Pentagon Official to Take Charge of Wounded Warrior Project

The Wounded Warrior Project’s trustees announced Thursday that Michael Linnington, who spent 35 years in the military and currently leads a Department of Defense agency, will step in as chief executive starting next month.

The organization’s board also said it plans to add up to four additional trustees by the end of the year.

In a Friday telephone interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Linnington said his top priority is talk to the wounded veterans the nonprofit helps, get their take on existing services and programs, and do everything possible to make sure they get the assistance they need.

Mr. Linnington said he will take a close look at the nonprofit’s approach to fundraising and is open to advice from reputable outside experts and organizations. His and his staff’s goal, he said, will be to ensure that donations are used to the maximum benefit.

“I don’t have all the answers and it is really not about any one individual – it is about the team,” he said while en route to West Point, his alma mater, to attended the Warrior Games.

Mr. Linnington’s hiring comes after months of turmoil at the veterans organization, which fired its two top executives https://philanthropy.com/article/Former-Wounded-Warrior-CEO/236042 in March after news-media investigations alleged that it spent more on fundraising and overhead than other veterans organizations and splurged on travel, conferences, and perks.

Mr. Linnington will start on July 18 after spending about a year serving as director of the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, where he led efforts to find and recover soldiers and personnel from past conflicts.

Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army in June 2015, Mr. Linnington served as military deputy to the undersecretary for personnel and readiness.

The Wounded Warrior Project’s interim chief operating officer, Charlie Fletcher, who was brought on April, will stay on temporarily to assist Mr. Linnington as he makes the transition to his new role.

“Mike’s extensive military experience and proven leadership credentials make him the perfect candidate to lead WWP,” said Anthony Odierno, chair of the organization’s board, in a statement.

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Mr. Linnington said he was approached a couple of months ago by the Wounded Warrior Project search committee and invited to apply for the top job. He has never led a nonprofit but has worked with veterans groups extensively in recent years.

In his previous professional roles in the military and with the POW/MIA agency, he said, he saw firsthand the critical part that nonprofits like Wounded Warrior play in filling in gaps in services to wounded veterans.

Mr. Linnington did not have any direct personal relationship with Wounded Warrior Project before he threw his hat in the ring for the job but said he does know individuals who have benefitted from its services.

“Wounded Warrior is one of many, but Wounded Warrior is a larger national nonprofit that makes a difference,” he said, adding that despite a rocky several months he knows the nonprofit to be “a really solid organization.”

Another first-year priority, Mr. Linnington said, is to ensure Wounded Warrior continues to partner with government organizations and other nonprofits. He also said that he looks forward to getting out to sites and events around the country to meet the charity’s staff.

“I am very serious about establishing trust-based relationships with our clients and our external partners,” he said.

Allegations Made

Mr. Linnington comes into the job after a period of unrest at the nation’s largest veterans nonprofit.

The organization fired Steven Nardizzi, its chief executive, and Al Giordano, its chief operating officer, in March, about six weeks after New York Times and CBS News https://philanthropy.com/article/TV-Report-Hits-Wounded-Warrior/235063 investigations accused the group of lavish spending on flashy conferences and expensive travel. The media reports also said the organization had a toxic work culture in which disloyalty was punished.

The news outlets detailed flamboyant displays by Mr. Nardizzi, who reportedly made grand entrances at conferences and meetings riding on horseback or a Segway.

Wounded Warrior grew rapidly under Mr. Nardizzi, a vocal proponent of aggressive fundraising and a frequent critic of charity watchdog groups. It ranked 65th on the most recent Philanthropy 400, https://philanthropy.com/interactives/philanthropy-400#id=table_2015 The Chronicle’s annual list of the U.S. charities that collect the most in private support, up from 331st on the 2012 roster.

The group’s audited financial statement for fiscal 2014 reported $410.6 million in total revenue, a figure that includes in-kind support.

Donations Down

In an interview with The Chronicle Wednesday, Ron Burgess, Wounded Warrior’s chief financial officer, said its fundraising was down but that the nonprofit can “withstand a bit of a storm” because it had planned well and was in a strong financial position. He declined to provide specific numbers.

“We expect to thrive and strive,” Mr. Burgess said, while noting that it often takes years for organizations to fully recover from the kind of unfavorable press Wounded Warrior received.

Mr. Burgess said he sees signs of hope, such as more veterans signing up for services than ever before, despite the negative media attention.

He said the organization is looking forward to the end-of-year fundraising push, usually a strong giving period, and that
there are no plans to cut services in any significant ways.

Fundraising Costs

Neither does Wounded Warrior plan to change how much it spends to raise money, according to Mr. Burgess. He said that while the charity serves about 90,000 veterans, there are still many others out there who need assistance.

“We are still at the foot of the mountain looking up,” he said. “If we’re going to serve these warriors in the way they need to be served, we need to invest in fundraising.”

Wounded Warrior stands by its oft-repeated claim that it spends 80.6 percent of its fundraising on programs, he added.

That figure has come under scrutiny, including by Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, who noted in a letter to the organization that much of what Wounded Warrior reports as program costs are items that charity watchdogs don’t consider services — such as donated air time on radio and television for public-service announcements and similarly donated space for newspaper ads

Nonprofit evaluator Charity Watch puts Wounded Warrior’s program spending at 54 percent, while Charity Navigator says the organization spends nearly 60 percent on services.

Mr. Burgess said the organization followed general accounting principles in calculating the 80-percent figure. Those who dispute it should work to get the accounting standards changed rather than “go after the people who diligently follow those rules year after year,” he said.

Daniel Borochoff, president of Charity Watch, said there are plenty of other veterans organizations that have a lower grade from his organization than Wounded Warrior, which currently gets a “C” rating from the group.

“They are not the worst of the bunch when it comes to efficiency,” he said.

What made Wounded Warrior stick out, Mr. Borocheff suggested, was that it grew so quickly and made some big “optics” mistakes. He noted a report of Wounded Warrior flying roughly 500 staff members to the five-star Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs for a employee conference.

“It’s unfortunate that they were doing that and that it got so publicized,” Mr. Borochoff said.

Updated Policies

Mr. Fletcher, the interim chief operations officer, acknowledged decisions like booking the Broadmoor conference were a problem.

“If we take actions which we can rationalize ourselves but do not reflect in the trust and confidence of the American people, then we’ve failed,” he said.

Wounded Warrior has already started to build in spending controls and policies aimed at heading off future allegations of lavish spending, Mr. Burgess said, such as restricting employee travel to economy class. He said the vast majority of staff air travel was not upgraded to begin with.

The nonprofit is also not likely to book any more conferences at five-star resorts, Mr. Burgess said. “The optics were negative enough that it just wasn’t wise to do that.”