SPECIAL REPORT | Call of Duty Endowment It’s not just 57,000 ex-forces we’ve
helped, it’s their families too Dan Goldenberg, Executive Director
Endowment place a veteran into a job. To make sure that money goes as far
as possible, the Endowment seek out the most effective charities and non-profit organisations to help ex-military personnel into work, rewarding them a Seal of Distinction. “Once we’d identified our high-performing non-profit organisations, we went from funding the placement of about 1,000 veterans in the first four years to around 50,000 veterans in the next four,” Goldenberg tells us.
Above and beyond But it’s not simply a case of ‘any job will
do’. The emphasis is on “high quality” full-time roles that come with a good starting salary and a strong chance the applicant will still have the job a year down the line. It’s also about helping the full spectrum
of military leavers, whether they’re in their early 20s, or a 40 year old who signed up out of school and has never had a job interview in their life. That help can mean anything from identifying the right roles and writing killer CVs, to offering specialist assistance to those injured in the line of duty. “The goal here is to get you to the
point where you are your own best advocate, where you’re equipped to be competitive and successful,” says Goldenberg. But as well as bringing the ex-military up to speed, it’s important to educate potential employers about the benefits of recruiting from the forces.
“Having conversations with employers
about the unexpected values that service members can bring can be really useful,” says Goldenberg. “They’re often not aware of the unique attributes they can bring to the job – for instance, the level of leadership experience that a very young person coming out of the forces has would be very rare to find among their civilian counterparts.”
Reinforcements Since 2017, the Endowment have
operated in the UK, where they have partnered with two charities. Those are Walking with the Wounded and RFEA: The Forces Employment Charity. “We’re hugely grateful for everything
that Call of Duty gives us,” says Alistair Halliday, CEO of RFEA. Like many of the organisations the Endowment works with in the US, RFEA exist to find jobs and support for veterans, and Halliday explains that the Endowment are already “definitely making a difference” to their work. Goldenberg says that the Endowment’s UK operation is “our biggest growth priority right now.” The consequences can be far-reaching.
“It’s not just 57,000 ex-forces we’ve helped, it’s 57,000 ex-forces and their families,” Goldenberg continues. “If you have a meaningful job that engages you, you’re less likely to be depressed, and you have connectivity to a community, a sense of purpose… I think of the benefits to families, the government, to society, to businesses, and I’m very proud of that.”
2
Endowment director Dan Goldenberg on how they help
How does the Call of Duty Endowment raise money? First are the in-game items in Call of Duty. The second is partnerships with retailers, so we’re developing this partnership in the UK with GAME obviously. And then the third area is events such as charity livestreams.
What aspect of the Endowment’s work makes you proudest? Two things. I think one is obviously the impact we’ve had. We didn’t set out for this to be the case, but it’s worked out where, to the best of our knowledge, we’re the largest private funder of veteran employment in the world.
And the second thing? The second thing is how struck I’ve been by the employees at our company and our partner companies. We literally couldn’t run this organisation without scores of people from Activision Blizzard and from our partners who’ve just stood up and volunteered their time to make this effort successful. So I get a little emotional about it, none of these people served in the military, they just really care about this cause and they want to give back, and I’m really proud of them and that.
GAMECOUK
GAME..CO..UK
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