The Call of Duty Endowment was born in 2009 from a conversation between Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, and former VA Secretary, Jim Nicholson. Kotick mentioned that a philanthropic foundation was planning on building a performing arts center on the grounds of the VA facility in West Los Angeles, to which Secretary Nicholson replied: “That's stupid. Our real priorities are finding jobs for veterans and improving their healthcare. I think if we could redirect people's energies and efforts for job creation, that would be a better use of capital and better for veterans.”
The conversation inspired Kotick to learn more about joblessness statistics among U.S. veterans, discovering that 50,000 of the 150,000 service members returning to civilian life at the time couldn’t find jobs. Kotick co-founded The Call of Duty Endowment soon after with the mission to place veterans into high-quality careers.
In 2012, the organization grew to include several distinguished military officials and General James L. Jones was introduced as co-founder of the Call of Duty Endowment. A former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, European Command/NATO Commander, and Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General Jones brings over 40 years of experience in military and veterans affairs to the Call of Duty Endowment.
Learn more about our leadership team.
In 2017, the Call of Duty Endowment expanded our efforts internationally, to the United Kingdom. These efforts are focused on providing employment support to veterans of Britain’s armed forces, with the goal of finding them high-quality jobs that fully leverage their experience, character, skills and education.
Activision Blizzard's Commitment to Veterans
The Call of Duty Endowment is supported by Activision Blizzard. To date, Activision Blizzard has donated more than $42 million to the Endowment.
