Activision Blizzard has announced that it has donated $2 million to the Call of Duty Endowment to help fund emerging veteran employment needs. The donation helps kick off the company’s celebration of National Military Appreciation Month through the #CODEFearlessChallenge, a social media campaign that calls for followers to post a photo or name of a veteran or current member of the military to honor their service and sacrifice.
“Military veterans need our support more than ever,” said Bobby Kotick, Co-Chairman of the Call of Duty Endowment. “With unemployment rates at all-time highs, we know from past experience that veterans will be far more affected than ordinary citizens. With this donation to the Call of Duty Endowment, we hope to find jobs for at least 4,000 veterans.”
The #CODEFearlessChallenge coincides with a series of events in May supporting the Call of Duty Endowment. Later this month, a brand-new downloadable content pack will launch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone called the Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Fearless Pack, with one hundred percent of Activision’s proceeds from the pack going to the Endowment’s efforts to place veterans into high-quality jobs.
In the last month alone, the Endowment has seen an unprecedented increase in requests from veterans seeking employment assistance from its grantee charities—a more than 50% increase over the same period last year. Activision Blizzard’s $2 million donation, as well as other funds raised through #CODEFearlessChallenge, will go directly to the Endowment’s grantee charities to meet this heightened demand. Additionally, Humble Bundle is running a two-week promotion with the Call of Duty Endowment as the charity of choice. Titled: Humble Sierra the 3rd Bundle, this promotion will run starting on May 5 to May 19.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in veterans asking our partners for assistance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan Goldenberg, executive director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “We’ve been committed to helping veterans find meaningful employment for over 10 years, but we’ve never seen anything like this. Veterans will need our help more than ever, and through Activision Blizzard’s donation and support from the gaming community, we’re well positioned to provide that help.”
The Call of Duty Endowment has funded the placement of more than 69,000 vets in meaningful employment since its inception and aims to place 100,000 veterans in meaningful jobs by 2024. The Endowment’s 2019 cost to place a veteran was $499 – providing meaningful employment at 1/6 the cost of US Department of Labor efforts. Nationally, American veterans make an average salary of $49,945, while those placed through the Endowment’s grantees, with their focus on high-quality placements, made an average of $60,750, or 21% more.
To help get veterans back to work, please visit: www.callofdutyendowment.org/help.