The Call of Duty franchise has done a lot for our real life veterans throughout the years, including pairing up with non-profit organisations around the world to help those that served with life after. With LiLi and I both being veterans, this is something that we have valued personally over the years, and now the brand is preparing to honor those organisations with the “Seal of Distinction” award coming soon. To jumpstart those involved, they are now accepting applications from both US and UK organisations to be considered.

“The Call of Duty Endowment today begins its application process for the sixth annual “Seal of Distinction” Awards, recognising U.S. and U.K. based non-profits that demonstrate the highest levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity in placing ex-service personnel into high-quality jobs,” a recent press release sent to us proudly states.

The prestigious award for grantees is accompanied by a £23,000 unrestricted grant, as well as the opportunity to apply for future funding. Past beneficiaries include: Goodwill Southern California, Goodwill of the Olympics and Rainer Region, NextOp, RFEA – The Forces Employment Charity, and Walking With the Wounded.”

In order to be considered, applications must be submitted through this portal here. 

Applications will be accepted now through June 1, 2018. Nominees for the “Seal of Distinction” must meet a number of criteria, including:

• Organisation must be a charitable, non-profit, with 501©(3) status (or, in the case of the U.K., a charity determined to have the equivalent status of a U.S. non-profit with 501 ©(3) status);
• Mission must include directly assisting unemployed and underemployed ex-service personnel to find high quality jobs;
• Group must complete an application, provide requested documentation and be prepared to submit to verification procedures by Deloitte;
• Applicants will be assessed by metrics including, the number of ex-service personnel placed in jobs, the quality of those placements, average cost-per-placement, average starting salary, six- and twelve-month retention rate, key employee background checks, and a variety of organisational and financial health indicators; and
• Applicants must not be a previous Seal of Distinction winner.

The “Seal of Distinction” is the preeminent standard of excellence in the ex-service personnel employment sector. In the last year alone, organisations supported by the Endowment placed 11,974 ex-service personnel in jobs at an average cost-per-placement of $504.

“We are honored to continue the ‘Seal of Distinction’ program into its sixth year,” said Dan Goldenberg, Executive Director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “We’ve seen a growing demand from ex-service personnel for help securing high quality careers—a 60% increase last year alone—and we’re committed to finding and funding the highest performing non-profits that successfully address this challenge in both the U.S. and U.K.”

We’re glad to see this, and we know many of our fellow veterans are too. As for Call of Duty itself goes, WWII is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Learn more about the program here.