the relevant history, personal stories, research, guidance and policy issues to the public. We use FOIA and other methods to hold agencies and policymakers accountable for progress on this issue.
3. Assistance: We receive several emails or comments daily for a variety of legal, claims, health, or financial assistance. While we realize that we cannot provide everything to everyone, we have pinpointed several programs (claims assistance, medical education programs, and charitable community healthcare funds) that can be targeted.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The founder has 20+ years of experience developing and executing award-winning broadcast operations and digital marketing strategy. As leader of Civilian Exposure, he has previously served on the CDC/ATSDR Camp Lejeune Community Assistance Panel, collaborating with government agencies to promote scientific research and corrective measures for all exposed. He holds a Master of Global Management with distinction and Beta Gamma Sigma from Thunderbird School of Global Management, an MBA from William & Mary, and a BA from Wake Forest University. Staff support includes an advisory board of two current members, a journalist advisory board consisting of several top writers on environmental contamination, along with two volunteers in fundraising and online media outreach.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have accelerated our mailing list growth through targeted marketing in social media and paid search. People are looking for this issue and want the best information and assistance. Our website and outreach efforts are continuously optimized to maximize this. Newsletters go out weekly. New website content goes up twice per week. Social media posts go out daily when possible. Personalized email solicits for assistance are in progress.
Our organization has been featured on MSNBC. The founder has been interviewed on behalf of the organization for national digital media outlets such as USMedicine, RT, Veterans Radio, BlogTalkRadio, and several local and regional television newscasts. We have also been covered or cross-published in various newspapers across the Southeast US.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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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
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CIVILIAN EXPOSURE
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Gavin Smith
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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? No
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
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data