As this very challenging year draws to a close, I’d like to share with you positive thoughts on 2020 and our vision for the future.
Our Team
Thinking back to March we found ourselves at a crossroads. The world was shutting down around us, we were being forced to cancel our events and we had to stop many critical programs for the SEALs we support. People, teammates, were relying on us and we could not support them and that was unacceptable for me and this team. We were at an intersection looking down two equally dark paths but we knew we had to make a decision and do it quickly. Standing there with next to no information about the future, we decide to bet on what we know and that is teams and family. So, in the midst of a pandemic with fundraising drying up and our events canceled for the foreseeable future, we doubled down on what we know and added three new teammates to the SFF leadership team and several key Advisors to our Advisory Boards. That decision gave us the firepower we needed to pivot quickly and today I am extremely proud to report that this Team, with the trust of our Board and Advisors and the continued support of you our SFF Family, was able to not only able to survive but thrive in 2020. This collective effort allowed the SFF to have its best year ever. From a fundraising lens we expect to have raised over 20% more revenue than 2019 and almost 15% more revenue than our best year (2017). We have also welcomed a record number of SEALs into the SFF this year with 817 as of today compared to 209 SEALs for all of 2019, an almost 300% increase. The pandemic forced us to get out of our comfort zone, it forced us to make tough decisions, it forced us to pivot frequently and because of that we are now better positioned than ever to support the SEAL Community.
Our Family
This past year I witnessed miracle after miracle and all of it was rooted in love. The pandemic made us slow down, it made us look around and it forced us to open our eyes to what is most important and that is each other. Our communities around the country, our FOBs, have always been an integral part of this organization and critical to the successful transition of a SEAL but what we saw this year was it is one of the most important parts of our solution which literally takes a village. Our FOB leaders, FOB members, coaches, mentors, supporters, donors, employers, partners, alliance members, interns, everyone – what we say here at the SFF is our Family – really came together in their local communities to provide the resources needed in their area. The reason we were able to help the nearly 1,400 SEALs we serve is because of the leaders and Family members who run and support the FOBs. Thank you for always answering the call.
2021 Focus
Because of our strong connection to and relationship with the active duty and former SEAL Community, we are constantly evolving to meet the unmet needs of the Community. For 2021 we have a few enterprise goals which are priorities for us to better serve the Community. The first is Family Support. We recognize that supporting the married men through transition only equates to 50% of the solution. We are setting a target of next summer to start providing programs and services to the SEAL family, starting with the spouse and will do so in partnership with our SEAL Support Alliance (SSA). The next focus area is continuing to strengthen the SSA. The SEAL Support Alliance was stood up this year to better align and coordinate the efforts of the many benevolent organizations in the SEAL non profit space. We will continue to dedicate time and resources to the SSA and explore bringing in other like minded organizations. To date the Alliance has partnered on over a dozen extremely urgent support cases, bringing to bear swift action and resources to meet critical needs. For the SSA, creating clarity for those in need and providing aligned resources is the backbone of its existence. The next area of focus for the SSA and the major program priority of the SFF is Health Support. For the last three years we have partnered with best in class alternative health and wellness providers to address the unique mental and physical injuries our Community has sustained from their time in service. We currently are building a community of health and wellness advisors comprised of former Admirals, Master Chiefs, experienced operators, doctors, researchers, thought leaders and nontraditional health and wellness providers to help us explore how we can best best address the unique health and wellness needs of SEALs and their families. In 2021, We will more intensively be an advocate for innovative alternative health solutions by coordinating and participating in research on promising alternative health modalities. Like everything we do, we will not do this alone but in partnership with leading subject matter experts in this space to include universities, institutes, doctors and wellness innovators. The current system of healthcare for warriors is doing the best it can but it falls short on addressing the mental and physical trauma faced by SEALs, spouses and other front-line combat veterans and their families. We are proud of the good that we have done with our current Health Support Program and are grateful for our partners and the SEALs who trust us to help provide relief when all else has failed. However, we can’t rest on past success. Helping to drive the advancement of alternative health solutions will provide not only benefits to the SEAL Community but will ultimately benefit humanity. This is a big effort and like everything else, we can’t do it alone.
Honor
It has been one of my greatest honors to co-found and lead this amazing organization. It has been an extremely rewarding experience in my life to be able to continue to serve in this capacity and work alongside some of the most amazing people that I’ve known. Our success as an organization, my success as a leader is absolutely due to the heart and passion of my teammates, our Board of Directors and Advisors, the trust of the SEAL Community and the support and trust of you, the entire SFF Family. Thank you. Looking back to where we started as a $5k scholarship solution to where we are today, a full spectrum custom transition solution, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the determination, grit and flexibility of everyone involved to help build the SFF to what we are today. This was not easy but nothing worthwhile in life is and I wouldn’t change a single thing, good or bad, because that is what has allowed us to become what we are today, the most trusted transition partner of the SEAL Community. There is much work to be done and our mission never ends and it is time for a fresh perspective, new vigor and new ideas for this organization to continue to evolve and grow at the rate it needs to. Like in the military it is my belief and the belief of the SFF that our leadership should rotate out every few years and that is what we intend to do. Next summer we are targeting an official change of command whereby Ty Bathurst, retired SEAL Commander and the current Chief Engagement Officer of SFF, will assume the CEO role. I will continue to serve the SFF as a member of the Board and remain active in community engagement and special projects, specifically our health and wellness initiatives. Ty was my first Platoon Commander in the SEAL Teams where we deployed to Baghdad Iraq as Task Unit Baghdad. Under his leadership we conducted countless combat operations in support of Iraqi Freedom and there I witnessed what it means to be a leader. In life, there are leaders we follow because we have to and then occasionally there are leaders we follow because we have been inspired to. I would follow Ty anywhere and I look forward to watching the SFF Family grow under his leadership.
I want to thank everyone again for this great honor you’ve bestowed upon me to lead the SFF. Thank you for this amazing journey. And finally thank you for your friendship. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.
Long Live The Brotherhood
-Jonathan D. Wilson
As this very challenging year draws to a close, I’d like to share with you positive thoughts on 2020 and our vision for the future.
Our Team
Thinking back to March we found ourselves at a crossroads. The world was shutting down around us, we were being forced to cancel our events and we had to stop many critical programs for the SEALs we support. People, teammates, were relying on us and we could not support them and that was unacceptable for me and this team. We were at an intersection looking down two equally dark paths but we knew we had to make a decision and do it quickly. Standing there with next to no information about the future, we decide to bet on what we know and that is teams and family. So, in the midst of a pandemic with fundraising drying up and our events canceled for the foreseeable future, we doubled down on what we know and added three new teammates to the SFF leadership team and several key Advisors to our Advisory Boards. That decision gave us the firepower we needed to pivot quickly and today I am extremely proud to report that this Team, with the trust of our Board and Advisors and the continued support of you our SFF Family, was able to not only able to survive but thrive in 2020. This collective effort allowed the SFF to have its best year ever. From a fundraising lens we expect to have raised over 20% more revenue than 2019 and almost 15% more revenue than our best year (2017). We have also welcomed a record number of SEALs into the SFF this year with 817 as of today compared to 209 SEALs for all of 2019, an almost 300% increase. The pandemic forced us to get out of our comfort zone, it forced us to make tough decisions, it forced us to pivot frequently and because of that we are now better positioned than ever to support the SEAL Community.
Our Family
This past year I witnessed miracle after miracle and all of it was rooted in love. The pandemic made us slow down, it made us look around and it forced us to open our eyes to what is most important and that is each other. Our communities around the country, our FOBs, have always been an integral part of this organization and critical to the successful transition of a SEAL but what we saw this year was it is one of the most important parts of our solution which literally takes a village. Our FOB leaders, FOB members, coaches, mentors, supporters, donors, employers, partners, alliance members, interns, everyone – what we say here at the SFF is our Family – really came together in their local communities to provide the resources needed in their area. The reason we were able to help the nearly 1,400 SEALs we serve is because of the leaders and Family members who run and support the FOBs. Thank you for always answering the call.
2021 Focus
Because of our strong connection to and relationship with the active duty and former SEAL Community, we are constantly evolving to meet the unmet needs of the Community. For 2021 we have a few enterprise goals which are priorities for us to better serve the Community. The first is Family Support. We recognize that supporting the married men through transition only equates to 50% of the solution. We are setting a target of next summer to start providing programs and services to the SEAL family, starting with the spouse and will do so in partnership with our SEAL Support Alliance (SSA). The next focus area is continuing to strengthen the SSA. The SEAL Support Alliance was stood up this year to better align and coordinate the efforts of the many benevolent organizations in the SEAL non profit space. We will continue to dedicate time and resources to the SSA and explore bringing in other like minded organizations. To date the Alliance has partnered on over a dozen extremely urgent support cases, bringing to bear swift action and resources to meet critical needs. For the SSA, creating clarity for those in need and providing aligned resources is the backbone of its existence. The next area of focus for the SSA and the major program priority of the SFF is Health Support. For the last three years we have partnered with best in class alternative health and wellness providers to address the unique mental and physical injuries our Community has sustained from their time in service. We currently are building a community of health and wellness advisors comprised of former Admirals, Master Chiefs, experienced operators, doctors, researchers, thought leaders and nontraditional health and wellness providers to help us explore how we can best best address the unique health and wellness needs of SEALs and their families. In 2021, We will more intensively be an advocate for innovative alternative health solutions by coordinating and participating in research on promising alternative health modalities. Like everything we do, we will not do this alone but in partnership with leading subject matter experts in this space to include universities, institutes, doctors and wellness innovators. The current system of healthcare for warriors is doing the best it can but it falls short on addressing the mental and physical trauma faced by SEALs, spouses and other front-line combat veterans and their families. We are proud of the good that we have done with our current Health Support Program and are grateful for our partners and the SEALs who trust us to help provide relief when all else has failed. However, we can’t rest on past success. Helping to drive the advancement of alternative health solutions will provide not only benefits to the SEAL Community but will ultimately benefit humanity. This is a big effort and like everything else, we can’t do it alone.
Honor
It has been one of my greatest honors to co-found and lead this amazing organization. It has been an extremely rewarding experience in my life to be able to continue to serve in this capacity and work alongside some of the most amazing people that I’ve known. Our success as an organization, my success as a leader is absolutely due to the heart and passion of my teammates, our Board of Directors and Advisors, the trust of the SEAL Community and the support and trust of you, the entire SFF Family. Thank you. Looking back to where we started as a $5k scholarship solution to where we are today, a full spectrum custom transition solution, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the determination, grit and flexibility of everyone involved to help build the SFF to what we are today. This was not easy but nothing worthwhile in life is and I wouldn’t change a single thing, good or bad, because that is what has allowed us to become what we are today, the most trusted transition partner of the SEAL Community. There is much work to be done and our mission never ends and it is time for a fresh perspective, new vigor and new ideas for this organization to continue to evolve and grow at the rate it needs to. Like in the military it is my belief and the belief of the SFF that our leadership should rotate out every few years and that is what we intend to do. Next summer we are targeting an official change of command whereby Ty Bathurst, retired SEAL Commander and the current Chief Engagement Officer of SFF, will assume the CEO role. I will continue to serve the SFF as a member of the Board and remain active in community engagement and special projects, specifically our health and wellness initiatives. Ty was my first Platoon Commander in the SEAL Teams where we deployed to Baghdad Iraq as Task Unit Baghdad. Under his leadership we conducted countless combat operations in support of Iraqi Freedom and there I witnessed what it means to be a leader. In life, there are leaders we follow because we have to and then occasionally there are leaders we follow because we have been inspired to. I would follow Ty anywhere and I look forward to watching the SFF Family grow under his leadership.
I want to thank everyone again for this great honor you’ve bestowed upon me to lead the SFF. Thank you for this amazing journey. And finally thank you for your friendship. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.
Long Live The Brotherhood
-Jonathan D. Wilson
