During its first three-and-half years of service, the ASMBA STAR Foundation has provided grant awards totaling almost one-half million dollars to 57 charities in 21 states and to one overseas location (Fisher House at Landstuhl, Germany). The foundation’s parent organization is the Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association located near Nashville, Tennessee, which provides in-kind support by covering personnel costs along with administrative/overhead expenses, so 100% of all public contributions raised goes directly toward supporting the Foundation’s core purpose, which is to improve the quality of life of our active duty military, wounded warriors, veterans and their families.
To ensure transparency, the ASMBA STAR Foundation is listed with Guidestar, the Better Business Bureau - Wise Giving Alliance, and the DoD America Supports You Homefront. In addition, our Foundation is licensed to solicit contributions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia demonstrating our continued commitment to our active duty military, wounded warriors, veterans and the military community. The Foundation is an active participant in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) which has strict admission requirements supervised by the Office of Personnel Management in Washington DC.
Even more impressive is the fact that of the more than 1,000,000 charities listed with the IRS; 50,000 (5%) meet or exceed key standards highlighted for the Annual Combined Federal Campaign; and only 2,500 (.25%) are allowed to display the “Independent Charities of America” (ICA) seal. The ASMBA STAR Foundation is proud to be one of those charities that can display the ICA Seal!
Our Core Values
We measure our mission effectiveness based on our core values:
• We are dedicated to providing excellent customer service.
• We pledge to always use our resources in an effective and efficient manner.
• We seek to improve the “quality of life” of our disabled veterans and military dependents.
• We maintain transparency in conducting our charitable activities while complying with federal and state statutes governing charitable operations.
• We select and maintain a diverse group of Board members hosting an array of military, business, public sector and charitable acumens.
Our Strategic Goals:
• Remain good stewards of resources through the responsible use of the Foundation’s funding and investments by remaining performance and outcome/results oriented.
• Serve the military community by partnering with veteran, military, and outside organizations to promote quality of life programs and services.
• Assist combat wounded members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.
• Assist disabled and needy veterans and their families, and support the military and veteran communities with charitable good works.
• Remain flexible and responsive to the evolving needs of our members and key stakeholders by continually seeking their feedback.
Enabling Goals:
• Maximize the benefits of information technology, a dedicated staff, and a sound business strategy to build our organizational capacity. Leverage our strong culture of service to the military and solid financial/investment practices to assist those who defend us.
Key Strategies:
• Provide funding to organizations that provided entertainment, care, and assistance to disabled/hospitalized veterans and members of the Armed Forces, as well as their families.
• Collaborate with members of the “military coalition” on issues directly impacting veteran health care concerns and programs.
• Develop an ongoing dialogue with veterans’ organizations and key stakeholders interested in supporting ASMBASF charitable giving.
• Promote organizational excellence by creating a culture that fosters a common identity with other veteran organizations, and encourages mutual respect and teamwork within the military community.
• Develop a veterans’ network capable of expanding and meeting the future needs of the military member and his/her family.
• Remain performance outcome/results-oriented in managing our financial, marketing, network membership, and real property asset programs.
Why Are We Different?
The ASMBA STAR Foundation places special emphasis in evaluating our grant recipients by using a tool called “performance outcome measurement.” We continue to be interested in assessing an applicant’s resource base, programmed activities and projected outputs, but now we are equally interested in how their program or project proceeds toward accomplishing a social value added benefit for the greater good of the military community. We encourage candidates (those seeking grants from the ASMBA STAR Foundation) to track the success rate of their programs as they relate to their participants, identifying and measuring their desired outcomes and outcome indicators.
Our outcome performance model helps us track our own pursuit of desired outcomes and key outcome indicators. This in-turn helps us focus our charitable fundraising efforts in advocating for veteran issues/programs; promoting community engagement; efforts at improving the “quality of life” of disabled veterans; and by leveraging our knowledge base on veteran’s issues in order to expand our network capacity in responding to veteran needs.
However, we have found that the most important reason for implementing outcome performance measurement is that it helps us increase accountability to all stakeholders, guides us in allocating resources, and it helps our Board members make better funding decisions by supporting veterans’ organizations who focus on achieving desired outcomes.
The ASMBA STAR Foundation believes that if military charities can expand their interests more broadly to include the well-being of their clientele (the military community), volunteers/employees, and contributors this will undoubtedly create a realistic sense of value creation for all stakeholders, thus causing the resource pie to expand, creating opportunity while minimizing costs … resulting in a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Please remember our service members stationed around the world and their families who endure so much! To all of them …thank you for your service!
The ASMBA STAR Foundation is making an impact by building bridges…filling gaps…changing lives!
Comments