ANNUAL REPORT 2021

Welcome to our inaugural annual report!  The Combat Control Foundation (CCF) was established September 2018, however our operations really took off in mid-2021.  We are very proud of what CCF accomplished in less than a year, which would not have been possible without our committed and hard-working Board of Directors, volunteers and donors.  Thank You each and every one of you!

In this report, you will briefly see the initial capacity we have assembled and accomplishments for 2021, as well as some insight into what's planned for 2022.  It's important to note these accomplishments were from an intrinsic partnership with the Combat Control Association (CCA).  While CCF is evolving quickly, our strategy is to progress in a symbiotic way with the CCA.  CCA provides the voice of the Combat Control Community (e.g., what are the Community's needs) and CCF is here to provide solutions for the Community.  Beginning in 2022, there will be more of a distinction between the two organizations, beginning with separate Boards of Directors; however, the new CCF Board has four CCA Directors appointed and fully participating to ensure the voice of the Combat Control Community is always engaged.  The new Directors on the CCF Board all come with a breadth and depth of skills CCF needs to be credible and grow and have already been a help as we've begun 2022.  We welcome our new Board members and look forward to our work together. 

In 2021 and collaborating with CCA, CCF raised $760,000 in donations and provided $126,240 in support for a variety of needs. In 2022, CCF began an investment fund to build for the future.  The needs are never ending, and we need to be prepared for when crises hit.  While CCF is small compared to similar foundations, we are off to a tremendous start in less than a year and intend to continue growing.  

In talking with past and present Combat Controllers (CCT) and their families who needed help, the discussions are not always easy, especially for people who have lived their lives with an ethos of completing the mission themselves no matter what.  It takes courage to ask for help and those we have been able to help have my utmost respect for taking those courageous steps.  

What a privilege it is to be serving the CCT Community.  You can see from the numbers included here CCF has already been providing support, but it's not just about dollars.  We helped people in our Community -- we helped our own.  These opportunities to facilitate help have been amazingly rewarding.  However, it is very important our donors know these support accomplishments are because of the support you provided.  You made a difference in our people's lives!

2021 Honorees

Statement of Financial Position*

As of December 31, 2021

We are at the earliest steps of a very long journey.  With the help of some very generous benefactors, we are off to a good start; however, we want to reach a point in the future where we are self-sustaining.  Achieving such an ambitious goal requires a great deal of work every year, but we are confident we can achieve it.  Along this journey, we will achieve incremental goals.

CCF's programs will grow along this journey.  Where we do not have capacity to directly help our Community, we will partner with other organizations to do so.  We have already taken such steps with Project One Vet @ a Time (POVAT) and the PJ Foundation.  We will work with others along this journey, build our own capacity or combine with others' capacity when it makes sense. 

The program areas are where CCF delivers its services and helps our Community.  However, to be a credible organization there is a great deal of back office and behind the scenes work needed to pass muster with our stakeholders.  CCF will work hard, based on our principles, to be accountable, credible and transparent.  As time goes on, CCF will be very highly rated among those organizations who review and rate charitable organizations such as ours.  CCF will be a leader based on nonprofit industry performance metrics (e.g., low overhead costs) and audited.

We have had some good opportunities to help those who were not CCT but had spent a significant part (or most) of their careers supporting CCT.  It was our privilege to help them and we will continue to do so in the future.

We recognize there is an opportunity over the next two years to significantly improve the public's recognition of Combat Control and we will be laser focused on improving this recognition and our Community's needs.  We will need the help of a great many people in and outside our Community to increase the recognition of Combat Control and CCF, so the call is going out.  We have had a tremendous response from our early benefactors who were unaware of Combat Control but are happy they've learned about us and want to help.  We are very grateful for this support.  For those in our Community, we need your support to tell your and our story.  Please let us know if you'd like to help.

In the words of Chief Master Sergeant (Retired) Mike Lamonica, "No one takes care of us better than us"  CCF will prove this every year.  Thank You for your support.