The Military & Veterans Community Index 2025: Measuring Giving to Military- and Veteran-Serving Organizations

Abstract

The Military & Veterans Community Index (MVCI) offers the most comprehensive data available on U.S. charitable organizations primarily dedicated to serving military members, veterans, and their communities and caregivers. Drawing on a decade of IRS data, the inaugural report reveals that these organizations received around $3.7 billion in philanthropic support in 2023, representing 0.67% of total U.S. charitable giving. The report highlights key trends across subsectors, showing that human services organizations serving veterans received the largest share of support in 2023 ($445 million), followed by those providing mental health services ($398 million), survivor care and memorializing ($397 million), and housing services ($353 million). Although giving to MVCI organizations has increased over time, the report finds that by most financial measures (such as revenues, expenses, and assets), these organizations have grown more slowly than the broader nonprofit subsector. However, payroll growth suggests a professionalizing workforce within the military and veterans nonprofit ecosystem. Together, these findings offer new insights into how philanthropy complements government services and responds to the evolving needs of military members, veterans, and their families.