Giving Tuesday – A Reminder to Give, but Also to Receive

December 22, 2022

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Hope everyone in the Community had a good Thanksgiving. If you’re like me, you’re still in the process of recovering from too much food and not enough activity…and the holiday gatherings over the past few weeks haven’t helped. You may also be like me in that, after the long Thanksgiving weekend, you returned to a full email inbox.  Mine was full of both work-related items, as well as a deluge of “Giving Tuesday” emails.

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Like many unsolicited emails, I was initially frustrated with the volume, but ultimately appreciative of the reminder to give. Going into the holiday season, which charitable organizations did I want to support? Would I adopt a strategy of small amounts spread across several different causes or focus impact on a select few that were important to my family? According to several experts on happiness (see the R&R section below), giving is a contributor to happiness so I needed to figure this out. Regardless of the strategy I chose, I did know I wanted to focus on at least one category of charitable organizations: Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).

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For those unfamiliar with VSOs, it’s a catch-all term used to describe any non-profit organization that has a mission of serving veterans and their families. The good news? There are ton to choose from (over 46,000 in the United States at last count). The bad news? There are a ton to choose from. As a means of providing focus to my efforts, I used several filters, with the main one being the mission of our Community: which VSOs serve BOTH veterans AND employers? Below, I highlight four organizations that growth companies can leverage to either start a veteran hiring initiative or to supplement an existing program.

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• The Honor Foundation: Focused on the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community, The Honor Foundation (THF) provides classroom, mentorship, and experiential-based transition assistance. As discussed in last month’s edition of the VET and in my write-up after the Army-Navy game earlier this year, veterans from the SOF community display characteristics particularly useful to growth companies, especially those in the early stages of their journey.
• ‍Commit Foundation: Founded by a friend and classmate from West Point, The Commit Foundation provides transition services for a broad range of service members. Like THF, Commit provides 1:1 coaching and training, via both workshops and a tech-enabled platform, for transitioning veterans or those looking for new opportunities.
• ‍FourBlock: The name Four Block has interesting roots. On the eve of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine Corps Commandant General Charles Krulak developed a war-fighting strategy to win what he called the Three Block War, where a young squad leader would have to lead his unit through a foreign city. At each new city block, the patrol faced a different challenge: engaging in a battle on one city block, providing humanitarian assistance on the next, and then dealing with a civil disturbance on yet a third block. But what happens after the third block, when the patrol returns home? This is where FourBlock comes in. In addition to providing transition services for veterans, FourBlock also provides resources to tap into another interesting and capable resource pool: military spouses.
• BreakLine: Founded by the wife of a former Summit Partners employee, BreakLine is not technically a VSO. That said, having watched BreakLine grow over time, I can say it is a special resource. In addition to helping veterans transition to the technology sector, BreakLine also focuses on helping women and people of color. As detailed in the July VET, companies committed to DE&I can leverage organizations like BreakLine to both execute on their strategy as well as improve performance.

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To summarize, I’d encourage everyone to think about giving, either this year or next year. Give a transitioning veteran the opportunity to contribute to your company. Think about giving a corporate (or personal) gift to a VSO so they can expand their reach helping transitioning veterans. It doesn’t matter where, how, or what you give, what matters is the act of giving. It helps others and what you receive is immeasurable.

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In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t provide a quick recap of the Army-Navy game. Unfortunately, the only thing on the line this year was pride (Air Force had a stellar season and was the winner of the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy, beating both Army and Navy earlier in the year). Navy beat Army last year in an upset but was the (slight) favorite coming into this year’s game. As I’ve told many people, the game on the field last Saturday almost exactly mapped the typical military experience: 95% boredom followed by 5% nail-biting, heart-pumping excitement.

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After four quarters, the two teams had combined for only 20 points, and the game went to overtime for the first time in 123 meetings. On the first play of Army’s overtime possession, they ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run – their first offensive touchdown of the game (yes, you heard correctly). On the next play, Navy threw a 25-yard touchdown pass – in what turned out to be their ONLY pass of the entire game (yes, you heard that correctly, too). Unfortunately, the Midshipmen’s hearts were broken several minutes later when Kalvyn Crummie fumbled the ball on the goal line for what surely would have been another touchdown. Army took possession and kicked a field goal to win it in double overtime, 20-17. The incredible game (at the end) on the field, the pageantry, and the sportsmanship displayed by both teams solidified that Army-Navy is truly America’s game. Only 362 more days until we get to do it again…

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Charlie Mike* (and BEAT NAVY)

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Dave & the Summit Partners Veterans Community

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* “Charlie Mike” is the military phonetic alphabet for the letters C and M which stand for “continue the mission,” a phrase commonly used in tactical situations