Our Mission

Herpes Hearts is a dating and community platform for people with HSV

The HerpesHearts Foundation is a registered pennsylvania non-profit organization.

This is the Herpes Hearts Roadmap and our plan for 501(c)(3) (US Federal Non-Profit).

Why A Non-Profit?

I believe a Non-profit is the best path to becoming a long-term stable community resource

• ... because in a world of internet monoliths selling your data, a non-profit builds trust
• ... because a non profit legally require transparent operations and independent governance
• ... and are mission first so privacy and security are the priority
• ... and finally ... best of all ... it lets us price the service to cover costs and be affordable (free).

Our Roadmap

Phase 1 Founders (0-500 Users)

Current Phase: Building our founding community

Beta Testing (0-50 Members)

Friends help us test and refine the platform. Let's make it great!

Founders Release (50-500 Members)

Legal Structure:

• Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation
• Initial Board of Directors established
• Bylaws and conflict of interest policies

Phase 2 Early Adopters (500-1,000 Users)

Milestone: Growing our community with early supporters

Phase 3 General Availability (1,000-10,000 Users)

Milestone: Sustainable community operations

We introduce modest fees to sustain operations.

Phase 4 Federal Non-Profit Transition

Goal: IRS 501(c)(3) approval requires sustainable operations

What This Means:

• Independent Board with strict IRS guidelines
• 501(c)(3) enables tax-deductible donations
• Annual public financial reporting (Form 990)

Post-Approval:

• Tax-deductible donations
• Health foundation partnerships
• Educational programming

Community Governance:

• Volunteer moderators from our community
• Transparent independent decision-making

How You Can Help

Recommend A Friend

• Use the Recommend tab to send a HH branded email recommending the site!

Join Our Board

We are looking for future board members to help us grow our community and advocate for the site.

Ideal candidates:

• Healthcare or public health background
• Nonprofit governance experience
• Legal or business expertise
• HSV community advocates

Support Our Mission

Mission donations help us:

• Keep the platform free/cheap
• Enable us to implement safety and verification features
• Develop educational resources (and those are lacking…)
• Cover software development and infrastructure costs

Volunteer

• Community Moderators: Help maintain a safe space
• Content Creators: We would love to publish good HSV Educational materials
• Outreach Coordinators: Spread the word
• International Coordinators: Spread the word

Questions

Why nonprofit?

A Nonprofit structure guarantees members privacy. We hope this structure will provide brand trust to enable Herpes Hearts membership growth.

When will donations be tax-deductible?

Once 501(c)(3) is approved (Phase 3). We'll notify all donors.

How is this different from other dating sites?

No monthly subscription. Community input. Non Profit transparency.

Will it always be free?

Herpes Hearts will need income to sustain operations which become expensive quickly as we scale but we are not a for-profit enterprise. We plan to ask for community support via patreon and are considering other funding measures such as cosmetics (badges), an age verification fee, message sending credits, and per-introduction fees. Founders will never pay fees or message credits.

How do you protect privacy?

We never will not sell your data or share it with outside parties. We protect your privacy by not storing sensitive information. We use Google for Identity so fundamentally, all we have your email address. Herpes Hearts was built using a modern best practice framwork (django) designed for scale and security and operates on secure cloud production infrastructure.