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In recognition for its innovative support for American troops, veterans, and their families affected by war, the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund (IADIF) of the California Community Foundation earned the Council on Foundations’ 2010 Critical Impact Award.

 Three IADIF partners – the Dallas, Permian Basin Area, and San Antonio Area foundations in Texas – will share the award when it is presented during the Council’s Fall Conference for Community Foundations in Charlotte, N.C., September 13-15, 2010.

Established in 2006 as a donor-advised fund, IADIF broke ground in becoming America’s first organized philanthropic response to these wars, having since distributed nearly $250 million to 53 nonprofit organizations nationwide. More than 2.2 million all-volunteer American troops have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, and hundreds of thousands have been deployed multiple times.

 “We owe our freedom to America’s troops, who along with their families, make a profound sacrifice and display immense heroism every day,” said Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations. “IADIF recognizes our national responsibility to support those who have served in the longest wars in our nation’s history. The Council is honored to recognize IADIF’s innovative approach.”

With an initial focus on direct services to troops, veterans, and families affected by deployment to Iraq and/or Afghanistan, IADIF expanded its grantmaking strategy to include support for research, advocacy, public awareness, and other emergent opportunities to address the complex impact of these wars on those who are fighting them. Among these expanded strategies, IADIF’s Community Foundation Initiative tapped the insights and resources of grantmakers in communities hit hardest by deployment to fund local nonprofits, thereby allowing them to provide swift and effective service to those in need.

As a result, approximately two million U.S. troops and families were directly served by IADIF from 2006 to 2009.

”While warrior care is first and foremost the responsibility of our Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, our warriors do not come home to federal agencies – they come home to families and communities,” said Nancy Berglass, director of IADIF at the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles. “Grantmakers are in a unique position to help in the wellness of military personnel and their dependents and the successful re-integration of our veterans, before deployment-related problems become crises of public health and welfare.”

In addition to its groundbreaking work with community foundations in Texas, IADIF replicated the Community Foundations Initiative model with three funding organizations in Florida. IADIF also is the funding source behind The Invisible Wounds of War, the RAND Corporation’s 2008 report documenting the substantial impacts of post-traumatic stress, depression, and traumatic brain injury on today’s military personnel. 

In 2009, the California Community Foundation issued Supporting Our Troops, Veterans and Their Families: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities for Philanthropy, a ground-breaking report now widely considered essential for both grantmakers and policymakers interested in leveraging community resources to address unmet deployment-related needs. Within the military community, the report serves as a guide to navigating unprecedented partnerships between government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

The Critical Impact Award, created in 2006, recognizes grantmaking organizations each year that are models for supporting programs that serve families and communities in need, share and spread best practices, and enhance the public good. With a growing demand for charitable support, Critical Impact Award recipients are demonstrating the powerful difference that philanthropic organizations can make and are setting an example from which others can learn through their vision, commitment to results, and collaboration.