ISW Needs Your Support to Stay on the Frontlines!

     I have one question for you: Do you value the information you receive from ISW each week? If so, please keep reading.

     I founded the Institute for the Study of War in 2007 to help our armed forces and policymakers defend America at a time of war. All of ISW’s researchers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at one time or another to provide our commanders with objective, outside analysis; yet, we receive no government funding.  We also provide critical briefings on what's going on in the field to our civilian leaders here in Washington.  We believe it's important for you, a member of our wide and diverse audience, to receive independent reports from an objective and reliable source. We at ISW need your help to continue our work bringing you information from the theaters of our current wars. 

The best way for you to help today is by directly funding our research products, which help those who need it most to navigate the difficult national security decisions they make every day.

• A gift of $50 supports the production of an ISW map, our most frequently downloaded and requested product. Be it the depiction of force deployment in a particular area, or enemy networks across a region, these maps are a critical tool for understanding our current wars. Your gift today will help us produce and distribute one of these important documents.

• With a $100 contribution, you can help cover the cost of an ISW Fact Sheet.  These documents are frequently used by members of Congress and their staff to understand the pertinent details on any given issue or decision. Over the course of this year, our Fact Sheets have documented the political formation in Iraq’s government and timelines of critical events in Afghanistan.

• If you have greater capacity to give, I ask you to consider supporting ISW with a $250 gift. A contribution at this level helps our research staff create a signature ISW Order of Battle (ORBAT). Generated from open-source research, these documents provide monthly updates on the position of U.S. and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our civilian leaders and journalists rely on our orders of battle for an accurate depiction of troop deployment at any given moment to support their decision-making and reporting.

Your support today will be much appreciated and will directly aid our impact both in Washington and in theater. Our administrative costs are already covered by our generous donors: your gift will go directly to producing the research that you have come to trust for its accuracy and objectivity.

Please give now, while you're thinking of it, via our website, or contact our Development Department at 202-293-5550. You can also send a check to our office at:

The Institute for the Study of War
     1400 16th Street NW, Suite 515
     Washington, DC 20036

     For whatever you are able to give, on behalf of the commanders, civilian leaders, and members of the media we help every day, thank you.

My best wishes to you for a joyous holiday season,

Kimberly Kagan, Ph.D.
President & Founder, ISW