The honest answer is that the founder decides, and that he also funds the organization he decides for. This page says so rather than dressing it in language the foundation cannot support.
The concentration, stated
As of August 2026, the foundation is funded entirely by its founder. The person who funds an organization and the person who directs it are the same person. That is a real concentration of authority, and every reasonable reader should weigh it.
The alternative framing — a governance chart, a committee structure, an advisory board — would be more comfortable to publish and would not be true. How we are funded →
What actually constrains it
- The asset lock. The articles of incorporation commit the corporation exclusively to 501(c)(3) purposes and prohibit distributing assets to a private person, including on dissolution. That is enforceable and it is not waivable by whoever is in charge. Governing documents.
- The federal listing. CareGuard’s status as a listed Patient Safety Organization carries continuing obligations to AHRQ — contract requirements, disclosure requirements, and a duty to notify promptly if it can no longer comply with any of its attestations. Those are external and they do not care who runs the foundation. PSO P0268.
- The annual return. Form 990 obligations and the automatic-revocation rule apply regardless of who signs. Annual filings.
- Published claims. This site states enough specifics — dates, numbers, classifications, boundaries — that a contradiction would be visible from outside. That is a weak constraint compared to the others, and it is deliberately built in.
The three tests, applied by whoever decides
Whatever the governance structure, the substance of a decision is the same question: is the harm specific, is there a structural reason nobody else is closing it, and can we tell whether it worked. The tests in full →
What happens when a program disagrees
The programs are closer to the work than the foundation is, and on questions of practice they are usually right. The foundation’s job is not to second-guess a clinical judgment or a safety finding; it is to ask whether the program is doing what it says it does. Those are different questions and keeping them different is most of the discipline.
There is also a category the foundation cannot adjudicate at all, because it is not permitted to see it: CareGuard’s protected patient safety work product and Valor Medica’s clinical information. The walls →
Questions
Does Sevadar Foundation have a board of directors?
A Missouri nonprofit corporation acts through a board, and the articles refer to the board in the dissolution clause. This site does not publish a roster it has not verified, which is a deliberate choice under our own first value. Our values. Read more: What seva asks of an organization.
How would an outsider catch a problem here?
Through the external constraints listed above, and by holding this site to what it has published. If you find a contradiction, tell us — that is a genuine invitation and it is the cheapest oversight available. Read more: What seva asks of an organization.
Will this change?
If the foundation takes outside funding or grows past what one person can direct honestly, the structure has to change and this page changes with it, dated. Read more: A nonprofit with no donate button.