Roger Chapin

Roger Chapin is an American businessman turned fundraiser living in San Diego, who calls himself a "nonprofit entrepreneur", according to Forbes magazine. He has launched more than 20 charities, and until 2009 was the president of Help Hospitalized Veterans, an American charity, whose stated purpose is, "Making time live for America's hospitalized veterans." The New York Times has labelled two of the organizations he founded, Help Hospitalized Veterans and Coalition to Salute America's Heroes as being " among a dozen military-related charities given a grade of F in a study last December by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit watchdog group. These and other charities have collected hundreds of millions of dollars from kind-hearted Americans and squandered an unconscionable amount of it on overhead and expenses—70 percent or 80 percent, or more."

Background

Chapin, 76 in 2008, is a graduate of Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont and a veteran of the U.S. Army Finance Corps.

Among Chapin's private accomplishments, he was a successful real estate developer in San Diego County, founder of “Fun Art” creative coloring sets, founder of USAopoly—creator and distributor of the very popular special editions of the board game Monopoly. Chapin is married to Elizabeth and they have four children and two grandchildren. They are longtime residents of San Diego, California.

Chapin founded Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV) after a successful business career. Chapin has also founded Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Foundation in Ossining, New York,

In March 2009, in a commentary in the Washington Times, Chapin wrote of the risks of negotiating with Iran and the possibilities of Iran launching an electromagnetic pulse weapon against the United States. Hoping to "prevent a looming nuclear doomsday," Chapin proposed a two part plan:

Urgently initiate a massive buildup of the conventional weaponry needed to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and wipe out its retaliatory capabilities as well as arm Israel to the teeth. Also station Aegis anti-missile ships along our coasts while beefing up homeland security and taking steps to mitigate the effects of an EMP attack. To do any less would be totally irresponsible and reckless. Launch a massive series of preemptive strikes on Iran as soon as possible and send in special ops forces to ensure the mission was accomplished.

At the time, Chapin was identified as "founder and president of Make America Safe, a new San Diego–based policy and educational organization focused on the threat posed by radical Islamics to U.S. national security."

Criticism On September 3, 2007, a Forbes magazine article by William P. Barrett titled "Shell Game" reported that Chapin and his wife Elizabeth are accused of spending the money raised by their non-profit organizations to fund their own lifestyles, vehicles, and real estate investments—rather than to benefit troops or wounded veterans at the 97% efficiency rate that the charity claims.

Other Forbes reporting in regard to the HHV organization claims that of every dollar given, only nine cents went to therapeutic arts-and-crafts kits for wounded GIs (a primary purpose of the charity), while another five cents went towards associated overhead and for counselors to visit hospitals and nursing homes. Forty-seven cents of spending was for direct-mail expenses, with the remainder going for the salaries of the charity staff, etc.

According to Daniel Borochoff, the president of AIP, "[Chapin] is a charity entrepreneur. He's very good at setting up charities that don't do so much charitable but bring in lots, lots of money."

After the Washington Times commentary ran in March 2009, Forbes found that Chapin's new foundation had been incorporated in 2008 and granted IRS 501(c)3 non-profit status in 2009. Forbes also noted at this time that a lawsuit against two former employees of Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Foundation, Raymond and John Clifford, had been reinstated. Both sides were then involved in pre-trial activities. "The lawsuit says the Cliffords, fired by Chapin in 2007, took 'confidential financial information' and made disparaging remarks about the coalition to reporters. The nonprofit seeks unspecified money damages and a court order barring further disclosures. The Cliffords assert a First Amendment right to speak out and say they've done nothing wrong."

In August 2012 the California Attorney General's office sued HHV, saying that Chapin and his successor, Michael Lynch, "grossly overpaid" and approved lavish perks for themselves from donated funds. According to the attorney general, when Chapin retired in 2009, the charity's board retroactively inflated his annual salary in order to justify giving him a $2 million retirement pension.