The veterans’ nonprofit that tried to build golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park last summer has changed its pledge to donors after a TCPalm investigation found it had overstated how much money went to charity while spending on salaries, social club dues and a private jet for its CEO.
The Folds of Honor Foundation is an Oklahoma-based nonprofit with 38 U.S. chapters and reported assets of $105 million and $62 million in donations, according to its 2023 tax forms, the most recent available.
Since its 2007 inception, Folds said it has distributed 62,000 scholarships for the families of disabled and deceased service members and first responders, including 4,500 to Florida students and 45% to minorities.
Its website used to say, “91% of donated funds go directly to scholarships,” but TCPalm found it was 61% in 2023 and averaged 68% over five years since 2019. That’s because Folds includes salaries, advertising, events and first-class travel in its calculations.
Since TCPalm’s investigation published in March, Folds changed the marketing on its website to read “91% of annual expenses support our scholarship program.” This change likely happened between April and early May, according to Wayback Machine, a nonprofit internet archive.
Folds Spokesperson Glenn Greenspan, who lives in Stuart, did not respond to questions about why this change happened or what the new language means.
Greenspan told TCPalm in February Folds’ calculation is not illegal and is standard practice. Multiple nonprofit experts told TCPalm its marketing is misleading.
“It would not be correct to say Folds spent 91% on direct grants for scholarships,” CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron said at the time. “The laws governing how charities are allowed to spend their money are highly permissible. You can’t generally trust what charities tell you in their marketing.”
Nonprofit watchdog rebukes Folds of Honor claim
Folds’ tax forms not only show it spent less on scholarships than it advertised, but it also spent an undisclosed amount on its executives’ social and health club dues and a leased private jet for its CEO, Lt. Col. Dan J. Rooney.
The nonpartisan nonprofit watchdog group CharityWatch noted these findings in an article it published in April after TCPalm’s investigation, titled, “Folds of Honor Foundation Does Not Spend 91% of Donations on Direct Scholarships.”
CharityWatch previously gave Folds a top rating for spending 91% of its total expenses on programs, but it took issue with what the nonprofit was considering “programs.”
In 2023, for example, Folds spent $14.7 million — or 30% of that 91% — on expenses such as:
“If the charity is fortunate enough to receive a donation of a size large enough to cover the costs of a private jet and first-class travel, that money could likely be better spent on providing more life-changing scholarships,” Styron told TCPalm. “A public charity’s money doesn’t belong to the people running it, but to the public.”
Ties to the Trump administration
When plans to build golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park were leaked to the public in August, the opposition was swift and bipartisan.
Days later, records revealed Folds of Honor was the group pushing for the controversial plan.
One figure advocating for Folds was Dan Bongino, who lived in Sewell’s Point working as a conservative podcaster at the time before becoming FBI deputy director for the Trump administration.
Bongino is not only a promoter and fundraiser for Folds, but a personal friend of Rooney’s. They have frequently appeared on Fox & Friends together.
After it became public Folds was behind the golf course plans, Bongino issued a statement confirming the nonprofit had backed down, and that “they just didn’t understand the local passion for JD Park. They heard us and did the right thing.”
“I don’t know how this thing started,” Bongino told TCPalm in September 2024. “All I know is I live here, and I donate to an unbelievable charity that said to me exactly what I put in their statement.”
Jack Lemnus is a TCPalm enterprise reporter. Contact him at jack.lemnus@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1345, or follow him on X @JackLemnus.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Folds of Honor changes pledge to donors after TCPalm found it overstated veterans’ charity
Reporting by Jack Lemnus, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
