Denise Courville

Problems have arisen regarding a San Diego non-profit group referred to as the American Combat Veterans of War or ACVOW. The group has got an office at the Veterans Administration clinic in La Jolla, CA and is operated nearly entirely by volunteers. They claim to help vets secure their benefits and boast about their training to assist warriors with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The problem? No accountability. The staff has been around for more than 10 years, but functions beneath the radar. A check on Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau’s Charity Index make absolutely no reference to ACVOW. Nor does ACVOW possess extensive record of the success they’ve had aiding veterans and active duty personnel. Additionally, ACVOW just lost a small claims court fight for refusing to pay one of its personnel. A Utah News article from June of last year implies that one of ACVOW’s officials used donations from the organization in order to bail out an anti-immigration activist from jail, an evident violation of the terms for the majority of 501(c)(3) non-profit groups. This post is not necessarily proposing that ACVOW is undertaking in criminal activity. There are certainly severe ethical challenges and potential donors need to be wary when contributing to institutions devoid of fiscal accountability.