A CBS News investigation into a charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, looks into how the charity spends its donation money. The charity's heavy investment in fundraising has paid off: bringing in more than $300 million in donations in 2014. Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette CBS News 
 
 "Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," said Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette. Erick Millette came home from Iraq in 2006 with a Bronze star and a Purple Heart -- along with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD. He took a job as a public speaker with Wounded Warrior Project in 2013. So you can have these big parties," he told CBS News. Donors don't want you to fly every staff member once a year to some five-star resort and whoop it up and call it team building," said Millette. "He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. Dinners and alcohol, and just total accessm" one employee explained. Two of those former employees were so fearful of retaliation they asked that their faces not to be shown on camera. In its commercials, Wounded Warrior Project appeals to the American public's generosity, and it works. "If you use your brain and come up with an idea, within a matter of time, you're 'off the bus,'" the other employee said. "Donors don't want you to have a $2,500 bar tab. A Colorado Springs resort where a 2014 WWP conference was held 
 
 Wounded Warrior Project declined CBS News' repeated interview requests for Nardizzi, but offered their Director of Alumni and a recipient of their services, Captain Ryan Kules. Ryan Kules, WWP Director of Alumni CBS News 
 
 "Like I said, it's to make sure we are aligned and can build as a team. "Wounded Warrior Project contacts alumni and family support members multiple times over the course of the year, we call each and every one of our alumni and family support members on their birth month to be able to ensure and check in, see how they're doing, and see if they need other programs and services," Kules said. For example, Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust spends 96 percent of its budget on vets. Capt.
– Donated to the Wounded Warrior Project? You might've helped fund lavish parties for employees rather than veterans in need. A two-part CBS News investigation, based on interviews with more than 40 former employees, finds millions in Wounded Warrior donations have been wasted. "Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn't see is how they spend their money," says Erick Millette, a former employee who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq. He accuses the organization of "using our injuries, our darkest days, our hardships, to make money," which is then spent on catered employee parties, fancy restaurants, and so-called team-building retreats at beachside hotels, where bar tabs can reach $2,500. The cost of the charity's four-day annual meeting at a five-star Colorado hotel in 2014: $3 million. Employees describe CEO Steven Nardizzi arriving to events on a horse or Segway. One time, they say, he rappelled down the side of a building. A former staffer believes the charity wants "to show warriors a good time," but there's no follow up, per CBS. "It just makes me sick," adds Millette. He says Wounded Warriors waits for veterans to call, rather than reaching out to them, though the charity denies that claim. A rep also describes the spending as "the best use of donor dollars to ensure we are providing programs and services to our warriors and families at the highest quality." Tax forms note spending on conferences and meetings spiked from $1.7 million in 2010 to $26 million in 2014, the same amount spent on combat stress recovery that year. Public records also show the charity spends 60% of its budget on vets, compared to up to 96% for other veterans' charities.