Episode 113 Transcription

Welcome to episode 113 of Behind the Mission, a show that sparks conversations with PsychArmor trusted partners and educational experts. My name is Duane France, and each week I'll be having conversations with podcast guests that will equip you with tools and resources to effectively engage with and support military service members, Veterans, and their families. You can find the show on all the podcast players or by going to www.psycharmor.org/podcast.

Thanks again for joining us on Behind the Mission. Our work and mission are supported by generous partnerships and sponsors who also believe that education changes lives. Our sponsor this week is PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that's free to individual learners, as well as custom training options for organizations.

On today's episode, I'm featuring a conversation with Emily Bader, Senior Director of Investments for the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The Bob Woodruff Foundation's mission is to find, fund, shape, and accelerate equitable solutions that help service members, Veterans, and their families and their caregivers to thrive. Emily is actively involved in finding funding and shaping grants made to nonprofits that address the needs of post 9/11 Veterans service members, military families, and caregivers. You can find out more about Emily by checking out her bio on our show notes. So let's get in my conversation with her and come back afterwards to talk about some of the key points.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: So Emily, I'm glad to be able to feature the work that the Bob Woodruff Foundation is doing for the military affiliated community. I'd like to give you an opportunity to give us a bit of your background and why your work with the Bob Woodruff Foundation is important to you.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. First off, Duane, thank you so much for having me here today to talk about the foundation's work, because we've been busy and I think a lot of what I hope to cover today will be new to some of your listeners. We have a lot of programming coming out that's really applicable for individuals and organizations.

So I'm really excited to have the opportunity to get that message out today. I joined the Bob Woodruff Foundation while I was wrapping up my graduate degree, and at that point I was really focused on the Middle East, so I had big dreams of working for an ngo, a really mission-oriented organization doing development work.

I stumbled across the Bob Woodruff Foundation when I was looking for an internship and I recognized the name actually because Bob and Lee's book, which if you haven't read, I highly recommend, had been on my bookshelf for years. And so I was familiar with the organization and I submitted that application to intern and the organization hooked me immediately. I was really, I think kind of swept up in the passion in this space. I hadn't been exposed to the military Veterans service sector. I know it's a really tight-knit group of organizations and people working in this sector. And I hadn't been exposed to it prior to the foundation, I became so invested in the mission and the people behind the mission here that fast forward seven years and a lot of learning later, I'm now responsible for all of BWF'S investments in organizations who are serving this population nationwide.

 I really take this role seriously I know how important it is to be good at what we do because so many donors, both individuals and corporations are really depending on the Bob Woodruff Foundation to invest their funding in programs that are gonna have the deepest possible impact on the health and wellbeing of this community. 

So it's been a really incredible ride for the past seven years. We have grown pretty tremendously under Annemarie's leadership. That's our ceo. We've grown from, I wanna say, Six individuals based in New York City to a, nationwide team of over 25. So it's been a really incredible journey and I think every year we get even smarter about the investments we make and the work that we're doing and we're supporting.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: I always find it interesting, when people as you mentioned, without necessarily a military and Veteran background or experience with the military affiliated population, find themselves, get into the work. When my wife and I married, she was not affiliated with the military at all.

She'd had some uncles that served in Vietnam. And so sometimes military spouses come into that but it's interesting for that as you were looking for different work that you found yourself in this military and Veterans space.And like you said, it's a lot of learning to be able to understand how to do that, but really the Veterans can't do it themselves. We need partners like you who weren't previously affiliated, but understand the passion of the work.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. And that's something that I think took me a long time to get comfortable with, frankly. We've got a great army Veteran on staff who, when I talked to him about this, he reminded me that, the men and women that our funding is reaching, right? They've served for years, but I've spent seven years figuring out the support out there for them, right?

Like I've, I don't know the experience they've been to in the way that obviously someone who's served will. I will never understand it that depth, but I've spent the last seven years understanding every single thing that's available for us to support them when they take off that uniform and transition back into the community.

So it's spent a lot of time researching what's available, researching the gaps in services and how our funding can fill them, and how we can best support really every community nationwide to ensure no matter where a Veteran lands, when they transition out, that community has the resources for them to thrive and have that smooth transition.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: And I think that consistency is important. I was noticing that too, is, when you're talking about in the military and Veteran support space, seven years is a really long time to remain with one organization. I even think as you're talking, in the last seven years, I'm on my third organization that I'm working with now, in that time. And as you said, that gives you the ability to really dig in and understand the unique challenges and identify the solutions very specifically because of that consistency. 

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah, and I think one of the things I'm most proud of in our work is that, like you said, it's seven years. A lot changes and our funding has changed with that. So when I first started the foundation, or actually even to go back further, when we first started as an organization, we were really focused on addressing traumatic brain injury.

And that goes hand in hand with Bob's experience and his recovery from his tbi. Whereas now our focal areas have really expanded and we're looking a lot at Veteran homelessness and housing. We're looking at the legal issues that are impacting Veteran stability, a lot of mental health programming. So we've really shifted and expanded what we're looking at as the needs in our community have shifted.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: I, and I think that's amazing. As I mentioned, before we get started, I am a fan of the Bob Woodruff  Foundation, but when we talk about the military and veterans support space, many people know the names of the larger veterans support organizations like Team RWB and Mission Continues, Wounded Warrior Project. The general public, or even maybe our general listeners may not be aware of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, but all of those organizations absolutely are because the Bob Woodruff Foundation invests in them and supports them.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. And that is the best part of my job, right? When I think about the work we do, it is making all of the organizations that are doing their part in this giant puzzle of Veteran services, as successful as it could be, right? That's the best part of my day is meeting with an organization that is so passionate and having the conversation with them about how can our funding fit? How can we further accelerate the impact that you're having? 

 One thing I will throw out that I don't think a lot of organizations know is the amount of programming and investment that we provide that's not just funding. So one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is kind of the shape part of our mission. So working with organizations, whether or not they receive funding to help them refine the work that they're doing. So we have some organizations that come to us. I will say most of the organizations, of course, that come to us are extremely mission driven, and they are so passionate about the work that they're doing, but they don't quite understand where they fit. And how to understand the impact and the place that they play in, supporting Veterans. And so I think the shaping piece that our team does is so important. And it's like kind of intangible because we're sitting with organizations and really having a conversation about what do you want to do? What is the mission of your organization? What is your goal for Veterans? Ehat do you that you will achieve after a Veteran is engaging in your work and helping those organizations understand, okay, what is the best way to do that? What does the evidence show is the most impactful way to change that Veteran's life in the way that you're hoping?

Those conversations are about program delivery, outcome measurement, and also even financials and financial management. Some of the younger organizations that come to us, they don't necessarily know how to bring in an effective board that can help them budget appropriately and make sure that their funding is going to the most of impactful investments. 

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: I really, that's one thing I've always valued about the Bob Woodruff Foundation. If you look at it is if these were entrepreneurs and there was sort of an angel investment firm, you could either say, I'm gonna invest in your kind, I'm hands off. Or you can say, I'm gonna provide that mentorship.

I'm gonna help develop. Because in that sense, entrepreneurial, they want return on in terms of money, but the Bob Woodruff Foundation really does that and takes best practices that have been learned across nonprofits because I've often said it about myself, sometimes my passion exceeds my effectiveness. And you wanna make sure that, these organizations, their effectiveness reaches the level of their passion and their ability to accomplish the mission.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. And that comes in both for organizations when we're at the application stage, when organizations are first coming to us and saying, this is the program we want you to invest in, but also throughout our grant period, so when we're investing in an organization, we are engaged from the point that they apply all the way through to the point that they finished expending grant funds to understand how are things going? Do we need to shift where the funding is? Has there been, you know, a really big change in community funding and your funding should shift to fill a different gap than we expected? and I think the other thing is we never, I think the way we talk about it is we don't have a college admissions decline.

We always tell organizations exactly why we have declined to fund their program. And I think that conversation, the call that we offer organizations that we decline to talk about why is one of the most impactful parts of our work because I don't think there's a lot of conversation that some of these organizations are offered about why their work either isn't a good fit for our funding or in some cases is even, a little risky for Veterans.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: Yeah. And I think again, that really comes from the long-term standing of the program and the experience that it has, right? It really, again, this idea of the Bob Woodruff Foundation is an organization that supports other organizations. But along with that broad and supportive nature, we could be here talking all day about the programs that are supported, but there are also some programs that you provide directly. Can you give us some examples, some of the types of things that the foundation does?

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. So I would say, first off, I would be remiss if I, and talk about our Got Your Six Network. This is our network of all of our partners across the nation. It's the largest nongovernmental network of Veteran serving organizations. And we're providing a lot of programming throughout the year to improve their functional and substantive expertise. So to give you an example of what that looks like, we host some webinars that talk about fundraising. And how to improve their fundraising capabilities and storytelling. We've done a few sessions that are topic specific, so looking at Veterans legal issues and how to make sure that a local community has the kind of service network of providers that can identify when a legal referral is necessary. Since we know so many of the top Veteran needs are being impacted by an underlying legal issue. So really making sure that we're getting the word out about a lot of areas where we have grantees that are really expert, but local communities and community efforts are so broad, right? So it's impossible for a local collaborative to have that depth of expertise about everything. So we're trying to bring in little bite size pieces to help them learn about how to identify larger issues, how to make the right referrals, and really just better serve this community. So just for example, we have coming up next month we have a webinar on the PACT Act.

This has been so huge. This has been huge news for everybody who served. And we wanna make sure that the organizations in our network know what this means for the Veterans they serve. It's open to the public, so of course Veterans themselves can join. and I think all of this programming is really designed, with kind of our tagline in mind. We've got your six. We know that the support that we provide organizations, directly in funding and in tools and resources and knowledge. It's all with that promise in mind that we've got their six. 

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: Oh, and again, it, that being the military phrase, but you're there for support, right? You're not in this alone. There is that concept of organizations, and many organizations might feel like they're in this alone, even if there's an organization on the other side of the county that's doing the same thing.

The broad network is not as cohesive necessarily as it could or should be. But then there is that, again, going back to the idea of the funding piece and funding and investing in Veteran support organizations is really the Bob Woodruff Foundation is about supporting not just the organizations, but also supporting the military affiliated community. 

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah, and I think you hit on a big point. So much of our work is about convening and bringing people together. So like you said, you may not know what's happening across the country, but we're facilitating those conversations. We're making sure that our local partner who's based in LA also knows what's happening in Miami, and they're talking about the best practices that they've seen be successful in their community.

And being able to learn from each other, right? Nothing is more powerful than a peer-to-peer connection where you're saying, Hey, I saw this happen in my community, and this is what worked for us. And I think that something that's so powerful about what we're doing with our network is making sure that those conversations are possible.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: And the other thing I think that seems really, intriguing about the Bob Woodruff Foundation is you have such a broad perspective about what needs are being met and supporting those. And then the shape is also defined by the shadow in that you can see where the gaps are and what organizations or what needs are not being met, and you can then directly go in there. You and I were talking before we started about the VIVA program.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. And I think the VIVA program is a great example of, I guess I would call it like our drive to tackle tough things. So this came out of I wanna say it was Lee, who first realized that Veterans really going into debt, trying to access fertility services. We hosted an entire convening to talk about the issue of service connected infertility and really identify what was happening in this space.

And our VIVA program grew out of our learnings there. So that is our Veterans in Vitro initiative. And really what that is, is we've offered up to two grants for two fertility cycles to fund Veterans in vitro services. And what's really cool about this program is that it's a direct compliment to va.

So there are some restrictions that happen with VA services that are not restrictive through Viva. So for example, we've got more inclusive eligibility criteria including funding for a donor's sperm and eggs. We fund surrogacy. There's more flexibility about the nature of the service related injury or wounds. Also age and, we also fund same sex couples and single parents. So that program I think is something I would love for people to remember and refer other individuals to.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: And just hearing about it, and it's one of these things where it makes total sense. I have two now adult children. And I think about the number of times where I almost died in Iraq or Afghanistan. I wouldn't have been there for my daughter's college graduation.

And after someone's service, whether they serve 20 something years like me or they serve three or four years, but they have a service related infertility, that doesn't remove the desire for them to establish a legacy and to have their children. My father was a Vietnam Veteran, and I think that, and I know that, and he's, he said this, that one of his primary joys in life was us, my sister, my brother and I, his children.

And so it's one of those things where I, you don't normally consider that being a need, but when you brought it up, I was like, absolutely. Because it's all about legacy. And continuing on the honor. If something, might not have been there, if it weren't for this type of program.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah, and I think that really comes in. We've got three focal areas of the organization right now that kind of are the overarching theme behind our work, and I think that one really falls in like improving Veteran overall health and wellbeing, right? Like if you, if you are driven to expand your family, we wanna make that possible because that has a direct impact on your mental health and that of your partner.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219: And I think, again, that's a great example of there aren't a lot of organizations out there doing that, right? Doing that specifically. That is and maybe even a proportionally small number of the overall Veteran needs. but then again, there's this idea of you see the entire landscape of what's being done.

You provide investments in what's being done, and you also see what's not being done, what you hear of and are able to step in and do that. I absolutely, like I said, I think the Bob Woodruff Foundation is great. I'm a huge fan. If people wanna find out more, maybe about the Viva program, obviously we'll add links to all of these things in the show notes, but how can people find out more about the Bob Woodruff Foundation?

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yeah. So absolutely. For Viva program, you can check out our website, we've had over 53 babies born through the Viva program, so absolutely check out that if that's of interest to you or your family. And I would also recommend just looking at our website overall, we highlight all the partners that we've invested in. Their work spans from working on housing stability, food insecurity, legal services, mental health. So absolutely check out our website. Also follows on social media. our handles @bwforg and so much of our work is open to the public because that is a huge part of our mission is shaping and improving the overall Veterans service sector. Join some of our webinars, come to some of our events, and just know we're always looking to bring more organizations into our network. So reach out, tell us what you do, and be a part of this work with us.

duane--_30_03-10-2023_065219:  I love that, and I will definitely make sure that all of those links are in the show notes. Emily, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

emily-bader--she-her-_1_03-10-2023_085219: Yep. Thank you Duane.

Once again, we would like to thank this week's sponsor, PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that's free individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.

As we talked about in our conversation, the Bob Woodruff Foundation is well known in the military and federal nonprofit sector. Many well-known organizations are funded by the foundation, and as Emily said, not just funded, but also supported with advice and development. Emily used the term investment, and that's really what BWF does, invests in the organizations that it partners with.

I often say that there are three valuable things in the work that we do. Time, money, and expertise. The first thing that many organizations are looking for is, of course, money. How do we fund the work that we want to do? But arguably time is more valuable than money. There's a finite amount of time and how you spend your time is extremely important and the right kind of expertise can save you both time and money. And if someone invests time in an organization and brings the right kind of expertise, then even more money can be found. So it's great to hear that BWF invests all three in the organizations. It partners with the time of the foundation staff, the expertise developed from years of supporting effective programming, and last, and again, arguably least money.

The other point that I'd like to touch on about BWF isn't something that Emily and I really discussed during the interview, but the foundation is also known for its research and analysis that contributes to effective programming for the military affiliated population.

I'll include a link to the research page on the foundation website, but the expertise of the team at BWF is providing information and research about a lot of topics that we've talked about on the show. Food insecurity among military families, standards for the delivery of high quality care for invisible wounds, strengthening ties between civil legal aid and Veteran serving organizations and subjects such as homelessness and Covid 19 in n the military and veteran population. Any effective programming that supports people in the community needs to have an evaluation component in which the program effectiveness and goals are measured in some way, and that includes collecting and analyzing.

Without effective evaluation, data collection, and analysis, many programs spend a lot of time and money getting expertise the hard way through repeated experience. I for one, would prefer to have someone who has researched the proper way to use a hammer teach me how to do that effectively rather than repeatedly bashing my thumb or bending the nails. So this is another form of investment going back to my conversation with Emily, investing in research that will provide a way forward, a guide for organizations that wanna support those who served. So I also recommend checking that out. I hope you appreciated this conversation with Emily as much as I did.

If you did, we'd appreciate hearing from you. So if you do have some feedback, let us know drop a reviewer and your podcast player a choice or send us an email at info@psycharmor.org. We're always glad to hear from listeners both feedback on the show and suggestions for future guests.

For this week's PsychArmor Resource of the Week, I'd like to share the PsychArmor’s course Sustaining Momentum narrated by Bob Woodruff, journalist and co-founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

This course examines how the ecocycle model of collaboration can help partners understand the collaborative process and plan for sustainability together. You can find a link to the resource in our show notes.