The May Mission

Make a gift of stock and receive tax benefits while supporting local Veterans, Service Members, and their Families.

Gifts of Stock Simplified

The simplest way to donate publicly traded stocks to Returning Veterans Project (RVP) is to have your broker transfer shares electronically to RVP’s account:

Returning Veterans Project Brokerage Information
Brokerage: CUSO Financial Services
Broker: Tim Reichstein (360-891-4094)
Online Brokerage/General Questions (858-530-4400)
Account #: H22598181
DTC#: 0443
TAX ID#: 20-4034255

What Next

Once you’ve decided to transfer stock to RVP, please notify our office at 503-954-2259 or click here to email us directly.

**Notifying us that the transfer is occurring is very important; it is the only way we can credit you for the donation, as your name does not transfer with the stock.**

Tax Details

Returning Veterans Project will credit you for the value of the stock based on an average of the highest and lowest quoted selling prices on the day that your stock donation is received into the RVP’s account. We make every effort to sell the stock immediately upon receipt. For your income tax purposes, your donation is completed on the day your broker transfers it to the RVP’s account. Thus, you should always consult your tax advisor regarding the actual amount of your deduction and the date of the contribution.

RVP does not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax advisor on the tax implications of your charitable gifts.

We offer our sincere gratitude for the generous support of our corporate sponsors, foundation grants, individual donors, and volunteer Providers who so strongly support our mission. It is because of the charitable giving from our community that we are able to provide free, confidential mental and physical health services for post-9/11 Veterans, Service Members, and their Families throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Your support makes a positive difference in the lives of those who serve and sacrifice for our country.

Foundation, Corporate, Community, and Donor Advised Fund Partners

On Flag Day, Returning Veterans Project was the honored guest and beneficiary of the Caliber Collision Golf Classic 2022, a charity event organized and funded by our friends at Caliber Collision. Over $27,000 was raised, exceeding our greatest hopes for this first-ever event benefiting RVP. And we had a wonderful time!

Caliber Collision is a leader in… (add text), and supports veterans in a variety of ways, from ___ to ____.

We’d like to send a heartfelt shout-out to our many generous sponsors, and the more than 100 golfers who turned out with golf clubs and credit cards in-hand to raise funds for our cause. Thank you, everyone!

Last, but not least, the talented and hardworking individuals on the the Caliber Collision Team whose efforts and boundless energy made the event possible: Josie Planton, Nicole Macken, Keri Eshback & Regional Vice President, Jerry Frisbie.

Your team is an inspiration!

Hi,

I serve on the board of a local organization called the Returning Veterans Project (RVP) – a nonprofit connecting veterans, service members, and military families to free, accessible health services they can’t find anywhere else.

You might be surprised to learn that over half of post-9/11 veterans aren’t enrolled in the VA health care. And many health services aren’t routinely offered at rural clinics or are unavailable to military family members. Not all members of our military community are getting the mental and physical health care they critically need.

The Returning Veterans Project exists to bridge the gaps in our healthcare system by connecting our clients to volunteer health providers who offer free, confidential, accessible, and timely health services.

I believe it’s our responsibility and role to remove barriers to health care, reduce stigma that contributes to mental illness, and educate our community about veteran and military culture. And I’d love for you to join me on this mission!

You can take the first step toward joining me on this mission by making a donation of any amount to the Returning Veterans Project. Or just let me know you’re interested – I’d love to tell you more!

Sincerely,

Here’s a sample elevator speech you can use to give others a clear overview of RVP’s mission.

YOU Are the Heart of RVP

As an RVP Board Member, you are an ambassador of our mission. You cultivate the connections that sustain our work and change lives. To support your role, here are three key steps you can take to be better equipped to support RVP!

1. Know Your Story

Get clear on what brought you to RVP and what keeps you going in this work:

• What is your personal connection to our mission?
• Why is the Returning Veterans Project important to you?
• What do you value most about the Returning Veterans Project?

Need inspiration? Need inspiration? Check out stories from others >

2. Know What Makes RVP So Unique

Be prepared to tell others why RVP is worthy of their support:

• What is the Returning Veterans Project’s mission?
• What makes the Returning Veterans Project so unique?
• What happens when a donor invests in the Returning Veterans Project?

Have a well-formulated elevator speech about RVP >

Keep a few RVP success stories at the ready. Check out these stories from RVP Clients >

3. Build Connections & Make the Ask

The number one reason people don’t donate is that they weren’t asked. Fundraising is all about finding creative ways to build connections and invite others into the RVP community of support. 

Lead by Example

Make annual, monthly, or legacy gifts to the Returning Veterans Project:

• Donate to the best of your ability >
• Join All For One >
• Join RVP’s Legacy Circle >

Then make a written or video testimonial of why you give:

• How to Make an RVP Support Video >

Cultivate Local Connections

Dedicate time to building and maintaining relationships:

• Schedule that coffee date you’ve been meaning to have with a friend or colleague.
• Identify opportunities to cultivate 10 new friends this year.
• Use our template to share your RVP story with others (modify our template)
• Use social media to dish out our most share-worthy content.
• Find opportunities to speak frequently about RVP and its purpose.
• Have ties to a local business or large corporation? Let us know! 

Raise Funds Online

Use Facebook’s fundraiser feature to invite your personal connections to support RVP:

• How to Facebook Fundraise for RVP >

Feeling Unsure?

If you’re not sure what next step feels most comfortable, take a moment to reflect. What’s holding you back from talking about RVP or feeling comfortable soliciting a gift? Being aware of what falls inside or outside your comfort zone is important. Communicate with staff and board members about your experience so you can work as a team to identify the next best steps forward.

After military service, Kat struggled to find treatment for a shoulder injury, mental health, and migraines. She was still in pain and exhausted by years of navigating different health providers and treatments. The piles of paperwork, endless logistics, and attempts to advocate for herself only added stress to an already difficult journey.

You gave Kat a way to control to her medical choices and treatment.

Kat was struggling to function. Surviving from day-to-day meant she had no energy for the relationships that typically brought her meaning, purpose, and support. She was worn out from constantly fighting to get the care she knew she deserved.

Despite getting some care through regular channels, Kat wasn’t healing. She was barely making it through each workday by taking large doses of migraine medication and then more medication to manage the side effects.

But her medications weren’t working. Instead of feeling better, she was feeling worse. And the side effects far outweighed the benefits. Sometimes, she felt like her providers blamed her when the medications didn’t work.

Kat didn’t want to continue treatments that required so many medications. Yet she felt like her regular health provider didn’t hear or understand her desire to try something else. Kat felt strongly, “There is a need to be empowered in your own medical decision-making process.” But her struggle to find treatments that worked for her stretched out for years.

$50 connects a veteran with free health services.

Because of you, Kat connected to exactly what she had been hoping for – free health services that allowed her to be in control of her medical treatment and decisions. “I cannot say enough about the experience I have had! I can’t always tell someone why it works, but it has. I’m treated like an individual with my own needs rather than a statistic.”

The capacity to access RVP has been life-changing for me. RVP provided so much for me. I genuinely believe they can do the same for others.

Her journey to health was supported by YOUR essential support!

With your support, Kat’s health has greatly improved. “I feel better. My body is moving better. I still have the injuries; I still have a long way to go. But I started getting off all those meds, and when I did, I started dropping weight and my appetite changed. I started exercising again. I’m just functioning better and I’m able to communicate better. I’m not as burnt out at work. I’ve been able to reconnect and balance things.”

Kat’s healing journey has been aided by a variety of health services and activities, like being in the outdoors with other veterans. But Kat credits her RVP volunteer naturopathic doctor with finally putting her in the driver’s seat of her own health care – something she couldn’t find anywhere else. She says, “I credit things like RVP for me being alive.”

The Path Forward

Kat’s road to healing isn’t over. She continues to struggle to receive some health services. But about RVP, she says, “I genuinely don’t have enough words to express my appreciation for the fact that these services are available and are accessible. RVP makes the services that are out there accessible for vets. I can’t even put that into a level of appreciation because we’re failing our veterans on a systemic level, and RVP is combating that.”

Donate Today >
Join All For One >
About Volunteering with RVP >

Because here, you’re part of something bigger

RVP supporters are going above and beyond to fill the gaps left by our health care system.

There are endless reasons why supporting our Veterans and military community through the Returning Veterans Project feels like the right thing to do.

To amplify your impact, tell others about what’s important to you! Together, we can do so much more!

Facebook

Spread the News

Share our newest video – an inside look at how Veterans can find healing when we work together!

Instagram

Tell the Stories

Share stories about what happens when we support health and healing for Veterans!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Returning Veterans Project (@returningveteransproject)

Add a Fundraiser

When you create a post, tap “Add Fundraiser,” and select returningveteransproject from the list of nonprofits! A fundraiser will be added to your post and RVP will receive 100% of the money you raise!

When you share a story, tap the sticker icon, select the donation sticker, and select returningveteransproject from the list of nonprofits! A fundraiser will be added to your story and RVP will receive 100% of the money you raise!

LinkedIn

Be the Difference

If you are a health provider or know health providers, sharing about RVP on LinkedIn is a great way to help us expand our network of health providers who offer free services to Veterans.

Opening the Door for a Young Veteran

Ben Kirkpatrick, Navy Veteran and RVP Client

Healing and reintegrating into civilian life was lonely, confusing, and stressful.

Ben Kirkpatrick joined the military right out of high school. When he was discharged four years later, he had no connection to family and no place to call home. Settling in Portland, he struggled alone with physical injuries and depression that made it difficult to function. Isolated and uncertain about his future, he knew he needed help but had limited resources to pay for support.

Having the financial roadblock removed allowed me to access quality care and support when I needed it the most.

After military service, Ben was excited for a new adventure. But isolated and alone in his new apartment, he felt aimless and disconnected.

Life after the military was painful and isolated.

Ben tried to keep his feelings under wraps, but it eventually became more than he could manage on his own. He knew he needed help, but the cost of getting therapy put support out of reach. Thanks to our supporters, Ben discovered the Returning Veterans Project. Gifts from people like you helped remove the financial barrier and allowed Ben to quickly connect with the therapist of his choice.

Your gift delivers free health services to local veterans.

With your help, the Returning Veterans Project opens the door for healing. Ben says, “I’ve been able to pick up different pieces of the puzzle and move forward. I’m doing a lot better now.”  Without RVP, “I’d be lost – probably more lost than ever.”

Your gifts help thousands of post-9/11 veterans and military families like Ben, for whom barriers like cost, access, and stigma prevent access to the health services they need. Your gifts help local veterans, service members, and their families live the healthiest life possible.

Care they Need. Hope they Deserve.

Supporting Veterans at Home During Military Crisis Abroad

Allyson has been delivering free therapy to veterans through the Returning Veterans Project for over four years. In the coming weeks, she anticipates more post-9/11 veterans may turn to RVP for support.

We asked Allyson what veterans need to hear most right now. She says, “You’re not alone. There are people who understand.”

Today, our compassionate supporters are ensuring veterans and military families know they are not alone. Because of you, volunteer health providers like Allyson can continue bridging the gaps in our health care system to deliver high-quality care exactly when and where it’s needed most.

MAKE A GIFT OF HOPE TODAY

Support for our Afghanistan Veterans

For over 15 years, the Returning Veterans Project has worked tirelessly in Oregon and Southwest Washington to connect post-9/11 veterans, service members, and their families with access to free health services — including mental health services — from hundreds of volunteer providers.

Recent events in Afghanistan serve as a poignant reminder that for untold numbers of these veterans and family members, the lifelong battle for physical and mental health is just beginning. And with the ongoing impact of the pandemic in our community, the need for RVP services is growing every day.

With the support of people like you, the Returning Veterans Project will continue to help veterans, service members, and their families live their healthiest life possible.

Improving the health and wellness of our veterans and their families is one struggle we can all face together. We remain committed, now as much as ever, to connecting these veterans and their families with the support they need, anonymously, and free of charge.

Every veteran is unique, and their care should be, too! Give veterans, service members, and military families access to health services they can’t get anywhere else.

Your donation delivers care that is free, easy to access, confidential, and non-judgmental.

Safari users: Having trouble? Click here.

This is the first form for the test.  Think of it as a stand in for our donate page right now.

This month, we’re lifting the weight off military families.

Veterans and military families carry the weight of military service: literally. They carry boxes of belongings during relocations. They shoulder packs during deployments. And along the way, they sustain visible and invisible wounds that go untreated.

All this weight takes a mental and physical toll. That toll makes it difficult to seek higher education, earn an income, own a home, grow healthy families, or otherwise invest in the future.

Too often, veterans and their families can’t access the health services they need to lighten the load and move forward.

By Memorial Day on May 29, we’re raising $5,000 to lift the weight off 50 service members, veterans, and military families.

Access to free, confidential mental and physical health services helps veterans and military families let go of what weighs them down. By getting support for as long as they need, veterans and families can reach lasting employment, stable housing, healthy relationships, and more.

Don’t miss this opportunity to help transform our communities. It takes just $100 to deliver free mental or physical health services for up to one year. You can help lift the weight our service members have carried alone. No matter how much you can give, your donation will deliver hope, health, and healing.

No matter how much you can give, your donation will connect veterans and military families to health services that allow veterans and military families let go of what weighs them down.

By getting support for as long as they need, veterans and families can reach lasting employment, stable housing, healthy relationships, and more.

Don’t miss this opportunity to help transform our communities. Just $50 will bring free mental or physical health services to one person and remove the weight they’ve carried alone. No matter how much you can give, your donation will deliver hope, health, and healing.

Join All For One

Invest in Sustainability

By joining All For One – our monthly giving community – you’ll invest in the sustainability of our free, confidential health services for veterans and service members. You’ll meet a critical need by supporting our volunteer health providers as they deliver life-changing health care!

Deliver Life Saving Care

Change a Life

When you support RVP, you deliver life-changing – and even life-saving – care.

Your gift will recruit, train, and sustain the volunteer health providers who offer veterans and military families health services that are:

• Free – care and support without any fees or additional costs.
• Easy – no long wait lists or need to travel far for care.
• Life Changing – Veterans tell us over and over again that if it weren’t for RVP, they wouldn’t be healthy and thriving today!

Your donation of $50, $100, $250, or ANY amount you can give will connect service members, veterans, and their families to life-saving mental and physical health support.

Why I Give >
Wall of Honor >
Other Ways to Help RVP >
What makes RVP Unique >
Kat’s Story: Searching for the Right Support>


The Returning Veterans Project is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit organization. Your donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.

Share your thoughts & input with us

Because you’re part of the RVP community, we’d love to learn more about you and how we’re doing.

Will you take the next 2 minutes to complete our quick survey?

Your feedback helps ensure we put our best foot forward!

Your Monthly Gift Keeps RVP Running

Your generosity and dedication make you a champion of our mission to deliver free health services to post-9/11 veterans, service members, and their families! An email tax receipt has been sent to you.

Together we will do what it takes to recruit and sustain the volunteer health providers who are delivering high quality care to veterans, when and where they need it most.

Meet Taylor – A New RVP Volunteer

Taylor is a counselor in Enterprise, Oregon who joined the ranks of RVP volunteers in November 2020. By recruiting new volunteers like Taylor, we can support more veterans, service members, and their families!

Why did Taylor decide to volunteer with RVP?   She says it best:

“One thing that I like about the RVP mission, that led me to feel like my volunteer time would be well-utilized, is the apparent streamline between [clients] needing care and getting care. My understanding is that it can be difficult to get into a room with the correct medical professional through the VA system. My impression with the Returning Veterans Project is that there’s a request for help and then help happens. It’s a very direct link between the professional that can offer the best help and the request for help, and I really appreciated that.”

Up Next

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