Learn about Wreaths Across America's Mission to Remember, Honor and Teach

Non Profit Information

Your $17 sponsorship not only honors an American hero with the placement of a veteran's wreaths in December, but it supports the yearround program around the country.

Wreaths Across America’s yearlong mission continues to grow! Some of our new and existing free programs include:

TEACH Program with downloadable lesson plans and service-based learning for youth of all ages.
The Mobile Education Exhibit, a museum on wheels that travels the country sharing the mission and creating free events for the community while serving as a ‘Welcome Home’ unit for Vietnam War veterans.
The National Museum and Gold Star Family History & Hospitality House are located at the National Wreaths Across America Headquarters in Columbia Falls, ME. These exhibits offer guests an opportunity to learn more about the mission while experiencing the many stories of service, sacrifice, and success shared with the program over the last 15 years.
Our Veteran outreach efforts include partnerships with Veteran Service Organizations working to support living veterans and their families, nationwide. We offer resources and access to support and host open discussions about important topics impacting this community via our owned-channels.
The Remembrance Tree Program is a FREE program that allows individuals to create a replica dog tag for a loved one who served and select a tree to hang that tag. Every three years, the tree will be “tipped” to collect the balsam used to make veterans’ wreaths for placement on National Wreaths Across America Day.

When a sponsor contributes funds to Wreaths Across America through the sponsorship of veterans’ wreaths, the sponsorship always places a veterans’ wreath first, with the organization’s programs and administrative costs operating on the margin remaining.
Total WAA nationwide staff is less than 45 full-time employees. The Executive Director and Chairman of the Board are both volunteers.
National Wreaths Across America Day and other events are made possible thanks to thousands of volunteers who organize local ceremonies, raise funds to sponsor wreaths and participate in the events. Individual wreath sponsors and corporate donors, pay for the majority of the cost for the program and transportation companies offering equipment, fuel and staffing, make it possible for the organization to transport wreaths all over the country.

DOWNLOADABLE ASSETS

501(c)(3) Determination Letter 501(c)(3) Determination Letter 2018 2024 Signed W-9 2023 Annual Report

Annual Information

Please note, Wreaths Across America changed its fiscal year accounting period in 2022. The new calendar year began on Jan. 1, 2023, and ended on Dec. 31, 2023. The 990 for the full year 2023 will be available later this year.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 990S BELOW

How do I know Wreaths Across America is a charity worthy of my support?

Wreaths Across America was started as a 501(c)3 non-profit in 2007, over 15 years after the first wreaths were donated to Arlington National Cemetery (1992) by Morrill Worcester and the Worcester Wreath Company.

In fact, WAA was formed as an organization in response to the call from individuals around the country who heard about the wreaths being donated to honor veterans, and who expressed an interest to support the efforts at Arlington and to bring the Arlington wreath experience to their own communities. The program continues to grow because the American public has made the mission their own. Through every volunteer (over three million across the country, a third of whom are children) stories of service, patriotism and community are shared. Wreaths Across America is about so much more than the placement of wreaths.

In the last 15 years, WAA has grown by leaps and bounds, with over 4,200 participating locations nationwide, more than 6,000 sponsorship groups and in 2023 placed over 3 million wreaths in total—all in the mission to Remember the fallen; Honor those who serve (and their families); and Teach the next generation the value of freedom. Since 2007, $25 million has been redistributed to other non-profits and civic organizations through the Groups Sponsorship Program.

When you sponsor a wreath, you will know exactly where those dollars are going, and that a U.S. service member laid to rest will be honored and remembered.

"Remember this.... In truth a person dies twice, once when he stops breathing, and a second time when somebody mentions his or her name for the last time. Join us in December when over one million volunteers nationwide, will say the names of a million fallen out loud, to make sure they will never be forgotten"

— Karen Worcester, Executive Director of Wreaths Across America

Oversight

Early in 2016 WAA engaged legal firm, Venable LLP, to do a legal review of WAA's practices and policies to ensure that the mission is always carried out in full compliance with all legal and best practice policies.

In the same year, the WAA board formed a Request for Proposal (RFP) Committee, which includes members of the Board and is executed by an outside firm specializing in procurement/contracts. The criteria for the RFP is based on the specific needs of and in the best interest of WAA. The process is outlined here.

How are the funds allocated when I sponsor a wreath?

Each sponsored wreath costs $17, with $5 being allowed to the group sponsorship program that is paid back to our many community partners including Legion Posts, VFW's and Auxiliaries, Civil Air Patrol Squadrons, school groups, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and other non-profits and like-minded organizations. Since this program started in 2007, Wreaths Across America has given back more than $20 million to other organizations to support their local efforts.
With each sponsorship received, a wreath is delivered to a participating location, and Wreaths Across America’s year-round mission to Remember, Honor, and Teach is supported. Each wreath is hand-made in Maine using domestically grown balsam fir. It is intentional that the highest quality wreath was chosen as this gift of remembrance for those who made sacrifices that can never be repaid.
The veteran’s wreath is a symbolic gift of appreciation from a thankful American, adorned only by the red velveteen bow. You can learn more about the significance of the wreath in the above video by WAA Founder Morrill Worcester.

Wreaths Across America is very proud of its heritage as a grassroots organization that was formed in response to the request from volunteers all across the country. Every sponsorship received places a wreath first, and the organization operates on the remaining margin.

Neither the Executive Director (Karen Worcester) nor the Chairman of the Board (Wayne Hanson) receives a salary for their efforts, despite full-time work and deep commitment to the mission.

Who provides the wreaths? How is that decision made?

Worcester Wreath Company currently holds the contract for providing wreaths to Wreaths Across America, and has done so since the organization's inception in 2007. Before that starting in 1992, Worcester Wreath Company donated over 5,000 wreaths each year in what was then known as the Arlington Wreath Project. Worcester Wreath Co. continues to provide donated wreaths each year to support the mission.

Wreaths Across America is governed by a Board of Directors. On its creation, Karen Worcester stepped away from the Worcester companies to work full time on the non-profit organization as its first Executive Director, at no salary and a deep commitment to the mission.

The organization has a conflict of interest policy. Additionally, Worcester-related Board Members recuse themselves from decisions related to the wreath-procurement contract. All business relationships between the nonprofit and Worcester Wreath Co. are disclosed in accordance with all requirements to include the IRS.

What if I still have questions about the mission of Wreaths Across America?

If you are able to travel, we invite you to come to Maine to the small town of Columbia Falls and to the Wreaths Across America Headquarters. Visit the national museum and tour the Gold Star Family History and Hospitality House, meet the people behind the mission, and go out on the tip land to tag a tree as part of the Remembrance Tree program. With this direct experience, you will see why the mission to Remember, Honor, and Teach means so much, to so many—and why the wreath-laying tradition grows each year. Friends and family invite others. The wreaths become a catalyst for the conversations and connections that last a lifetime.

We also encourage you to tune in to Wreaths Across America Radio to hear the stories of the volunteers working to share the mission in their communities year round, and the stories of service, sacrifice and success from Veterans, Gold Star and Blue Star Families and supporters across the country.