2009–2011 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.

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 brought over 40 years of experience in military and government affairs to the Call of Duty Endowment.

The Endowment changed its strategy to only support organizations with a proven track record of placing veterans into high-quality jobs.

The same year, the Endowment started the "Seal of Distinction" grant program, which identifies and recognizes non-profit organizations that are successful in placing veterans in quality jobs.

The Endowment worked with Deloitte to develop a rigorous assessment process to measure the effectiveness, efficiency and integrity of the nonprofits that apply.

Organizations that earn the Seal of Distinction received a $30,000 unrestricted grant to use in their veteran job placement activities and are then eligible for future restricted funding, typically averaging more than $500,000 annually.

2014 The Endowment funds the placement of more than 20,000 veterans cumulatively and, for the first time, more than 10,000 in one year, due to the Seal of Distinction vetting model’s effectiveness.

The Endowment’s first in-game fundraiser, the now iconic Badass George Washington Xbox Theme utilizing art by Jason Heuser, was launched in August.

2015 In partnership with Activision Publishing Studio Treyarch, the Endowment launched the “Be a Zombie in Call of Duty” campaign to raise funds and awareness and wins its first national recognition, Engage for Good’s Halo Award.

Treyarch further innovates by launching the first in-game personalization pack to benefit the Endowment, Call of Duty®: Black Ops III’s C.O.D.E.

Valor Pack and Activision Publishing Studio Infinity Ward created the Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare –C.O.D.E.

RFEA (now The Forces Employment Charity) and Walking With The Wounded were the first U.K. organizations to be awarded the Seal of Distinction and related grants.The Endowment also worked with ZipRecruiter on a policy paper entitled “Challenges on the Homefront: Underemployment Hits Veterans Hard,” and funded the placement of more than 40,000 veterans cumulatively.

For the first time, the Endowment participated in the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats program, partnering with two Pittsburgh Steelers players: former Army Ranger Alejandro Villenueva and Le'Veon Bell.

2018 In 2018, the Endowment officially launched in the United Kingdom to help Ex Forces find high-quality jobs while hitting the milestone of placing more than 50,000 veterans cumulatively.

Bowl, an event that would grow to become the first-ever transatlantic military esports tournament to drive awareness of the veteran employment cause .

Additionally, famed Marine Corps Veteran and artist Max Uriarte (who created Terminal Lance) developed the Night Raid Playstation Theme.

Fearless Pack, inspired by the heroic actions of Medal of Honor Recipient CPT Florent “Flo” Groberg, U.S.

Revival Challenge, and partnered with Activision Publishing studio Treyarch to create the Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War –C.O.D.E.

2023 In 2023, the Endowment won a record nine national awards, and announced that they had reached one million followers across its social media channels.

During May’s Military Appreciation Month, the Endowment published a policy paper on Women Veteran Employment, and also partnered with the Call of Duty team and country music duo War Hippies on the “Loot For Good” activation in Warzone 2.0.

In 2018, the Endowment announced that it reached its goal of funding the placement of 50,000 veterans into meaningful employment a year ahead of the 2019 deadline it had set.

The Call of Duty Endowment is funded with donations from Activision Blizzard, gamers, corporate partners and individual donors.

[2][3] It also partners with retailers such as GameStop, which have historically donated a portion of games sold to the Endowment and raised funds through in-store donation programs,[4][5] and through efforts with celebrities such as actor Josh Duhamel and Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones.

[9] In May 2020, Activision Blizzard donated $2 million to the Call of Duty Endowment to help fund emerging needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.