WASHINGTON (7News) — Wreaths Across America, which attracts droves of volunteers to its annual holiday event at Arlington National Cemetery, has a conflict of interest rooted in family ties to a company that’s received nearly $100 million from the charity over the last three years, a watchdog group told the 7News I-Team.
“The structure of this charity is highly unusual, especially at this scale,” said Laurie Styron, CEO and Executive Director of CharityWatch.
“You don’t often see nearly a hundred million dollars in only a matter of three years being funneled from a public charity to a family business that is largely controlled by the same people,” Styron said.
Styron, an accountant by training, grades charities on a host of factors, such as governance and how much money goes to services versus overhead. CharityWatch currently grades Wreaths Across America as a question mark.
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“What we see in the public tax filings is that there’s a lot of overlapping governance between the charity and the family business,” Styron said.
Each year, tens of thousands of volunteers across the nation gather at places like Arlington National Cemetery to place wreaths on the tombstones of fallen servicemembers. It’s a moving tribute, cherished and attended by many gold star families.
It began as a quiet family tradition.
In 1992, Morrill Worcester, who runs a farm and wreathmaking company near Bangor, Maine, had roughly 5,000 leftover holiday wreaths. He received permission to place them on gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery as a tribute to fallen veterans, a holiday tradition he and his family continued for years thereafter with little fanfare.
When a photo of wreaths in the snow at Arlington National Cemetery went viral in 2005, that family ritual evolved into a multi-million-dollar charitable effort.
Wreaths Across America was founded in 2007 by Morrill Worcester and his wife, Karen, who now serves as the charity’s Executive Director, and reaches all fifty states.
The charity has never had any wreath supplier other than Worcester Wreath Company, which is still owned and operated by the Worcester family.
While neither Morrill nor Karen Worcester would comment for this story, a spokesperson for the charity released a statement to 7News, which reads in part:
Wreaths Across America has always been open about its relationship with approved wreath vendor, Worcester Resources, Inc. (Worcester Wreath). The company’s involvement is part of our history, and we take seriously our responsibility to manage it with transparency and integrity.
The Worcester family’s connections to both Wreaths Across America and its primary supplier, Worcester Wreath Company, run deep. According to the private company’s latest annual reports, tax filings, financial statements for the charity, and a spokesperson for the company, Worcester family members serve in the following roles:
Morrill Worcester, co-founded Wreaths Across America and is both President and Treasurer of Worcester Wreath Company.
Karen Worcester, Executive Director of Wreaths Across America, is also a director of Worcester Wreath Company.
Morrill “Rob” Worcester II, Morrill and Karen’s son, is listed as President of Worcester Resources Inc. Along with his brother Michael, a company director, Rob Worcester now owns Worcester Wreath Company.
Rob and Michael’s wives Renee Saunders Worcester and Sarah Worcester are directors for Wreaths Across America. Sarah Worcester is also treasurer for Worcester Resources Inc.
Pamela Slaven-Lee, Morrill and Karen Worcester’s daughter, is a director for both Worcester Wreath Company and Wreaths Across America.
“What we see in the public tax filings is that there’s a lot of overlapping governance between the charity and the family business,” Styron said, adding that the close family relationships between the charity and private company create an inherent conflict of interest.
That conflict, Styron said, comes into play when Wreaths Across America spends tens of millions of dollars in donations each year on the wreaths it uses to honor fallen veterans.
More than $28 million in 2024, for example, went to pay for “wreaths, other balsam products and flags,” according to the charity’s most recent financial statement.
“Is the charity getting a good deal on these purchases? You can’t be a tough negotiator and drive a hard bargain with yourself,” Styron said.
“The existence of those transactions raises a bunch of questions about whether those transactions are benefiting the charity or benefiting individuals,” Brian Mittendorf, a Professor at Ohio State University who specializes in nonprofit accounting, told 7News.
“The big question I would have is, what safeguards do they have in place to ensure these transactions are done to benefit the charity, not to benefit those people who happen to own the company?” Mittendorf added.
Angela Gore, a professor of accounting at George Washington University, shared similar concerns with the I-Team.
“It’s admirable, you have this interesting organization that’s got a great mission. You might have owners that are on the board, that’s not uncommon, but as it grows, it just looks bad,” said Gore, whose areas of research include nonprofits.
“The Girl Scouts are not in the cookie-making business; they contracted out with two or three external businesses, and they’re 100% separate,” Gore said.
Wreaths Across America said in a statement that since 2016, it has made a public request for proposals to supply wreaths to the charity.
In the summer of 2022, the charity contracted with an independent company, Dryden Procurement Technologies, to solicit bids from other companies interested in making wreaths for the charity.
“Having a third party like us conduct RFP (requests for proposals) gives you an objective lens,” Dominic Nguyen, Dryden’s Chief Operating Officer, told 7News.
In the most recent bid cycle, Nguyen said, only one other company submitted a competing bid.
Worcester Wreath Company secured the contract once again as the “sole supplier of wreaths” for Wreaths Across America, according to the charity’s latest financial statement, a position it will maintain through 2026.
“If they use the exact same vendor and rely solely on that vendor ever since they existed, you start wondering how serious is that process?” Mittendorf said when asked about the bid process.
Public charities are required to report how much they pay top executives. For instance, in its most recent federal tax filing, Wreaths Across America discloses that it pays its Chief Financial Officer, Charemon Davis, $222,664.
According to that same tax filing, Karen Worcester, the Executive Director of Wreaths Across America, reported working 40 hours per week for the charity for no compensation.
“It’s a major red flag when you see a person in a key position working full-time at a nonprofit organization for absolutely no pay. It raises the question, is this person getting paid another way?” Styron asked.
The I-Team asked Worcester Wreath Company what it pays Karen Worcester and her family members, who work for the charity and Worcester Wreath Company.
A spokesperson said, “As a private, family-owned business, Worcester Wreath does not disclose internal personnel information or compensation details for any of its employees or contractors.”
“You don’t know how efficient the for-profit organization is, then,” said Gore. “When donors are trying to decide who to donate their time, money, and effort to, they often will look at how much is spent towards programs versus overhead. If the private company is inefficient and there’s no way of knowing it, the inefficiency is embedded in there too. So, I just don’t think it looks good at all,” Gore added.
Worcester Wreath also wouldn’t tell 7News what it costs to make each wreath, calling that “proprietary business information.”
Wreath sponsorships cost $17 each, according to a statement from the charity. Since 2007, nearly $32 million has been given back to local nonprofits through Wreaths Across America’s “pay-back program,” the charity said in a statement.
For its part, Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is more than willing to accept an annual in-kind gift from Wreaths Across America.
Event attendance, according to a spokesperson, varies with the weather, but in recent years, 27,000 to 35,000 volunteers have turned out at the cemetery each December to place wreaths.
“This event provides an opportunity for family members of those laid to rest at ANC and the public to honor the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans and their families,” an Arlington National Cemetery spokesperson said.
Last year alone, according to Wreaths Across America, the charity placed more than 3.1 million wreaths on veterans’ tombstones at more than 5,500 locations, fulfilling its mission to “Remember. Honor. Teach.”
“It’s not uncommon for an organization that grows really fast to need to change and not be aware of it. And that very well could be the case here,” George Washington University’s Angela Gore said, adding, “My suggestion would be to start unwinding some of those relationships.”
Ohio State’s Brian Mittendorf agreed and told 7News that either the people who are affiliated with Worcester Wreath need to remove themselves from the Wreaths Across America board or those on the charity’s board need to remove their financial interest from the private company.
“I’m not talking about what’s legally required. I’m talking about what I think is wise from a governance standpoint,” Mittendorf said.
‘If you want people to have trust in your organization, it’s just very hard to do so when two-thirds of your budget goes to one company that you happen to own.”
