History Of the Network

According to the 2010 Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Warrior and Family Support Sea of Goodwill; Matching the Donor to the Need white paper, there are over 400,000 nonprofit organizations devoted to assisting service members, veterans, survivors, and their families in the United States. Many were created in response to the shocking events of September 11, 2001. As the conflict evolved into what is now the longest war in our nation’s history, grateful Americans have contributed generously to these organizations. With thousands of nonprofits working independently to provide various types of assistance, it became obvious there needed to be a centralized database to keep track of it all. There had to be a better way and that better way is the Yellow Ribbon Network (YRN). By creating a single secure web portal as a clearinghouse of applicant requests and collected data, Partner organizations can maximize their resources, reduce inefficiencies, track duplication of services, avoid occasional fraud, and provide more effective ways to identify and serve the Applicants.

“There’s a lot of change going on…how we touch people throughout our country that are out there in what I call this sea of goodwill, who want to help our people and their families…we have got to figure out a way to do that.” – Admiral Michael Mullen, United States Navy

The Yellow Ribbon Network (version 1) was officially launched on November 11, 2011.