Montana Wounded Warriors are not part of Wounded Warrior Project
<p>John Bennet proudly displays his buck with Rudy Smith. Taken on hunt by Jesse and Carl Mann a few years ago.</p>
Last week several national news organizations, including an extensive story in the New York Times, revealed the national Wounded Warrior Project was spending millions on overhead to serve wounded veterans.
Leaders of the Montana Wounded Warriors made it clear they are not part of the Wounded Warrior Project and never have been.
Montana Wounded Warriors was started six years ago by Rotarian Neil Baumann and Army Major Jesse Mann. Both men are from Columbia Falls. Mann served as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in Iraq. They started Montana Wounded Warriors six years ago.
That first year they took six Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on a fishing excursion down the Middle Fork of the Flathead that was guided by local outfitters.
“We are a standalone 501(c)3,” Baumann said.
The organization has grown since then, Baumann said. In 2015 they served 130 veterans, taking them on 15 hunting trips and five fishing trips.
The organization has no paid staff, Baumann said.
“Ninety-nine percent of what we raise goes back to the veterans,” he said.
Montana Wounded Warriors only serves Montanans, Baumann noted. Outfitters give them a break on rates, Baumann said, often with two veterans for the price of one. Large landowners in eastern and southern Montana have given the organization permission to hunt on their lands. This works out well for veterans who don’t need guide services, Baumann said. Funding also goes toward processing of game and other incidental expenses. Veterans have even hunted buffalo and then donated the meat back to the Veterans Food Pantry in Kalispell.
Last year, the organization had a budget of about $40,000, Baumann noted.
They don’t do mailings or telemarketing, or have merchandise, Mann noted. Those things cost money.
“That’s one less penny you spend on a veteran,” Mann noted.
He said the national organization has done some great things for veterans, but the Montana organization has known for quite some time that national WWP was overspending.
The website Charity Watch, which tracks charity fundraising and ranks charities gave WWP a “C” rating, noting more than 50 percent of its fundraising went to administrative costs, based on tax records.
Baumann and Mann said the best way to support Montana Wounded Warriors is through its website at http://montanawoundedwarriors.org or by making a donation in its name at Glacier Bank.