BBB Wise Giving Report for
Help Hospitalized Veterans

BBB Wise Giving Report issued May 2011
BBB Wise Giving Report expires May 2013


Does not meet one or more standards
This charity does not meet one or more of the 20 standards for Charity Accountability. Find out more...


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Charity Contact Information

Name: Help Hospitalized Veterans
Address: 36585 Penfield Lane
  Winchester, CA 92596
Phone: 951-926-4500
Web Address: www.hhv.org
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BBB Wise Giving Alliance Comments

Year, State Incorporated: 1971, California
Affiliates: None
Stated Purpose: "to inform the public of the needs of hospitalized veterans and distribute craft-kits containing arts and crafts materials to patients and occupational therapy departments in military and veterans' hospitals."

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Evaluation Conclusions

               

Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV) does not meet the following Standard for Charity Accountability.

Standard 15: Misleading Appeals - Have solicitations and informational materials, distributed by any means, that are accurate, truthful and not misleading, both in whole and in part. Appeals that omit a clear description of program(s) for which contributions are sought will not meet this standard. A charity should also be able to substantiate that the timing and nature of its expenditures are in accordance with what is stated, expressed, or implied in the charity's solicitations.

HHV does not meet this Standard because:

Mail appeals for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2008 cited emergency financial needs that are not evident in the financial statements HHV provided to the Alliance and are not consistent with the actual number of craft kits distributed.

Specifically, fiscal 2008 direct mail appeals included various references to HHV's emergency financial needs. Below are excerpts from two such appeals:

"I've enclosed a $1 bill. But I assure you we can't afford to be giving money away....I want to make this Christmas season a time to remember ....by delivering at least one Arts and Crafts Kit to each of our nearly 51,000 veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and military hospitals and state veterans nursing homes."

"I know you must be wondering why I would enclose a $2.25 check....I want to make this Christmas season a time to remember for America's hospitalized veterans and wounded overseas GIs by delivering at least one Arts and Crafts Kit to each of our 64,000 veterans and active duty servicemen and women in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Military Hospitals and State Veterans Nursing Homes....Right now we are swamped with requests from VA and Military Hospitals for more kits. Almost every day we get a phone call or letter from a VA hospital asking for more craft kits. The phone calls are especially urgent when the hospitals run out of kits and our hospitalized veterans have nothing to do with their time and no kits to help their physical therapy. It seems like we never get caught up because their is always a demand for kits." 

The 2008 HHV annual report states that during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2008 HHV distributed a total of 946,807 craft kits to VA Hospitals and State Veterans Homes and 82,336 to Military Hospitals.
In response to the Alliance's findings for Standard 15, HHV states:

"HHV respectfully disagrees with the Alliance's interpretation of HHV's use of the term "emergency". The term "emergency" that was printed in a small percentage of the 30 million mailing that added urgency to the appeal suggests that veteran patients will not receive certain benefits unless HHV can help them is absolutely true. .....requests for HHV craft kits are received year round. For example, if one calculates the 52 weeks in a year multiplied by the average of 51,000 hospitalized patients daily equals a huge craft kit goal. If HHV could just provide half of the inpatients one kit per week during the year would be a commendable effort. Our goal becomes especially urgent during the holiday periods when folks tend to focus on their personal needs rather than veteran and military patients as the requests from the medical centers increases. HHV's 40 years of experience prepares us to provide for the patient's highest period of craft kit needs."
Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV) meets the remaining 19 Standards for Charity Accountability.
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Programs

               

HHV distributes arts and crafts kits at no charge to patients in VA and military hospitals. The organization reports that it had made 262,503 shipments to VA hospitals, military hospitals, state veterans’ nursing homes and to individual homebound veterans as of July 31, 2008. HHV reports that these shipments have totaled nearly 25 million craft kits and other products and services with a retail value of over $402 million. For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2008, HHV distributed 850 shipments of crafts that included 975,775 individual kits to hospitals. Additionally, the organization delivered 203 computers and 56,372 craft kits to homebound veterans through its special projects department. Additionally, HHV provides craft care specialists (CCS) to 59 Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Centers and 4 Military Hospitals to augment their staff in craft kit delivery and therapy. The volunteer recruitment program was responsible for providing the VA with 473 regularly scheduled volunteers that have given 94,025 hours of volunteer service. The organization is the national co-sponsor of the VA’s National Veterans Creative Arts Festival and the VA’s National Veterans Golden Age Games, VA’s National Disabled Veterans TEE Tournament, and augments services of the Army Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany by supporting the Wounded Warrior Ministry with annual cash contributions.

For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2008, HHV's program expenses were:

  
Veteran assistance and awareness 12,797,757
Therapeutic materials 12,349,506
Craft care specialists 1,790,907
Total Program Expenses: $26,938,170
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Governance

               

Chief Executive : Mike Lynch, President & CEO
Compensation*:
 $379,846

Chair of the Board: Robert D. Beckley
Chair's Profession / Business Affiliation: Airline Agent, Great Lakes Airlines

Board Size: 5

Paid Staff Size: 99

*August 1, 2007 - July 31, 2008 compensation includes annual salary and, if applicable, benefit plans, expense accounts, and other allowances.
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Fund Raising

               

Method(s) Used:

Direct mail, Internet appeals, television, and planned giving.
Fund raising costs were 29% of related contributions. (Related contributions, which totaled $39,065,128, are donations received as a result of fund raising activities.)
HHV incurred joint costs of $20,995,704 for informational materials and activities that included fund raising materials. Of those costs $11,337,680 was allocated to fund raising expenses, $8,608,240 was allocated to program expenses, and $1,049,784 was allocated to administrative expenses.
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Tax Status

               

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.
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Financial

               

The following information is based on HHV's audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2008.

Source of Funds  
Contributions received 34,318,496
In-kind 4,746,632
Other revenue 928,997
Investment Income 74,331
Gain on sale of asset 1,500
Loss on bequest -6,451
Total Income $40,063,505


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Uses of Funds as a % of Total Expenses

Programs: 65%  Fund Raising: 28%  Administrative: 7% 

Total income   $40,063,505
  Program expenses $26,938,170
  Fund raising expenses 11,515,954
  Administrative expenses 2,807,201
 
Total expenses   $41,261,325
Expenses in Excess of Income   (1,197,820)
Beginning net assets   12,607,020
Other Changes in Net Assets (831,624)
Ending net assets   10,577,576
Total liabilities   922,354
Total assets   $11,499,930

Note 1: In the above financial section, other changes in net assets represents $831,624 in pension-related changes other than net periodic pension cost.

Note 2: For the year ended July 31, 2008, HHV had in-kind expenses in the amount of $4,746,632 which included public service announcements ($2,911,433), shipping ($1,663,733), leather ($134,170), and miscellaneous ($37,296).

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An organization may change its practices at any time without notice. A copy of this report has been shared with the organization prior to publication. It is not intended to recommend or deprecate, and is furnished solely to assist you in exercising your own judgment. If the report is about a charity and states the charity meets or does not meet the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability, it reflects the results of an evaluation of information and materials provided voluntarily by the charity. The name Better Business Bureau is a registered service mark of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.

This report is not to be used for fund raising or promotional purposes.

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