In recognition of Veterans Day and all who served, this is the third in a series of special features MSP Success is running this week. If you missed the first two stories in the series, see The Veteran Edge: What Military Experience Brings to Managed Services and 9 Leadership Lessons from Military Veterans on Building High-Performing MSPs.
Across the United States, thousands of veterans face the harsh realities of homelessness, unemployment, and reintegration challenges. Organizations like U.S.VETS and the Veterans Care Charity are on the front lines, facilitating housing and mental health services, offering career programs, and donating essential supplies to help veterans regain stability and independence. Through initiatives like Kaseya Cares, the MSP channel community has stepped up to support these efforts.
“Veterans have given service on behalf of their country and the communities we live in—supporting them aligns with our belief that business success and community well-being go hand-in-hand,” says Josefina Bianchi, a marketing communications specialist at Kaseya.
At the annual Kaseya Connect in Las Vegas, the company holds a variety of charitable engagement activities under the “Cooper Cares” umbrella. “We are physically present in a community and have the opportunity to make a tangible and local impact,” Bianchi says. “Supporting veterans charities in the region is a meaningful way to contribute where we are.”
A Mission of Service: Partnering with Veterans Care Charity and U.S.VETS
Kaseya has been partnering with Veterans Care Charity of Nevada since 2022. Founded in 2015 by U.S. Army veteran Bob Martin (pictured above, right) and his wife, Veterans Care Charity has donated hundreds of thousands of items—from backpacks and hygiene kits to blankets and teddy bears—to veterans, first responders, and organizations such as the Salvation Army Disaster Relief Centers across the country.
At the most recent Kaseya Connect this past April, Kaseya hosted a volunteer service event where over 300 attendees stuffed about 1,000 backpacks for Veterans Care Charity and The Salvation Army Southern Nevada.
“Kaseya provides everything,” Martin says. “They’re a great organization and they’re easy to work with.”
At this year’s event, Kaseya also partnered with U.S.Vets for the first time. U.S.Vets is the largest nonprofit organization with boots on the ground to combat America’s veteran homeless crisis, providing intervention and prevention services, including housing, mental health and career programs, and wraparound services.
The event featured a donation drive/fundraising component where sponsorships and attendee contributions were targeted for U.S.VETS and Veterans Care Charity. In addition, there were on-site giving booths in the expo hall where attendees could drop off donated items (e.g., travel-size soap, deodorant) and enter to win prizes.
Heather Harvin (pictured at right, center), national corporate campaigns and community relations manager for U.S.Vets, says the money raised through the Kaseya Connect event will go toward helping veterans with food insecurity, housing, career development, and mental health services. “It was a really big initiative and we are very appreciative and very grateful,” she says. “A good portion of our funding is government funding and there are some stipulations with that. So when we have partners like Kaseya that want to help us raise money or donate money where we aren’t restricted to certain guidelines, it really allows us to truly provide for veterans in multiple ways.”
In addition, Harvin says the Cooper Cares booth at the event “had this beautiful big map and they encouraged people [who] served or have family members or friends who served, to pin [a flag] to the area of where you served or your loved ones served. That map was pretty full by the end of the conference. It was quite a few veterans that were there attending. That was really cool to interact with them, share a little bit more about U.S.Vets and our mission, and a lot of them actually signed up to get involved.”
Beyond Donations: Building Awareness and Long-Term Support for Veterans
In addition to providing “practical, immediate relief to veterans in need,” Bianchi says the Cooper Cares initiatives, through partnerships with veterans-housing/relief organizations, strive to raise awareness in the MSP/IT professionals community of veteran issues as well as contribute to long-term stability and independence for veterans. “Ultimately, we hope veterans gain a sense of recognition, access to resources, support from the tech community, and a clearer pathway to thrive in civilian life—not just survive,” Bianchi says.
She adds, “We also believe in volunteerism and direct-action giving. The ‘backpack stuffing’ and personal-care kit activities deeply engage our attendees and reinforce our culture of giving back.”
Since 2022, Kaseya has raised approximately $100,000 for veterans causes. It’s part of the Kaseya Cares initiative, the company’s broader philanthropic and community-engagement program, which has contributed more than $9.8 million through causes supporting children and education, veterans, animals, and cancer research. Kaseya Cares also includes an emergency-response dimension that provides relief through financial assistance, business guidance, and on-the-ground support to customers and communities impacted by natural disaster, ransomware, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Harvin, the support of Kaseya and the MSP community means a lot. “When we share with the veterans we have this partner that did this great thing, just to see their excitement and their appreciation. For me, that is a humbling experience and it just reminds me of why I do what I do.”
