Special Operations Warrior Foundation
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| Founded | 1980 |
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| 501(c)(3) | |
| Mission | To serve the military’s special operations forces and their families |
| Website | http://www.specialops.org/ |
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) is an American tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1980 to provide college scholarships and educational counseling to the surviving children of Special Operations personnel killed in the line of duty. These services are provided throughout the United States, or overseas, depending upon where the surviving children reside.
The foundation is a top-rated, non-profit organization located in Tampa, Florida. The SOWF supports America's special operations forces by providing full college educations to the surviving children of dead special operations personnel as well as immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel.
Today, the foundation has 1,000 children in its program, with 140 students enrolled full-time in colleges and universities across the country.
The foundation provides full financial assistance for a post-secondary degree from an accredited two or four-year college, university, technical, or trade school; and offers family and educational counseling, including in-home tutoring, to the surviving children of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty. It also provides immediate financial assistance to severely wounded and hospitalized special operations personnel.
In 2014, the foundation was awarded its ninth consecutive four-star rating from the US's leading charity watchdog, Charity Navigator. This esteemed rating places the SOWF in the top one percent of charities rated for its financial efficiency.
The SOWF was founded in 1980 following the failed attempt to rescue American hostages being held in Iran. The doomed mission was plagued with problems from the start, but it ended in disaster when a helicopter and C-130 gunship collided in the desert of Iran, at a location now referred to as "Desert One," killing eight military personnel and severely incapacitating another. The fallen warriors left behind 17 children. The survivors took it on themselves to provide college educations for the children of their fallen comrades.
The foundation began as the Col. Arthur D. "Bull" Simons Scholarship Fund. It was named in honor of the Army Green Beret, Bull Simons, who repeatedly risked his life on rescue missions.
Following creation of the United States Special Operations Command, and as casualties mounted from actions such as Operations Urgent Fury (Grenada), Just Cause (Panama), Desert Storm (Kuwait and Iraq), and Restore Hope (Somalia), the Bull Simons Fund gradually expanded its outreach program to encompass all Special Operations Forces. Thus, in 1995 the Family Liaison Action Group (established to support the families of the 53 Iranian hostages) and the Spectre (Air Force gunship) Association Scholarship Fund merged to form the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. In 1998 the foundation extended the scholarship and financial aid counseling to also include training fatalities since the inception of the foundation in 1980. This action immediately added 205 children who were now eligible for college funding.
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