The Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation (MSSHF) was founded by the leadership of the USMC Scout Sniper Association (SSA). Since SSA’s leadership is an all-volunteer group of men with day jobs, they determined very quickly that they simply wouldn’t have the ‘bandwidth’ to run the day-to- day operations of the Association while simultaneously trying to create a Scout Sniper War Memorial. In addition, the research eMort that supports the memorial has also been prohibitively labor intensive. In order to take those tasks oM the SSA’s plate, the Marine Scout Sniper Heritage Foundation was born in May, 2023.

Great question, and we appreciate all offers of assistance in accomplishing our mission! There are lots of opportunities to help with fundraising events, helping us connect with key enablers, doing research and many other things! Reach out to us at contact@scoutsniperheritage.org.

That’s a great question, and the answer is really very simple. MSSHF is a legal subsidiary of SSA. It is also a fully independent corporation, with its own leadership, banking and tax exemption. SSA board of directors is the legal “sole member” of MSSHF.

Yes, MSSHF is a registered 501(c)3 public charity. Our tax ID number is 93-1898384.

Simply, the SSA board of directors may not interfere with the day-to-day operations of the MSSHF, but it has the authority to appoint or dismiss any officer or director of MSSHF, at its sole discretion.

SSA is a fraternal membership organization, set up primarily to serve those members and their families. It’s also the only membership organization in the world that represents the Marine Scout Sniper community. That carries a serious obligation to represent our brothers and their families with the utmost respect and transparency. Knowing MSSHF would need to bring specialists onboard who may not be Scout Snipers (like professional researchers, archivists, fundraisers and others) to accomplish the MSSHF mission, and MSSHF is NOT a membership organization, we wanted to create a “backstop” so that Marine Scout Snipers would always be in control of the process. Creating MSSHF to be a subsidiary of SSA ensures that Marine Scout Snipers will ultimately have control of creating the memorial to honor our fallen brothers and their families.

MSSHF will continue the ongoing mission of uncovering what we refer to as the “lost” history of Marine Scout Snipers. Because of the way the Marine Corps organized and administratively categorized Scout Snipers throughout their 105-year history, there is NO ACCURATE ACCOUNTING of who served as a Marine Scout Sniper. Therefore, we cannot accurately say who was killed in action in the service of our country and deserves to be honored by our memorial. Long after the Scout Sniper War Memorial is built, we will continue our research to gain a final accounting of all Marine Scout Snipers who gave their last full measure, and to educate our fellow Marines and the American public about the extreme sacrifices and other contributions Marine Scout Snipers have made for our Nation’s defense.

Since the leadership of MSSHF is all-volunteer, the vast majority of donations are earmarked specifically for the Scout Sniper War Memorial. The amount spent on overhead is nominal (website, brochures, etc). As we are just beginning our first year of operation in March 2024, we will be providing a fully transparent accounting of donor funds allocation around this time next year.

Anyone can purchase a commemorative brick that will be placed at or near the Marine Scout Sniper War Memorial. We hope this will be an opportunity for our fellow Scout Snipers and their families to honor and remember their fallen loved ones, as well as an opportunity for the American public to show their support for America’s Marines who fought and died for their liberty.

All brick orders must be held until the groundwork for the memorial is physically underway. At that time, an order will be placed for all bricks at once. During construction of the pad upon which our Memorial will sit, all those bricks will be placed in and around the Memorial. You will be notified when that process begins.

Brick sales are a mechanism to raise funds, so most of the proceeds will help us build the Scout Sniper War Memorial. A very small portion covers the cost of the brick, and the remainder is a required donation to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation (MCHF). We are required to share a certain amount of the proceeds from brick sales with MCHF because they own the ground upon which our Memorial will sit.

While we don’t have “members”, we do have a tiered donation structure that allows individuals and companies to join us as supporters at various levels. Please see our donation page, HERE.