Unfortunately, highly popular causes tend to attract the most money, and therefore the most scammers and unscrupulous fundraisers. Veterans and military causes are particularly susceptible, as they play on our empathy as well as our patriotism. CharityWatch encourages donors to be extra cautious when fielding direct mail letters, telemarketing calls, or online solicitations from veterans charities since even charities that are “legitimate” may be financially inefficient and end up wasting most of your donation on exorbitantly high overhead.

List of CharityWatch F-Rated Veterans & Military Charities

Beware of charity ratings that are based on automation or crowdsourcing. Charity financial reporting can be complex, so ratings that take such information at face value without scrutinizing it for accuracy, comparability, consistency, or completeness are often inadequate for helping you to avoid wasting your donations. There are dozens of ways for nonprofits to present their financial reporting to look good to donors, even when they are spending very little of what you donate on legitimate programs.

The below chart contains veterans and military nonprofits to which CharityWatch has assigned failing grades for low program spending, high overhead, and high fundraising costs. As you can see, the results of CharityWatch’s in-depth analysis of charity audits and tax filings are often drastically different than those of data aggregators like Charity Navigator that rely on automation for their computations, or of nonprofit trade associations like Candid that crowdsource program “impact” data directly from the charities they are rating.

*Charity Navigator’s most current rating of Adoptaplatoon is based on the charity’s fiscal year ended 12/31/2023. The most current financial reporting year evaluated by both CharityWatch and Charity Navigator was 12/31/2022. For that year, CharityWatch analyzed Adoptaplatoon’s IRS Form 990 and audited financial statements and determined that the charity spent only 24% of its cash expenses on its programs, and spent the remaining 76% on overhead. By comparison, Charity Navigator’s automated rating of Adoptaplatoon calculated that the charity spent 80.8% on its programs and just under 20% on overhead.

**Charity Navigator’s most current rating of Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) is based on the charity’s fiscal year ended 12/31/2023. The most current financial reporting year evaluated by both CharityWatch and Charity Navigator was 12/31/2022. For that year, CharityWatch analyzed DVNF’s IRS Form 990 and audited financial statements and determined that the charity spent only 5% of its cash expenses on its programs, and spent the remaining 95% on overhead. By comparison, Charity Navigator’s automated rating of DVNF calculated that the charity spent 21.7% on its programs and the remainder on overhead.

This research and analysis is made possible by donors like you. As the only independent charity watchdog organization in the United States, CharityWatch relies on contributions from the general public to support our work. We are not funded, directly or indirectly, by the charities we rate, by charity fundraisers, or by nonprofit industry interests. For this work to continue, we need your help. CharityWatch is a small organization and your donations are noticed, needed, and greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving wisely!

“?” Ratings

CharityWatch’s ratings are based on an in-depth analysis of a nonprofit’s audited financial statements and IRS tax Forms 990, conducted by degreed accountants. By contrast, the ratings of online data aggregators and nonprofit trade associations take a charity’s self-reported financial and impact reporting at face value. This is why CharityWatch is able to identify issues of concern to donors that other raters miss.

The below chart includes information on veterans and military charities to which CharityWatch has assigned “?” ratings, indicating that we have specific concerns about the reliability of the organizations’ financial reporting. Detailed information outlining our concerns is reported below the chart.

AMVETS National Headquarters: CharityWatch is unable to provide a letter grade rating of AMVETS (American Veterans) at this time due to the organization’s failure to respond to our request for its fiscal year ended August 31, 2023 audited financial statements. For this reason, we have issued AMVETS a “?” rating for its fiscal year-ended 8/31/2023.

CharityWatch sent an inquiry to the Executive Director of AMVETS via U.S. mail and email on 8/20/2024 and has not received a response as of October 31st, 2025. Additionally, CharityWatch attempted to locate fiscal 2023 audited financial statements for the organization in several online public databases, including the online databases of state attorneys general and secretaries of state, but was unable to locate them.

According to the Charity Organization Record for AMVETS (American Veterans) that CharityWatch obtained from the Maryland Secretary of State’s online public registry on 9/17/2024, its registration is “Delinquent,” with its last approval date listed as August 31, 2020. 

CharityWatch’s most recent letter grade rating of AMVETS was based on our analysis of its fiscal year ended August 31, 2018 audited financial statements and IRS Form 990. We assigned the organization a rating of “D” on our A+ to F rating scale for spending only 45% of its cash budget on programs and for spending $28 to raise each $100 of cash support. 

If AMVETS (American Veterans) responds to CharityWatch’s request for copies of its financials at a future date, we may update our rating of AMVETS at that time.

HeroBox: CharityWatch analyzed HeroBox’s IRS tax Form 990 for the charity’s fiscal year ended 12/31/2023 and assigned it a “?” rating, which indicates that we have specific concerns about its financial reporting. Our concerns are similar to those that we pointed out in our in-depth 2019 article, “Unboxing Herobox.”

In its 2023 IRS Form 990, HeroBox responded “No” to the question: “Were the organization’s financial statements audited by an independent accountant?” (Part XII, line 2b).

In its tax filings for 2012-2023, HeroBox reports that the accounting method it used to prepare its Form 990 was cash-basis, not accrual. With the exception of very small nonprofits, most charities report their financial activities on an accrual-basis. In simple terms, this means that expenses are reported when incurred, irrespective of when they are paid; and revenue is recognized when earned or pledged, irrespective of when cash happens to flow into a charity’s bank account.

Accrual-basis accounting is the method used for charity audited financial statements in order to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States. The accrual method of accounting is favored because it provides a more complete picture of an organization’s finances and is less susceptible to manipulation that could occur based on the timing of when cash deposits are made, or vendors paid. 

Given that HeroBox reported its financial activities in its 2023 IRS Form 990 on a cash-basis, and that it did not have an audit conducted of its 2023 financial activities, CharityWatch is unable to assign a letter grade rating to HeroBox. Therefore, we have assigned HeroBox a “?” rating for its fiscal year ended 12/31/2023.

For more information on the importance of an audit and how cash-basis accounting impacts the reliability of the financial statements, read this helpful article. 

Troopathon (formerly Move America Forward)

CharityWatch has assigned Troopathon (formerly known as Move America Forward) a “?” rating for its 2023 financial reporting year due to concerns identified by the Attorney General of the State of California in its Complaint filed against the charity in July of 2019 with the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Sacramento, and due to its small governing body. For more information, please see the related CharityWatch article, “Move America Forward Held Back by Financial & Political Interests of its Directors.” 

A Final Judgment in case #34-2019-00261222 filed with the Superior Court of the State of California County of Sacramento on March 23, 2023 states that the “Defendants shall make payment of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) by check payable to the California Department of Justice…” It further states that “Defendant Salvatore Russo confirms his plan to step down and retire from his position as a director on MAF’s board, and from his positions as MAF’s chief strategist, secretary and treasurer, by January 20, 2023. Further, as to MAF, Defendant Salvatore Russo shall no longer: (1) act as a director, officer, trustee, manager, supervisor, or other fiduciary, or (2) hold, manage, direct, or control funds or assets. Defendant Salvatore Russo shall comply with the foregoing should he volunteer for MAF thereafter, and shall not be compensated by MAF for volunteer work. Defendant Russo, March & Associates, Inc. may continue to provide services to MAF, but not after July 31, 2023, and Defendant Salvatore Russo shall not provide services to MAF through another business.” 

CharityWatch reviewed Troopathon’s (formerly Move America Forward) 2023 IRS tax Form 990 and audited financial statements, which we obtained from the charity’s website. This copy of the IRS Form 990 posted on the charity’s website was neither signed nor dated. Troopathon reports that there were only two voting members on its governing body at the end of the tax year (IRS Form 990 Part VI, Section A, line 1a). In Troopathon’s 2023 IRS tax Form 990, Sal Russo, who was a subject of the legal matter cited above, was still reported as being a member of Troopathon’s board of directors during the year (Part VII, Section A). Sal Russo is no longer reported as being Secretary / Treasurer of the Organization in 2023. 

In consideration of the cited legal matters and the charity’s small governing body during 2023, CharityWatch has assigned Troopathon (formerly Move America Forward) a rating of “?” for its 2023 financial reporting year. CharityWatch may reevaluate its rating once complete financial information becomes available for its 2024 financial reporting year. 

In Troopathon’s (formerly Move America Forward) IRS Form 990 tax filing for the fiscal year ended 2021, Salvatore Russo was reported as one of three members of the charity’s board of directors with the title “Secretary / Treasurer.” (IRS Form 990, Part VII). The tax filing further reported that “Sal Russo” received $81,000 from MAF in 2021. The description for the transaction states, “Sal Russo is President and Director of RMA.” (IRS Form 990, Schedule L). 

CharityWatch

Will you help CharityWatch continue our important work?

As the only independent charity watchdog organization in the United States, CharityWatch relies on your support to fund our in-depth research and analysis in order to bring you the unbiased charity ratings and other information you rely on to help you make more informed giving decisions. We are not directly or indirectly funded by nonprofit industry interests.

We hope you will consider making a donation today so that we can continue to speak openly and critically and call out wrongdoing when we see it without concern for special interests cutting our funding. CharityWatch is a small organization and your donations are noticed, needed, and greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving wisely!