When times are tough, sometimes your family is the first place you look for help.

This is the second part of a series concerning the USSV Charitable Foundation. In the first part of the series, I talked about the overall program definitions. Now I will talk about the individual funds within the program. Submariners are some of the most generous people I have ever known. When I was a Chief at Trident Training Facility, I helped to run a food drive for the people in local area at Thanksgiving. The outpouring of our staff (which to be fair included some non-submariners) was over the top. We ran it as a competition between the departments and filled the room beyond capacity. Plus, the money we collected shocked the food pantry. Even before I started on my second career, I got a taste of what it was like to do good for people in need expecting nothing more than a thank you.

Often times, people are reluctant to donate to programs because they are not sure where the money will go. Just as importantly, some people have a specific heart for one part of the need over others. As someone who has been involved with non-profits for many years, I always look at how the funds are administered before I partner with them. That administration cost is often baked into the overall cost of doing business. A good foundation or charity tries to keep the cost down to a minimum so that donors trust that their money is going to a good purpose.

The amazing thing about the USSV CF is that no one is paid to administer the fund. Not one dime goes to salaries. The people who manage each of the funds do so on their own dime and their own time. Plus, everyone that is part of the CF are submariners. That means they don’t have to guess what it was like to be on a submarine and are very close in spirit to the causes they are representing.

A few years ago, there was a questionable time period for one of the other national funds. The leadership was taking advantage of the good will of their donors, and it became a public scandal. That organization has since made some course corrections, but the questions still remain in the public square. Fortunately, that is not the case with our foundation.

Example from nonprofitpoint.com: The Disabled Veterans National Foundation

Although not a scam, this was added to the list due to gross mismanagement. Despite raising over $115 million in its first six years, the Disabled Veterans National Foundation has not effectively allocated resources.

Over $104 million was paid to contractors rather than veterans, and out of the $115 million raised, over $11 million was spent on 11,000 bags of M&M’s, which veterans apparently didn’t need.

According to the CharityWatch, the Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) entered into a settlement agreement with the New York Office of the Attorney General and was forgiven of $13.9 million in fundraising debt, it reports nearly $3 million in debt and spending only 8% of its budget on programs

Americans demand high standards from other veteran-related charities, and short of criminal mismanagement of donations, they don’t live up to them. Ineffectual fundraising campaigns result in money being wasted on overhead and administration. Vendors are enriched rather than supporting veterans; too much money is kept in reserves.

It’s good to know that USSCF has the checks and balances that make sure your money is well accounted for

Good practices in charities means that a well-run organization can execute its mission with overhead costs being less than 5%. That means that out of every hundred dollars donated, only five dollars are used to run the effort. The commonly accepted rule of thumb is that a nonprofit is doing well if overhead, or the combination of administrative and fundraising expenses, remains at 25% or less.

All activities conducted by the USSVCF are performed by Volunteers, this includes every Director, Officer, Fund Manager, and any appointed committee member. Accordingly, there is obviously no financial compensation afforded to any party involved in operating the USSVCF. There are, from time to time, operating expenses that are incurred by our Volunteers and these expenses, if approved and properly documented, may be reimbursed to that Volunteer.

Additionally, during the Volunteer’s tenure as a Volunteer, that person and his or her immediate family are eliminated from eligibility for any USSVCF financial awards, specifically, Scholarship or Brotherhood Awards.  This prohibition is to clearly acknowledge and respond to the IRS regulation on 501(c)3 Charitable Foundations regarding “Private Benefit and Inurement” which prohibit benefits to any party involved in any decision making or influencing position of any kind.

The bottom line is that the CF is run incredibly well, and every single dollar is accounted for. Also, there is enough oversight in each fund to ensure that needs are met, and accountability exists. That is reassuring if you are going to add to the funds. By the way, all of the tax documents that back this up are located on the CF website.

Today’s Fund is the Brotherhood Fund which is administered by Mike Ferranti  (2025)

From the Manual:

The Brotherhood Fund is a charitable program of USSVCF that receives and distributes donations to assist eligible people in overcoming personal hardships caused by circumstances beyond their control. The fund is managed daily by the **Brotherhood Fund Manager** under the supervision of the President.

The Brotherhood Fund Manager has the authority to manage the fund’s day-to-day operations. The manager oversees all donations to the Brotherhood Fund and ensures that expenditures comply with IRS regulations for charitable public benefits. All donations are recorded by the USSVCF National Office, and the USSVCF Treasurer keeps the Fund Manager updated on the fund’s status, as well as writing the grants authorized by the Fund Manager.

The requesting officer is asked to provide the following information to the Brotherhood Fund Chairman (BHF):

1. Base Name and location
2. Name and contact information of requesting officer (Ambassador, Base Commander, Vice Commander, Secretary. Treasurer)
3. Name and contact information of member in need of assistance
4. Nature of hardship (need to expedite the grant if the urgency is deemed necessary)

NOTE: In times of great need text or call the Brotherhood Fund Chairman to inform him there is an urgent need to provide the grant. This contact can be made by the requesting member as well in order to expedite the process.

The BHF Chairman will ask the above questions of the requesting member and vet him / her as soon as possible. Please allow the BHF Chairman time to return the call or email with the understanding that the BHF Chairman may not be readily available to return the messages or the email.

Occasionally, we learn about an ex-submariner’s or other Veteran’s needs through means other than our bases’ inputs. In these situations, the Fund Manager shall evaluate the need on an individual basis and advise the BOD accordingly. Requests should be sent to the Brotherhood Fund Manager, as listed in the Key Members section of the Policy and Procedures Manual.

In the December 2024 Newsletter, a perfect example of how the fund is used was described:

Hurricane Helene: A Disaster Unlike Any Other

It isn’t often that the USSV Charitable Foundation makes a special effort to document its activities, but Helene was a storm that affected us like no other before. Here is a brief description of what happened.

On September 26th Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Northern Florida. Winds were fierce at 140 mph and wind and water damage left 26 Floridians dead or missing. Not satisfied with that toll, the storm continued almost 800 miles north raising hate and discontent in major ways. In Georgia, 33 were killed or missing. As the storm worked its way into South Carolina it took 51 souls and left devastation never seen before.

By September 28th the storm began unleashing its fury on the mountains of western North Carolina. Over 30 inches of rain fell on tiny mountain towns and 8 tornadoes were spun off creating historic wind and water damage in the area. Most roads were washed away, and bridges were turned into creek-and-river-bed-rubble. It is hard to imagine the suffering that the locals found themselves caught up in, but the numbers are sobering:

103 souls were lost or missing, damage estimates reached $53 Billion, over 126,000 homes were lost and 220,000 have already or will apply for federal assistance. Weeks passed without the ability to make a phone call because of the catastrophic damage to communications and electricity.

SE Dist. 1 Cmdr., Mike Sears and SE Dist. 5 Cmdr., Fernando Borges did great work in helping spread the word to find affected members. Rick Petitt, Carolina Piedmont Base Cmdr., jumped in to lead the local recovery on the ground. (He’s our pick for Base Commander of the Year). With his help our Brotherhood Fund was able to provide over $9,000 in grants and assistance to Carolina members, their families and neighbors. Our shipmates have donated generously (over $10,000 from individuals and bases to date)! The willingness of submariners to lend a hand is something we took for granted when we were part of the active submarine force, but this outpouring of open-handed-kindness is remarkable and shows what American submariners can do when the need arises. Mike Ferranti, Brotherhood Fund Mgr., and the Board of Directors thank everyone involved. Bravo Zulu!

As I looked back over the years of activity, the Brotherhood fund has done so much behind the scenes to help our brothers and sisters in need. As I stated in the first article, you never know when your life will be upended and you might need that extra helping hand. So many fine organizations exist today that deal with specific population groups but ours is one of the only national groups specifically designed to help those in the submarine community.

So, what is your role?

This is a two-part description that applies to all of the funds. First, if you find yourself on the needing side of this equation, reach out to the local USSV CF Ambassador. If you don’t know who that is, reach out to me and I will hel you find the information. Or you can contact www.ussvcf.org and they will help you with the process.

The second part is making sure you consider adding to the fund.

Donations

Contributions to the United States Submarine Veterans Charitable foundation, Inc Fund may be made by check payable to the United States Submarine Veterans’ Charitable Foundation (USSVCF). Write the fund of your choice in the Memo I For field of the check to direct the donation to you preferred fund.  If desired, you may leave that space blank, and your donation will go into the General Fund to be used as needed by the USSV CF.

Where to send a donation:   Donations must be sent via US Mail to:

USSVI I USSVCF National Office

PO Box 1063

Groton, CT – 06340-1063

Other ways to donate:

Any donation by virtually all credit or debit cards may be made on our website: http://www.ussvcf.org.  This website allows for making a one-time or repeated donation in any amount and in virtually any number of repeated donations.  You may donate monthly for any quarter, semi-annual or annually for any number of years.  Or you may leave your recurring donation open such that it will continue until your card expires. Other means of donating are on Facebook or purchasing on eBay or using PayPal to pay for a purchase and designating USSVCF.

Donations to USSVCF comply with the general requirements of the IRS regarding donating to a qualified 501(C)3 organization.  The USSVCF is an exclusively charitable corporation that is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3).  Donations will be acknowledged by the National Office or our automated website acknowledging your donation with a statement that donors should consult their tax advisor to determine the deductibility of any donation.

Ambassador Mac