What the Record Shows on Corporate Veteran Support

George Zuo, Jeffrey B. Wenger

Research SummaryPublished Sep 9, 2026

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Large corporations have the scale and reach to shape veterans’ transitions into civilian careers, and many publicly commit to hiring and supporting veterans. Focusing on Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) firms, RAND researchers analyzed publicly available data on what companies say about veteran support, how their foundations give to veteran causes, and the extent to which federal contractors hire protected veterans.

Here's what the data shows:

  • What companies say about veteran support only weakly aligns with how they give and hire. Companies with stronger veteran messaging do not consistently direct more foundation giving to veteran causes or report higher protected veteran hiring rates, and these companies rarely report verifiable retention or advancement outcomes.
  • Corporate foundations direct little of their grantmaking to veteran causes. Veteran-related grants account for less than 1 percent of observed S&P 500 foundation giving, and most active corporate foundations direct no grant dollars to veteran causes.
  • Protected veteran hiring at S&P 500 contractor establishments remained below the national planning benchmark for federal contractors. In the 2025 hiring cycle, protected veterans accounted for 2.4 percent of new hires, compared with the 5.1 percent national benchmark.
  • More military-related federal business does not reliably translate into stronger observable veteran support. Industries with greater military-related contract exposure do not consistently disclose more, give more, or hire more veterans.
  • The broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) retreat may have spilled over to veteran disclosures and programs. High-quality veteran disclosures fell sharply in 2025 and the first half of 2026 amid increased federal scrutiny of private-sector DEI, even though federal protections and obligations for veteran hiring remained. Case studies suggest that some firms had housed veteran programs alongside other DEI activities and drew on the same staff and resources.
  • Public data capture veteran hiring far better than they capture retention or advancement. Federally required contractor reports provide standardized head counts and new-hire counts for protected veterans at federal contractors, but these reports do not track whether veterans stay or advance. Corporate disclosures almost never voluntarily provide that information.

These findings highlight the limits of the public record and do not provide a complete assessment of any company’s veteran programs. The full report outlines federal policy options for strengthening disclosures to provide a fuller view of veteran hiring, retention, advancement, and investment.

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Zuo, George and Jeffrey B. Wenger, What the Record Shows on Corporate Veteran Support. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RBA4946-1.html.
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