Well, aside from that issue, the knife.
I don't think the public will care much one way or the other. Wounded Warriors are coming from 1% of the public, those that serve. In the day, 1 in 10 were veterans, now, it's much much smaller. That's the effect of an all volunteer army. It could be said there are other affects in society, but that's not the point here.
Since I see the majority of donators as coming from the enthusiast community, the knife itself should be something they would want to carry already - plus having the exclusive cachet of a limited color, engraving or mark, etc.
In that vein, 154CM and G10. I could name a few, my current interest is the Benchmade Rift 950, but whatever - it's the appointments that would do it. It's just the other end of the spectrum, but I think that pricing a tad under street would drive sales - the average knife guy would say, I'm getting a deal AND making a contribution? Sure. There would be more incentive, and if the offer was couched to say the "all the proceeds go to charity X," it would be win-win-win. They get the money, we get the knife, and you don't get hurt.
There is also the tie-in for the maker, too. The long term result would be a high quality knife perceived as having class, although the product proposed wouldn't be any slouch with your oversight. An FRN knife would be fashioned like many other knives given away with commercial Branding, tho, like a Gerber LST with Oregon chainsaw marks. Nice enough when free, not so special otherwise.
Basically I'm saying that when it looks like the vendor is making a sacrifice, and the person donating thinks they are getting a bargain, they will likely line up. Plenty of folks aren't self centered and donate, but you and I might agree the younger generations seem to be a bit more self centered. Maybe that's just a matter of advanced perspective, tho. I wonder what my dad thought about things a lot more now that I'm older.
FWIW.
