Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization supporting military families, has recently updated its marketing language after being scrutinized about its scholarship spending earlier this year. Previously, the organization claimed that 91% of donations went directly to scholarships. However, investigative reporting by Jack Lemnus of Treasure Coast Newspapers revealed that this figure included not only direct scholarship expenses but also salaries, advertising, events, and other costs. Folds of Honor has since revised its scholarship spending claims, specifying on its website that it “is proud to have a cumulative average ratio of 91% of annual expenses supporting our scholarship program.”

This language, while similar to the charity’s prior claim about its scholarship spending, technically communicates that the program-related expenses it incurs in support of its scholarship program encompass a broader range of expenses beyond direct scholarships. Finding the language change too subtle? This underscores the importance of not relying on charities’ marketing claims in your giving decisions since even language that is technically correct might not mean what you think it does.

CharityWatch Weighs In

CharityWatch CEO, Laurie Styron, provided comment to Lemnus in an interview on the matter earlier this year, saying, “The laws governing how charities are allowed to spend their money are highly permissible. You can’t generally trust what charities tell you in their marketing.” Styron also told TCPalm. “A public charity’s money doesn’t belong to the people running it, but to the public.” She emphasized the importance of transparency and cautioned donors to critically evaluate the claims made by charitable organizations in their marketing and fundraising materials, which are largely unregulated.

This month Lemnus published a follow up article about the charity’s change to its marketing language, which occurred at some point after the journalist scrutinized the issue in March 2025.

A Financially Efficient Charity

While Folds of Honor may have overstated its spending on scholarships in its marketing claims, it has consistently operated financially efficiently overall. CharityWatch analyzed the charity’s 2023 IRS Form 990 and audited financial statements, the most current available at the time of the original article, and found that the organization spent approximately 90% of its cash budget on its programs that year, with the remaining 10% covering overhead expenses such as fundraising and management.

Donors should understand that program spending can include any expenses incurred to carry out a charity’s programs, such as staff time spent vetting scholarship applicants. CharityWatch found that Folds of Honor spent about 81% of its total cash expenses on scholarships in 2023, not 90-91%.

CharityWatch’s full report on Folds of Honor can be found here.

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