The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is one of the Intrepid Family of Foundations, organizations that were all established by Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher. The Museum’s sister organizations share the goal of supporting the men and women of the United Stated Armed Forces, veterans, and their families.

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Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund

The INTREPID FALLEN HEROES FUND is a leader in supporting the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. Begun in 2000 under the auspices of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, and established as an independent not-for-profit organization in 2003, the Fund has provided close to $75 million in support for the families of military personnel lost in service to our nation, and for severely wounded military personnel and veterans. These efforts are funded entirely with donations from the public, and hundreds of thousands of individuals have contributed to the Fund. 100% of contributions raised by the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund go towards these programs; all administrative expenses are underwritten by the Fund’s Trustees.


The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund recently launched a new project to assist wounded warriors who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The Fund will construct the National Intrepid Center of Excellence to support the research, diagnosis, and treatment of TBI. Medical experts believe that due to the nature of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, TBI is much more prevalent in these modern conflicts than in the past. Improved treatment of TBI is needed and is deserved by our brave servicemen and women. Our TBI Center will serve veterans injured in previous conflicts as well as those wounded in the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Previous projects include The Center for the Intrepid, a $40 million world-class state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The Center serves military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duties. Prior to that, the Fund provided close to $20 million to families of United States and British military personnel lost in performance of their duty, mostly in service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The FISHER HOUSE PROGRAM is a unique private-public partnership that supports America's military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 10,000 families, and have made available nearly 2.5 million days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990. By law, there is no charge for any family to stay at a Fisher House operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Fisher House Foundation uses donations to reimburse the individual Fisher Houses operated by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. No family pays to stay at any Fisher House. 

Fisher House also operates the Hero Miles program, collecting donated frequent flier miles for use by military families, and the program has provided more than 8,000 flights to date. Fisher House also operates a program providing scholarships for military dependents.

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Intrepid Relief Fund

The INTREPID RELIEF FUND is dedicated to supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families. The Fund solicits contributions from the public to provide financial support to the military community through its own programming and through support of other organizations with similar goals. The Fund is a public charity and a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization.

The Fund is focused on several areas of need in the military community: hardship support for military families, education for servicemembers and their families, and military health care. The Fund’s principal program is Operation Mend, which provides advanced plastic surgery care to troops with disfiguring facial injuries.