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The Special Forces Charitable Trust at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Charitable trust

The Special Forces Charitable Trust

THE SPECIAL FORCES CHARITABLE TRUST (sfct) provides meaningful and sustainable support to the green berets and their families.

$425k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Human Services$1.1MPublic Benefit$268kEducation$60k
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $158,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $425,173 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $267,173 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $58k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$13,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILLITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATION$50,000
DONOVAN AND BANK FOUNDATION$50,000
MEMORIAL 3 GUN FOUNDATION$15,000
SECURE AMERICA NOW$13,000
SPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION$10,000
MARINE RECONNAISSANCE FOUNDATION$10,000
PATRIOTS HALL$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $584k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MEMORIAL 3 GUN FOUNDATION: $15k → 11%GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $60k → 16%MILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT: $240k → 16%MILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATIO: $50k → 16%MILLITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $65k → 16%GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $53k → 16%GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $51k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

NV
NJ
CO
TN
NC
HI
TX
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 10 repeat orgs$398k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +82% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
18

Total granted

$1.1M
$320k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+82%
0%

Still filing today

80%
11%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $78k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Public BenefitHuman ServicesEducationInternationalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • GS
    GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES
    4× · 2020–2023 · $229k · revenue +110%
  • SO
    SOUND OFF
    3× · 2021–2023 · $185k · revenue +82%
  • TG
    THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE
    4× · 2020–2023 · $70k · revenue +244%

Funded once

  • NP
    NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • DA
    DONOVAN AND BANK FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • DA
    DUSKIN AND STEPHENS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Special Operators Transition Foundation Inc

The special operators transition foundation ("sotf") assists special operation forces veterans transition from the military into their next successful career.

Public Benefit
2
Special Ops Survivors

Special ops survivors advances the mission "to embrace and empower surviving spouses of fallen special operations heroes to build healthy post-loss futures as they transition and rebuild their new lives." the foundation provides programs…

Human Services
3
Soldiers of America
Human Services
4
The Honor Foundation Inc

Assists u.s. special operation forces transition from active duty military to private sector careers.

Employment
5
Special Operations Fund

The Special Operations Fund (the "Fund") is a nonprofit organization that provides educational grants and support to the families of special mission unit warriors killed in action, killed in training, died in the line of duty, suicide, and…

Education
6
Peaceful Warrior Foundation

The peaceful warrior foundation is a non-profit organization with the aim of connecting our nation's warriors with the support and care they need.at peaceful warrior we strive to help our active-duty operators & veterans be at their very…

Human Services
7
Quick Reaction Foundation

Quick reaction foundation (qrf) is a non-profit organization founded by veterans to provide rapid response to the developing needs of elite operators and their families from within select u.s. special operations command ("ussocom") teams.…

Public Benefit
8
Special Forces Scholarship Fund

The purpose of the special forces scholarship fund (sfsf) is to award merit based post secondary educational scholarships to the daughters and sons of current and veteran special forces soldiers.

Education
9
Support Our Soldiers

Provide financial support for veterans.

Human Services
10
American Soldier

To give assistance to discharged military veterans and their families.

Human Services
11
Special Operations Association Foundation

The Special Operations Association Foundation supports Special Operations veterans and active-duty members, along with their families and survivors. The goals are to support the educational awards program, provide emotional support to…

Public Benefit
12
Bennie Adkins Foundation

Scholarships for special forces soldiers transitioning from military to civilian life.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Military Warriors Support Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Secure America Now Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 32 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/14
Grantees still filing
10/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATION: $340,000 · Human ServicesMILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATIONGOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $228,841 · Human ServicesGOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES+1 more: $15,000 · Human ServicesTALONS REACH FOUNDATION: $60,299 · OtherTALONS REACH FOUNDATIONNAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL: $50,000 · OtherNAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOLDONOVAN AND BANK FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherDONOVAN AND BANK FOUNDATIONSPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION: $39,575 · OtherSPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATIONSPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION: $33,200 · OtherSPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATIONDUSKIN AND STEPHENS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherDUSKIN AND STEPHENS FOUNDATIONSPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $25,000 · OtherSPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION INC10TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP: $20,553 · OtherSOCCENT: $17,374 · OtherUS ARMY JOHN F KENNEDY SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER AND SCHOOL: $15,954 · Other1ST SPECIAL FORCES GROUP: $15,212 · Other+9 more: $101,823 · Other+9 moreSOUND OFF: $185,000 · Public BenefitSOUND OFFPATRIOTS' HALL OF DRIPPING SPRINGS: $70,000 · Public BenefitPATRIOTS' HALL OF DRIPPIN…THE DONOVAN & BANK FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Public BenefitTHE DONOVAN & BANK FOUNDA…MARINE RECONNAISSANCE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Public BenefitMARINE RECONNAISSANCE FOU…ADOPT-A-SOLDIER PLATOON INC: $11,250 · Public BenefitTHE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE: $70,000 · EducationSPECIAL OPERATIONS WARRIOR FOUNDATION: $10,010 · EducationCUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropySECURE AMERICA NOW FOUNDATION: $6,000 · International
Human Services$583,841Other$453,990Public Benefit$336,250Education$80,010Philanthropy$10,000International$6,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATION: $340,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetGOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES: $228,841 over 4y, 13% of budgetSOUND OFF: $185,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetTHE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE: $70,000 over 4y, 5.7% of budgetPATRIOTS' HALL OF DRIPPING SPRINGS: $70,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetTHE DONOVAN & BANK FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetSPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION: $39,575 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMARINE RECONNAISSANCE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetADOPT-A-SOLDIER PLATOON INC: $11,250 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetSPECIAL OPERATIONS WARRIOR FOUNDATION: $10,010 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSECURE AMERICA NOW FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds MILITARY WARRIORS SUPPORT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GOLD STAR TEEN ADVENTURES ↗
  • Who funds SOUND OFF ↗
  • Who funds THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds PATRIOTS' HALL OF DRIPPING SPRINGS ↗
  • Who funds THE DONOVAN & BANK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds MARINE RECONNAISSANCE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MEMORIAL VALOR FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ADOPT-A-SOLDIER PLATOON INC ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL OPERATIONS WARRIOR FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SECURE AMERICA NOW FOUNDATION ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Paypal Charitable Giv…Network for GoodAmerican Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Paypal Charitable Giving FundDC6.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Network for Good · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Special Forces Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Special Forces Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 32 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home