Help Us To Help Our Fellow Veterans
For nearly a century, DAV has fought for veterans. Last year alone we impacted the lives of over 1 million veterans in life-changing ways. We couldn’t assist any veterans without the generosity of caring individuals who share our mission of supporting those who have sacrificed so much to protect our freedoms.
DAV California Chapter 48 Sonoma is an all-volunteer non-profit organization, providing services cost-free to veterans and their families. Our services are made possible through the generosity of our donors and volunteers and the dedication of our members. DAV Chapter 48 Sonoma is entirely funded by gifts from members and local supporters.
Donations to DAV California Chapter 48 Sonoma go directly towards DAV programs that directly assist veterans. Our Chapter serves your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community right here at home. Your gifts will be used to provide direct assistance to Veterans, train our service officers, get the word out to Veterans about our services (outreach), recruit potential volunteers, help Veterans with rides to their VA medical appointments using the DAV Volunteer Transportation Network (VTN), cover our operating expenses, and much more. Please give generously and support your local DAV. Every Dollar Counts!
Ways To Give
There are a number of different ways to give to DAV California Chapter 48 Sonoma directly or indirectly (please see below). Tax-deductible donations to CA Chapter 48 are given indirectly through the DAV National Charitable Trust or the DAV California Rehabilitation Foundation. When giving donations indirectly to Chapter 48, please be sure to write on the check comment line where you would like the donations to go (i.e. CA Chapter 48) and/or how you would like it to be used (i.e. particular program or location). Whether it’s money, property, volunteer time, or spreading our message and mission, we greatly appreciate anything you can do to help. Please explore below all the available options donors may choose to give. Please contact Chapter 48 to learn how to give electronically.
HOW TO GIVE TO CHAPTER 48 BY MAIL
DAV CA Chapter 48 Sonoma is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt non-profit organization, tax ID EIN 94-6173131. (donations are not tax-deductible)
Gifts of any amount are deeply appreciated. Mail us a check or call to arrange a meeting to personally deliver your gift. Please contact us directly to learn other ways to give monetary donations.
You may give to the Chapter 48’s General Fund and/or request that your donation go to a specific DAV program or event.
CHECKS PAYABLE TO: DAV Sonoma County Chapter 48
MAIL TO: PO Box 762, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Mail Products for Raffles and/or Auctions To: DAV Chapter 48 Sonoma, 1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
HOW TO GIVE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO CA CHAPTER 48
DAV CA Chapter 48 Sonoma is a sub-organization of DAV National and DAV Department of California.
Payable To: DAV California Rehabilitation Foundation (EIN 23-7161975)
Mail items for Raffles/Auctions to the California Chapter that made the request for the fundraising event (i.e., event location).
- Payable to: DAV Charitable Service Trust
Mail Checks To: 860 Dolwick Drive, Erlanger, KY 41018
Include the Contributor Form with your gift.
Donate By Phone: 877-426-2838, Option 6, then press 1
Additional Instructions when donating to either 501(c)3 listed above:
- Please specify in writing (on communications or directly on the check) where you want the donation to go, such as to a specific chapter, program, and/or location.
- Please let Chapter 48 know (via phone, email, or in writing) where you have made your donation so that we can follow up with the 501(c)3.
BECOME A CHAMPION
HOW TO SUPPORT THE LOCAL DAV VOLUNTEER TRANSPORTATION NETWORK (VTN)
In 1987, a government program providing veterans travel reimbursement was discontinued. Recognizing that many veterans would be left without care, DAV created the DAV Transportation Network Program. This program provides cost-free rides using donated vehicles for eligible veterans to their VA medical appointments from their homes and back.
DAV vehicle resources work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare (VHA) system to provide transportation to help veterans overcome transportation barriers to treatment. The VA Center for Development & Civic Engagement (CDCE) conducts the vetting, onboarding process, and oversight management of volunteers. DAV assists with volunteer recruitment, outreach, and training.
To ensure the program’s success, we need help funding this vital program in Northern California, which includes the Transportation Coordinator position’s salary and purchasing new vehicles.
One Transportation Coordinator can serve the entire San Francisco VA Health Care System, which includes the following counties: San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, and Humboldt.
Once we have collected a year’s data, we can apply for grants to sustain this program.
Donations are tax-deductible when donating directly to DAV California Rehabilitation Foundation for this program. When donating, specify which program you are supporting, such as the DAV Volunteer Transportation Network (VTN) for the San Francisco VA Health Care System.
Please contact Chapter 48 directly to receive a donation form specifically for the DAV Volunteer Transportation Network (VTN) serving the San Francisco VA Health Care System.
Checks Payable To: DAV California Rehabilitation Foundation (EIN 23-7161975)
BECOME A VOLUNTEER
DAV Chapter 48 is an all-volunteer organization, and we’d be grateful for your help. Volunteers are the backbone of our organization. We need people to help us deploy our cost-free programs. There are many different volunteer opportunities. Become a Chapter Service Officer, serve on a committee, help us with fundraisers, help veterans directly, assist with outreach, and much more. You do not need to be a veteran or DAV member to become a volunteer. However if you are interested in becoming a DAV member both non-Veterans or non-disabled Veterans can join the DAV Auxiliary. Please share with us your ideas about how you can help. Whatever your passion, we have a place for you. Call or email us to learn more. DAV national organization also has several volunteer opportunities.
There are thousands of veterans who rely on us now, just as we relied on their service to our country. Our ask of you is simply to do what you are able. You don’t have to be a DAV member or a veteran to volunteer with DAV. You just have to have a willing heart. When you volunteer with DAV, you change lives. Those of the veterans you serve and yours.
HELP US REACH MORE POTENTIAL VOLUNTEERS
To ensure the program’s success, we need help reaching more potential Volunteer Drivers and Volunteer Coordinators. Chapter 48 needs help with paying for advertising in local newspapers (paper and print). You can donate directly to Chapter 48 specifically to advertise your logo on the volunteer recruiting advertisement or you can embed the volunteer recruitment advertisement into your advertisement. There are many different ways to sponsor the volunteer recruitment advertisements. Contact DAV Chapter 48 to discuss more.
HELP US REACH MORE VOLUNTEERS THROUGH PAID ADVERTISEMENTS IN LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS
Sonoma County Gazette: Free Monthly Paper
The Bohemian: Free Weekly Paper
Please contact us to share your ideas on how we can customize advertisements for your business while helping us to reach more potential volunteers.
Other Ways To Give
Planned Giving
Make DAV Sonoma County Chapter 48 a part of your financial or estate planning. Talk to your financial advisor about tax savings and other benefits of planned giving, and help us to ensure that current and future generations of Veterans will continue to benefit from your generosity.
Sponsor
Our doors remain open thanks to the generosity of our business sponsors, who help to fund our facility, office expenses and activities with monthly or one-time gifts.
Please contact DAV Chapter 48 to learn more about business sponsorship
DAV Vehicle Donation Program
DAV national organization works with CARS (Charitable Adult Rides & Services). Through the program, DAV departments receive 25% of all net proceeds generated from the sale or salvage of vehicles donated in their state. For more information, email Cars4vets@dav.org or call DAV at 859-442-2072. Please let them know Chapter 48 Sonoma referred you.
Donors can donate online at dav.org/cars or by calling the toll-free number 833-CAR-4DAV (833-227-4328)
The program strives to accept any vehicle: cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs, boats, airplanes, heavy equipment, farm machinery and most other motorized vehicles–anywhere, running or not. The program provides free pick up and most vehicle donations qualify for a tax deduction.
Ways To Give Via National DAV Website
- Monthly Giving
- One Time Donation
- Memorial/Honorary Gifts
- Gift Planning
- Vehicle Donation
- Corporate Partnerships
- Matching Gifts
- Methods to Donate
- Fitness Fundraising
- Donate Your Birthday
- Stock Gifts
- Qualified Charitable Distributions/IRA Rollover Gifts
- Real Estate Donation
- Commemorative Brick
Even More Ways to Give
- Help us spread the word by sharing what we do for disabled Veterans and their families on social media. Share by word of mouth, share our website, share our Chapter’s Facebook page, or request our flyer (pdf).
- We accept goods and services for our raffle events.
- Bar and/or restaurant owners: Hold a DAV Sonoma County Chapter 48 event and donate a percentage of the proceeds to our local Chapter. We will help to spread the word to make it a mutually beneficial event for everyone involved.
- Volunteers for Fundraising & Sponsorship Committee
- Teaching older Veterans how to use computer features
- Volunteers to assist with outreach
- Most of all we need physically abled persons to assist with fundraisers & events, such as assisting with hosting events like food feeds. Many of our Veteran volunteers have physical limitations which restricts us in hosting events. Volunteers help make our ideas possible!
- Float for the annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade & Festival, which is held every May in downtown Santa Rosa. Our disabled Veterans would like to participate but we need a float or a similar form of representation and transportation for the parade. roseparadefestival.com/
- “Forget-Me-Not” Fundraiser Campaigns. We need DAV member volunteers to help us reach more people during the 7 days of fundraising. If you can donate 2 or more hours for 1 to 7 days out of the year please contact us. We also would appreciate any local media coverage to let people know where our volunteers will be stationed during the Forget-Me-Not Drives. If you have media contacts please let us know.
- Check out our Events page for more details on our Chapter 48 Wish List
- Membership drives and outreach activities.
"Forget-Me-Not"
Local Fundraiser Campaigns
Held 7 days out of the year
Each Chapter holds their campaign at different times of the year
The first time DAV members ever sold little, blue ‘Forget-Me-Not’ to the public was on February 24, 1926. The first Forget-Me-Not Drive was held to raise funds to support DAV services and assistance desperately needed by veterans disabled in World War I. The DAV wasn’t the first veterans’ organization to support some of its humanitarian work through the sale of artificial flowers. Actually, the DAV was picking up on the idea that later became an international tradition now shared by veterans’ groups in more than 50 countries. The idea behind the ‘Forget-Me-Not’ flower grew out of an image carried home from the First World War in the memories of soldiers who had seen spring flowers growing among the graves of comrades and allies killed in the fighting. The scene, with its promise of new life following the sacrifices of so many, was immortalized in the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae, thus capturing the hearts of people yearning for peace. The flower soon became the accepted symbol for commemorating those who had fallen in war. This small flower says, “Please, don’t forget me” for those who had come home as well as for those who had given their lives. It’s an appropriate symbol to remind us continually of the service and sacrifice that make our way of life possible. This symbol of living history is a legacy that continues to serve veterans of all eras today as it did in the aftermath of World War I.
This symbol of remembrance has been the staple of Chapter-level fundraising efforts, which provides assistance to your local Veterans. Your support of our mission honors our Veterans and makes our grassroots service initiatives possible.
We need DAV member volunteers to help us reach more people during the 7 days of fundraising. If you can donate 2 or more hours for 1 to 7 days out of the year please contact us. We also would appreciate any local media coverage to let people know where our volunteers will be stationed during the Forget-Me-Not Drives. If you have media contacts please let us know.