AMVETS Veterans Service Organization Overview

AMVETS, or American Veterans, is the country’s most inclusive congressionally chartered veterans service organization. It represents the interests of 20 million veterans and is open to all who honorably served in the United States military, including those who served in the Reserve and Guard. There are more than 250,000 members nationwide. Its mission is to…
Advertising Disclosure.

Advertiser Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone. This article may contain links from our advertisers. For more information, please see our Advertising Policy.

The Military Wallet has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. The Military Wallet and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on The Military Wallet are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear, but does not affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations. The Military Wallet does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

AMVETS, or American Veterans, is the country’s most inclusive congressionally chartered veterans service organization. It represents the interests of 20 million veterans and is open to all who honorably served in the United States military, including those who served in the Reserve and Guard. There are more than 250,000 members nationwide.

Its mission is to enhance and safeguard all American veterans’ entitlements and to work toward improving the quality of life for veterans, their families and their communities. AMVETS has been one of America’s leading veteran’s service organizations for more than 75 years and has a long history of assisting veterans, sponsoring programs and partnering with charitable organizations.

AMVETS was granted a congressional charter on July 23, 1947, when President Harry Truman signed Public Law 216-80th Congress, which allowed the creation of veteran-centric clubs to become active on college campuses and work toward advancing American policy and veteran support.

How Does AMVETS Support Our Military Community?

AMVETS helps support the military and veteran community at both the local and national levels.

Nationally, AMVETS annually awards scholarships to deserving high school students, Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students, veterans and active-duty service members who are exploring higher education. Scholarships are also offered at local levels.

AMVETS consistently advocates for veteran rights in Washington, D.C. Its interests include national defense, services for homeless veterans, Department of Veteran Affairs funding, accurate benefits payment allocations, veteran employment and training, and prisoner of war and missing in action accountability and flag protection.

Additionally, AMVETS has financially contributed to national monuments, including the USS Arizona, as well as the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Locally, AMVETS partners with the Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) organization, which is staffed by volunteers to assist patients by augmenting staff in end-of-life care programs, foster-care settings, hospital wards, nursing homes and veteran outreach centers. VAVS is the most extensive volunteer program in the federal government, with more than 305 national and community organizations involved in direct support of the mission.

Each American Veteran post dictates its own veterans’ outreach programs to best impact veterans’ lives in their communities. The White Clover Program helps veterans connect with those around them, collect donations and support and assist local veterans.

AMVETS also includes the National Service Foundation (NSF), a 501c(3) subsidiary of the organization, established to fund programs that directly benefit and impact America’s veterans. Included in the NSF are the National Service Officer Program, the Memorial Carillon Program and the Americanism Program.

ADVERTISEMENT

Does AMVETS Help With Veterans Benefits Claims?

AMVETS understands that filing a compensation claim can be confusing, so they’ve created the Three Cs to help facilitate the process.

Consult, Collect, Contact

After consulting with a National Service Office (NSO), veterans need to collect documentation. These documents include service medical records, DD214, private medical records and other supporting information. Then, veterans need to contact their NSO to find out what else needs to be done.

The NSO provides services to veterans listed alphabetically by state, and then alphabetically by city, so it should be reasonably simple to locate someone in your region. As of 2020, AMVETS doesn’t maintain service offices in Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah, West Virginia or U.S. territories.

Other Guidance Offered

The HEAL Mission ensures veterans with medical needs receive the help they’ve earned with access to the best-quality health care, including mental health treatment and specialized services. These services are free. AMVETS hired a team of clinical experts with experience eliminating treatment barriers for veterans.

HEAL stands for health care, evaluation, advocacy, and legislation. It aims to encompass all the necessary steps the team will need to directly intervene on behalf of veterans, families and caregivers to help reduce veteran suicide, unemployment, homelessness and hopelessness.

Other services offered include specialized training for veterans seeking employment, advocacy groups to enact change in veteran legislation and a branch of AMVETS specially curated for female veterans.

ADVERTISEMENT

Who is Eligible for AMVETS Services?

Active-duty and honorably discharged veterans from all branches of service are eligible to join. Combat service is not a requirement.

Annual dues are $30 a year as a member at large (MAL). A lifetime membership costs $250. MALs have access to all AMVETS canteens and restaurants, as well as member discounts, but MALs cannot vote in AMVETS elections.

Spouses of service members are eligible to join AMVETS as part of the AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary. Children of veterans can join the Sons of AMVETS. AMVETS Riders is a group of veteran motorcycle riders who organize motorcycle-centric fundraising events.

ADVERTISEMENT

How Does AMVETS Compare to Similar Organizations?

The closest comparisons to AMVETS are the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) and Disabled American Veterans (DAV) in that all three of these organizations assist veterans in filing claims to the VA. However, the comparison really stops there, since DAV and WWP are both focused on wounded warriors, while AMVETS is inclusive to all veterans.

AMVETS is congressionally chartered, which might make it more effective in producing legislative change. Similar to the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA), the component of AMVETS that is focused on advocacy works at both the local and national levels to improve the quality of life for veterans all across the country.

While AMVETS auxiliary programs are a bit dated, with references to spouses as “ladies” and children as “sons,” the organization does worthwhile work. Financially, Charity Navigator ranks AMVETS lower than others due to a lack of financial transparency, but these rankings often do not encapsulate the full benefit of the nonprofit organization it ranks.

About Post Author

Get Instant Access
FREE Weekly Updates! Enter your information to join our mailing list.

Posted In:

Reader Interactions

Leave A Comment:

Comments:

About the comments on this site:

These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

The Military Wallet is a property of Three Creeks Media. Neither The Military Wallet nor Three Creeks Media are associated with or endorsed by the U.S. Departments of Defense or Veterans Affairs. The content on The Military Wallet is produced by Three Creeks Media, its partners, affiliates and contractors, any opinions or statements on The Military Wallet should not be attributed to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the Dept. of Defense or any governmental entity. If you have questions about Veteran programs offered through or by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, please visit their website at va.gov. The content offered on The Military Wallet is for general informational purposes only and may not be relevant to any consumer’s specific situation, this content should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If you have questions of a specific nature consider consulting a financial professional, accountant or attorney to discuss. References to third-party products, rates and offers may change without notice.

Advertising Notice: The Military Wallet and Three Creeks Media, its parent and affiliate companies, may receive compensation through advertising placements on The Military Wallet; For any rankings or lists on this site, The Military Wallet may receive compensation from the companies being ranked and this compensation may affect how, where and in what order products and companies appear in the rankings and lists. If a ranking or list has a company noted to be a “partner” the indicated company is a corporate affiliate of The Military Wallet. No tables, rankings or lists are fully comprehensive and do not include all companies or available products.

Editorial Disclosure: Editorial content on The Military Wallet may include opinions. Any opinions are those of the author alone, and not those of an advertiser to the site nor of  The Military Wallet.