The mission of the Foundation for Women Warriors (FFWW) is to serve women veterans and their children so that their next mission is clear and continues to impact the world. For over a century, they have been at the forefront of preventing homelessness among women veterans and addressing the issues affecting them and their families. From 1920 to 2005, as the Los Angeles-based California Soldier’s Widows Housing Association, they provided housing to widows, war nurses, and mothers of fallen soldiers. In 2005, they opened their programs to women veterans from all eras as Military Women in Need and, in 2016, the organization re-branded as Foundation for Women Warriors.
Jodie M. Grenier, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Women Warriors is responsible for FFWW’s daily operations, financial oversight, and financial development. Jodie is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Marine Corps veteran, and a veteran of the Iraq war. Before working in the non-profit sector, Jodie had a 10+ year career in Intelligence and National security with special emphasis on Middle East and Southwest Asia Intelligence Collection operations. Before joining FFWW, Jodie was the Vice President and Director of Development at the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation. Jodie has a BA in Psychology and a Master of Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego. She is also a member of the City of San Diego's Veteran, Military, and Families Council.
In October 2021, she was invited to testify as a subject matter expert for the second time in front of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity in an oversight hearing on “A Whole GovernmentApproach in Support of Servicewomen.” She testified on key issues and provided recommendations to improve servicewomen’s transition experiences. Jodie testified in July 2019 to discuss the economic well-being of women veterans, which led to a historic amendment to increase funding for homeless veterans with dependents in H.R. 8247 (116th): Veterans COMPACT Act of 2020, signed into law in December 2020.
While appearing to effortlessly manage the historical aspect and legacy of a century-old service-based organization, balancing it with the positive, current impact you are making as CEO helping thousands of families and women veterans, you and your team are also laying impressive future pathways for the next generation of enlisted women.
Leadership at Foundation for Women Warriors
You’ve been able to rise to the occasion to advocate as a voice for women service members throughout the nation, presenting on several platforms including in front of the Biden administration. With increasing rates of women enrolling in military programs, without operational changes being made internally, naturally, the output of our veterans needing assistance will increase as well. Reputable statistics reflect suicide rates for women veterans rank even higher than for male veterans, and women’s homelessness, mental health issues, and incarceration rates are also increasing...
Women suffering from PTSD, military sexual trauma, and healthcare options need critical support and equitable, gender-sensitive, trauma-informed trained staff and programs, but this is very uncommon and hard to find. What are some ways our own communities can best assist our women veterans? How might our churches and businesses be of better support?
First, our communities must acknowledge that women have been at the forefront of our national security since our country’s inception, however, they have gone underrecognized for years, and as such so have their post-military challenges. This lack of recognition has resulted in a lack of services that meet the unique needs of women. Seek out and include women veterans in veterans programming. Every time we engage the community, we find that many families have grandmothers and aunts who served in WWII, yet never considered the needs of our women veterans today. The first step is acknowledgment. We’re happy to speak to any groups or churches committed to learning more about how they can join us in honoring and empowering women veterans.
Foundation for Women Warriors has 4 major need zones for women veterans you are working to impact — Education, Employment, Housing, and Childcare — and you have effective strategies in place to address these needs. From your exposure to such a variety of people struggling, can you educate us on the most pressing and concerning issue/s you see, which is affecting why you dedicate yourself passionately to this work?
Personally, my experience growing up with a young single mother who struggled to provide for our family certainly underscores my drive. As does my experience leaving the military and feeling as if I was without a supportive community, struggling to find friends and mentors who understood my experience. Financial insecurity and lack of social support can be devastating and deeply impact the entire family. Yet, the exact opposite, being able to make ends meet and having people who love, accept, and understand you can truly make a world of difference in someone’s trajectory. So, while we provide financial assistance, that alone is not enough. Our community of support that celebrates the achievement of women veterans and provides understanding is also a crucial part of addressing the overall well-being of
our veterans.
Your leadership skills have increased visibility, significantly increased revenue, and turned the Foundation for Women Warriors into a stellar, remarkable community, providing these Warriors your care avenues of support, strength, and growth. Fundraising is certainly one of if not the most, challenging arenas a non-profit leader will face. What basic strategy or practical advice for success might you lend to help someone who is struggling to get people to pay attention to their admission and for their revenue to raise?
This is a tough one. We have had great success for many reasons, the first is having an incredibly talented team and board that also has lived experience. In a world of never-ending content, people are starved for genuine and authentic connections and stories. We each share the successes of our veteran community just as much as we share the challenges, and we collectively do this across all mediums, social media, news, speaking engagements, etc. That said, non-profits that serve women and girls receive less than 5% of all charitable contributions so we are still very much in the fight to expand our capacity to meet the needs of our veterans, and fundraising remains a challenge. The best advice I can give is to reframe the thought process around fundraising. Fundraising in essence seems transactional, instead, we consider it transformative or friend-raising. We build lasting and mutually beneficial friendships that help make the world brighter for our veterans.
How You Can Make a Big Difference
Two Ways to Donate
Donate to the Foundation for Women Warriors.
Using the above link, you’ll discover a donation page for Foundation for Women Warriors. It provides several ways to support various aspects of their ministry.
Donate to Serving USA
1 Click on the “Donate” button on the right of this page.
2 Use the “Select a campaign” dropdown menu to choose “Women in Recovery”, which means your donation goes to the overall cause. Foundation for Women Warriors is one of several ministries that may benefit from your donation.
3 Enter your donation amount and frequency of giving.
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