Replace the mission and vision below with language your board adopts in its organizing minutes. Keep them short enough to print on a website, a gift acknowledgment, and Part IV of Form 1023 without rewriting.

Mission

The Haven Foundation walks with people after the death of a spouse or loved one. We provide timely financial relief, skilled grief support, and a community that understands, so no one has to carry loss alone.

Vision

A community in which every bereaved person can meet the practical and emotional demands of loss with dignity, stability, and care.

Who we serve

The Haven Foundation serves surviving spouses, partners, children, parents, and other family members and close companions who have experienced the death of a loved one. Priority is given to households facing immediate financial hardship, those without adequate workplace or public bereavement benefits, and families with dependent children. Services are offered without regard to race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.

Where we serve

In its first year, The Haven Foundation will concentrate on [County / metro area], [State], and surrounding communities, with selected assistance available statewide. As capacity grows, the board may extend selected grant and counseling programs more broadly, always consistent with charitable purpose and available resources.

Core commitments

• Compassion without pity — we meet people as they are, in the season of grief they are actually in.
• Dignity in every interaction — applications, counseling, and follow-up are private, unhurried, and respectful.
• Stewardship of donor trust — restricted gifts are honored; overhead is disclosed; the board reviews every material grant.
• Help for those most in need — financial aid is need-sensitive and documented, not a benefit for insiders.
• Presence beyond the funeral — support continues through the first year of bereavement, when isolation often deepens.

How to use this sample

This packet is a working draft for The Haven Foundation, Inc. Bracketed fields and the figures on the budget page are placeholders. Before attaching any of this language to Form 1023, have counsel confirm that it matches your articles of incorporation, conflict-of-interest policy, and actual planned activities. Do not file sample EIN, address, or budget numbers as if they were real.

Use the following narrative as a starting draft for Form 1023, Part IV (Narrative Description of Your Activities). Edit it so every sentence is true of the organization you will actually operate.

Exempt purpose

The Haven Foundation, Inc. (the “Organization”) is organized and will be operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Specifically, the Organization will relieve the poor, distressed, and underprivileged, and will lessen the burdens of government, by providing financial assistance, grief support, counseling access, and related education to persons who have lost a spouse, partner, child, parent, or other loved one.

The distress of bereavement is both emotional and practical. Surviving families often face funeral costs, a sudden loss of household income, interruption of health coverage, and the administrative burden of estates, benefits, and guardianship — frequently in the same weeks they are least able to manage them. Public programs do not fully meet these needs. The Haven Foundation will fill that gap as a public charity, not as a private foundation, and will not confer private benefit on founders, directors, or donors.

Statement of purpose (articles language)

Narrative of planned activities

Beginning in 2026, and continuing on an ongoing basis, the Organization will conduct the programs listed in Section 4. Each program furthers a 501(c)(3) purpose as follows:

1. 1.Emergency financial relief. Direct grants will pay or reimburse documented, necessary expenses (funeral and burial, housing, utilities, food, transportation to medical or legal appointments, and similar basics) for households that have experienced a qualifying death and that demonstrate financial need. Grants will be made to the individual or, where appropriate, paid to a vendor. This activity relieves the poor and distressed.
2. 2.Grief counseling access. The Organization will underwrite a limited number of sessions with licensed mental-health professionals and will maintain a vetted referral list. This activity relieves distress and is educational to the extent it teaches coping skills.
3. 3.Peer support circles. Trained facilitators will host small, time-limited groups for surviving spouses and for other bereaved family members. This is charitable (relief of distress) and educational.
4. 4.Family resource navigation. Staff or trained volunteers will help survivors identify public benefits, insurance proceeds, and community resources, and complete time-sensitive paperwork. This lessens the burdens of government by helping people reach existing public programs.
5. 5.Children’s bereavement. Age-appropriate groups, school-liaison materials, and grief kits will support children and the adults who care for them.
6. 6.Community education. Workshops for employers, congregations, and civic groups will teach how to support a bereaved colleague or member. These programs are educational within Treas. Reg. § 1.501(c)(3)-1(d)(3).

No program will be limited to members, employees of a particular company, or any other private class. Eligibility criteria will be written, need-sensitive where money is awarded, and applied by persons who have no financial interest in the outcome. Directors, officers, substantial contributors, and their family members will not be eligible for financial grants.

Who will carry out the work

In year one the Organization will be volunteer-governed by an unpaid board of directors, with a part-time program coordinator as funds allow. Licensed counseling will be provided by independent contractors, not by unlicensed volunteers presenting themselves as therapists. The board chair is [Board Chair Full Name]. Compensation, if any, will be reasonable, approved in advance under a conflict-of-interest policy, and never a function of fundraising results in a manner inconsistent with exemption.

Funding

The Haven Foundation will be supported by public contributions: individual gifts, memorial and tribute donations, grants from community foundations and civic groups, and occasional modest gatherings. The Organization will not be financed by a single family or business to a degree that would classify it as a private foundation if public support can reasonably be expected. A first-year budget of approximately $180,000 is attached as Section 5. The Organization will not charge fees that exclude persons of limited means from core services; counseling copays, if used, will be waivable.

Governing limitations

• No part of net earnings shall inure to the benefit of any director, officer, or private individual.
• No substantial part of activities shall be carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation.
• The Organization shall not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.
• The Organization shall not operate for a substantial non-exempt purpose, including commercial grief services unrelated to its charitable program.
• Upon dissolution, remaining assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3), or to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose — not to founders or donors.

These limitations will appear in the articles of incorporation and bylaws filed with [State] and will be observed in practice. The Organization requests classification as a public charity under sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of the Code (a publicly supported organization).

Expected timetable

Formation and EIN

Articles filed in 2026; EIN XX-XXXXXXX

Form 1023 / 1023-EZ

Submitted promptly after organizing documents and conflict policy are adopted

First grants and circles

Within 90 days of receiving determination (or under 508(a) advance ruling practice as advised by counsel)

Public reporting

Form 990 / 990-EZ filed annually; a plain-language report to donors each fiscal year ending December 31

The programs below are the Organization’s planned charitable activities. Percentages describe the share of program effort in year one, not a rigid formula. Names, session counts, and grant caps are samples — replace them with what your board can honestly deliver.

1. Emergency Financial Relief · 35% of program effort

A confidential, need-based grant program for households that have lost a spouse or loved one within the prior twelve months (longer in cases of delayed estate or medical bills). Typical awards will range from $[250] to $[2,500], with a first-year pool of approximately $54,000. Applicants will submit a simple form, proof of the death, and a statement of need. Disbursements may be made to a funeral home, landlord, or utility when that best protects the beneficiary.

• Eligible uses: funeral and burial, rent or mortgage catch-up, utilities, food, essential transportation, short-term childcare, and similar necessities.
• Ineligible uses: business investment, discretionary travel, gifts to other persons, and any payment that would benefit a director, officer, or substantial contributor.
• Decision process: staff or a grants committee of at least two disinterested persons; recusal required if a personal relationship exists.
• Records retained: application, determination, amount, payee, and a brief purpose code — kept confidential and available to the board and independent accountants.

2. Grief Counseling Access · 20%

The Haven Foundation will maintain a roster of licensed counselors experienced in bereavement and will sponsor a defined number of sessions for people who cannot otherwise afford care. Volunteers will not provide therapy. Where a sliding scale still leaves a gap, the Organization may pay the clinician directly.

3. Peer Support Circles · 15%

Small groups (typically 6–10 people) will meet for a defined number of weeks, separately for surviving spouses/partners and for other bereaved family members. Facilitators will complete training and follow a written safety protocol, including referral out when clinical care is needed. Circles may meet in donated space at libraries, congregations, or clinics in [City], [State].

4. Family Resource Navigation · 12%

Trained navigators will sit with survivors to map Social Security survivor benefits, employer life insurance, veterans’ benefits, probate next steps, and local food, housing, and legal-aid resources. This service is educational and charitable; it is not the practice of law. Where a legal question arises, the navigator will refer to Legal Aid or a volunteer attorney program.

5. Children’s Bereavement · 10%

Age-banded groups, caregiver coaching, and simple grief kits (books, drawing materials, a letter to the child) will support children who have lost a parent, sibling, or other close person. School social workers may refer families. No child will be required to speak; presence is enough.

6. Community Education · 8%

Free or low-cost workshops — “How to support a colleague after a death,” “What to say, and what not to say,” “The first year of widowhood” — will be offered to employers, houses of worship, and civic groups. Materials will be available on www.havenfoundation.org. The purpose is education, not the promotion of a particular commercial provider.

First-year volume (placeholders)

The following is a simple operating budget for the first fiscal year ending December 31, 2026. Figures scale from a $180,000 plan. They are illustrations for planning and for Form 1023’s financial data — not a commitment to spend any particular amount, and not audited results. Adopt a version with your board, then keep actual books to those categories.

Support and revenue

Expenses

Allocation summary

Blank rows you may add in your own spreadsheet: in-kind professional services, donated space, multi-year pledges, and a modest operating reserve (target: three months of expenses by the end of year two).

Donors to The Haven Foundation are not purchasing a service. They are entrusting charitable assets to a board that is legally bound to use those assets for the public purposes described in this packet. This section is the Organization’s plain-language pledge. It may be printed in a first appeal, a website footer, and the gift acknowledgment letter.

How gifts are used

• Unrestricted gifts support the whole charitable program — emergency grants, counseling access, peer circles, navigation, children’s work, and education — together with the modest administration required to do that work well.
• Restricted gifts (for example, “for children’s grief kits” or “in memory of [Name], for emergency rent help”) are recorded as restricted and spent only for that purpose, unless the donor consents in writing to a release or the restriction becomes impossible and is redirected under the gift-acceptance policy.
• Memorial and tribute gifts are acknowledged to the donor and, when an address is provided, to the family, without disclosing the amount unless the donor asks us to.
• No gift pays a commission. No director or officer receives a percentage of funds raised.

What we will not do with funds

• We will not lend organizational funds to directors, officers, founders, or their families.
• We will not make grants that benefit insiders, or that substitute for a private family’s personal obligations.
• We will not treat a donation as a fee for a named person’s private counseling beyond the public program rules.
• We will not spend on political campaigns or substantial lobbying.
• We will not bury overhead. If a dollar is spent on accounting, insurance, or the website, we will say so in the annual report.

Oversight

The board of directors, chaired by [Board Chair Full Name], is the fiduciary. It adopts the budget, approves any compensation, reviews grant activity in summary (with names withheld from the full board when privacy requires, and reviewed by a committee), and hires the independent accountant when revenue requires a review or audit. Dual control will be used for disbursements above a threshold set in policy (sample: $500).

Transparency

Gift acknowledgment

Written thanks for every gift at or above the IRS substantiation threshold, with the required no-goods statement.

Annual report

A short public report of program results, revenue, expenses, and the program / admin / fundraising split.

IRS filings

Form 990 series available on request and, once filed, on public databases.

Privacy

Applicant files are confidential. Donor names are listed only with permission.

Questions

[email protected] · [(000) 000-0000] · www.havenfoundation.org

Sample donor statement

The Haven Foundation, Inc. is applying for recognition of exemption under section 501(c)(3). Until a determination letter is received, gifts may not be deductible as charitable contributions; counsel should supply the correct solicitation disclaimer for [State] during that period. After recognition, acknowledgments will state that The Haven Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and that no goods or services were provided in exchange for the gift, except as specifically described.