Writing about DearestEllie.
Everything on this page — boilerplate, facts, and brand assets — may be used freely in articles, grant applications, program guides, and directories. For interviews or anything not answered here, write to [email protected].
Fast facts
| NAME | DearestEllie (dearestellie.org) |
| TAGLINE | because their story is our legacy |
| WHAT | A free, private family memory archive — an independent, supporter-funded service |
| FAMILY ARCHIVES | 8 |
| MEMORIES KEPT | 22 |
| COST TO FAMILIES | Free — remembrance is never gated by payment |
| PRIVACY | Private by default; families choose exactly what is shared, with whom |
| PORTABILITY | Open, documented export format with SHA-256-verifiable originals |
| FUNDING | Voluntary contributions and sponsors via the Family Memory Fund |
| CONTACT | [email protected] |
| SOCIAL | X: @DearestEllieOrg (x.com/DearestEllieOrg) |
Boilerplate — short
DearestEllie (dearestellie.org) is a free, private family memory archive — a place to gather the stories, photos, voices, and letters that make a person knowable, so that a child who came too late can one day meet someone their family loved. It is run as a mission-locked nonprofit commons: archives are private by default, export anytime in an open documented format, and remembrance is never gated by payment.
Boilerplate — long
DearestEllie is a family memory commons. Families use it to build a private archive of someone they love — stories, photographs, recordings of their voice, letters, recipes, the small true things — contributed by the whole family and cared for by a steward. A Life Page gives the archive a permanent home the family can return to across generations.
Three commitments distinguish it from both social platforms and commercial legacy products. First, privacy: every archive is private by default and visible only to the family, never to the public or to advertisers. Second, portability: every archive exports free, at any time, into an open documented format with verifiable checksums — no family's memories are hostage to the service's fate. Third, the commons model: basic archives are free forever, remembrance is never gated by billing, and families who can contribute carry the cost for families who can't, through the Family Memory Fund. Donors cannot buy control over the mission.
DearestEllie also publishes free public-benefit materials — guides to interviewing elders, preserving photographs, and grief-informed remembrance, plus printable workshop kits used by libraries, senior centers, and hospice care teams. Its finances are published at dearestellie.org/transparency.
Name & brand
- The name is written DearestEllie — one word, capital D and capital E. The tagline is lowercase: because their story is our legacy. The domain is dearestellie.org.
- The mark is a child reading on a hillside, holding a heart-shaped balloon. Downloads: stacked lockup, horizontal lockup, round badge, transparent lockup, palette & type sheet. Please keep the mark and wordmark together, on light cream-toned backgrounds.
- Palette: midnight navy #102A3D, sage #7A8F78, dusty blush #D9A7A0, warm taupe #A88C74, cream #F6F2EB, soft gold #D8B47C. Type: Playfair Display (headlines), Lato (body), IBM Plex Mono (labels).
- Please don't describe DearestEllie as a social network, a genealogy database, or a memorial page service. “A private family memory archive” is accurate.
