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We are not trying to do a lot of things.
We do five things, for a long time, and then we write down honestly how they went. This page covers why we made those choices, and every piece of governance information you have a right to see.
The name
Semper is a hard word to actually mean.
It means always. Militaries use it. Family crests use it. It is a promise, not a description. Naming a charity after it means volunteering for a standard that is hard to hold, which is exactly the point.
Nearly every child we serve has lived the same pattern: an adult appears, is useful, and then goes. Sometimes it is a parent. Sometimes a caseworker. Sometimes a program whose grant cycle ended. Children do not attribute this to funding cycles. They attribute it to themselves. Repeated discontinuity is its own injury, and it is an injury you can design out.
So every design decision here (the three-year mentor floor, the renewable scholarship, the fixed weekly bag, the refusal to run one-off events) comes from working backwards from one question: how do we make this the time it does not stop.
Five principles
These principles cost us money. We follow them anyway.
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Duration beats reach
Five hundred children for four years beats five thousand children once. The second number looks better and raises more money. We give up that number.
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A child's dignity is not fundraising inventory
No real children's photographs, names, or case-file details. No child is asked to thank a donor at an event. Distribution runs through teachers so no one is publicly identifiable as a recipient.
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No means-testing at the door
Nominations come from the teachers and social workers who already know the child. No family files income paperwork. A small number of people outside the target group will receive something. We accept that cost; it is far smaller than the cost of eligible families staying away out of shame.
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Publish failure at the same resolution as success
Each program has a written definition of failure and the count goes in the body of the annual report. An annual report containing only good news is a report telling you they are not measuring.
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Refuse help rather than deliver it halfway
We turn down mentor applicants who can only commit a year, corporate sponsorships that require filming the children, and grants that require opening in a new city within a semester. That is real money, and we still say no.
Who we serve
A group the American statistical system has no name for
The children we serve sit in four overlapping situations. Policy files them separately. Inside a child's day they are the same thing.
One
Children in poverty
Parents present, parents working, income insufficient. The largest group and the most overlooked, because nothing has visibly gone wrong.
Two
Children raised by kin
Grandparents, aunts, neighbours. Around 2.5 million. They receive no foster stipend because they never entered the system, and they usually stayed out of it precisely to spare the child one more rupture.
Three
Children with a parent away
Incarceration, deportation, treatment, deployment, or work in another state. Roughly 7% of U.S. children have had a parent incarcerated. From the child's side the experience is identical: that person is not here.
Four
Youth ageing out of care
About 15,000 young people leave foster care each year at eighteen with no family connection. They need the word always more than anyone and receive it least.
Governance & financials
Every document you are entitled to see before you give
U.S. charities are required to disclose their Form 990. Ours will be posted here as soon as the first one exists.
Legal entity
| Legal name | Semper Foundation |
| EIN | 13-4141897 |
| Tax status | 501(c)(3) tax-exempt |
| Third-party verification | Verified by Goodstack |
You do not have to take our word for it. Look up EIN 13-4141897 in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and confirm the exemption independently. We are separately verified by Goodstack, the same verification used by Google, Canva and TikTok to confirm nonprofit status, and currently our route for receiving donations.
Financial reporting
Governance commitments
These are rules rather than achievements, so they can be written down now: directors are unpaid; no director or close family member may transact business with the organisation; at least two board seats are reserved for adults with lived experience of foster or kinship care; and the child-safety reporting channel bypasses management to reach a designated director. The roster is published once the board is seated. Until then there are no names here.
Child safeguarding
Any organisation that puts adults near children must start by assuming risk
This section is deliberately detailed.
Screening
Everyone with direct child contact clears a national and state criminal background check, sex offender registry screening, driving record check, three verified non-family references, and a structured interview. The organisation pays for this, not the volunteer. Charging for screening filters out low-income good people and does not filter out anyone with intent.
Contact rules
Mentor sessions happen in public or semi-public places. All electronic communication copies a caregiver or program officer. No one-to-one driving without prior written approval and caregiver notice. No cash gifts. No personal social media connections with a child.
Reporting
All staff and volunteers are mandated reporters and are trained as such. The reporting channel bypasses management and goes to a designated board director. The whistleblower policy is public. Any allegation touching child safety results in immediate suspension of contact first and investigation second. That order is not negotiable.
Data
A child's name, address, school and family circumstances are held only to the minimum needed to run the program, are never used for fundraising, and are never shared or sold to third parties, including other charities. Donors receive aggregate data only.
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