search angels mission

We provide support, advise and help using traditional search and genetic genealogy to benefit adoptees and others separated from their biological roots, with knowledge of their accurate heritage and/or ancestral knowledge.

Revised and approved by the Search Angels Board of Directors, Nov 2017

Search Angels is governed according to a set of bylaws (PDF 147KB)

Articles of Incorporation

Approved Nov 2017 - View Articles of Incorporation (PDF 455KB)

Pennsylvania Nonprofit certification

PA Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations
Certificate of Registration - May 24 2018 - View Search Angels Registration (PDF 85KB)

Our Annual report and financial statement

A copy of our 2019 Annual Report is available for download here. Here is a detailed breakdown of our 2019 Past Fiscal Year, which includes our total income, program, fundraising, administrative expenses and end of year net assets 2019 and IRS Form 990-N.

our Governance committee

Every two years we randomly select a group of willing volunteers, amongst our search angels, to perform a bi-annual review of the nonprofits charity effectiveness. Attached here is our charity effectiveness policy and the last bi-annual review completed.

Our SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Board president

Joel Chambers - founder and current board president of Search Angels. After completing his own search for birth family many years ago, he turned to helping others on their searches. What started as a sole proprietorship, became an LLC and finally a nonprofit corporation. He engineered the business model, organized and attained the initial grants and to this day currently manages the day-to-day operations of the organization as the Executive Director. He still firmly believes everyone deserves to know where their origins began. He is always looking for ways to leverage technology to bring peace of mind to many weary adoptees on their journey to find the truth.

Board Member, director

Blair Preiser - Blair is a business attorney with The Lynch Law Group outside of Pittsburgh.  She represents individuals and businesses all over the country in state and federal court and advises clients on a wide range of legal issues.  After earning a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Michigan, she spent some time working in musical theater in New York before attending Vanderbilt University Law School.  She has previously served as a member of the Young Professionals Board of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is involved with the CLO Ambassadors.  

When she’s not in court or chasing her three children, Blair is committed to assisting those who come to Search Angels for help in finding their birth families, and loves being a part of this organization.  She sees genealogy as the ultimate puzzle challenge, and believes that solving puzzles with Search Angels comes with the best rewards.  She is honored to volunteer with our organization and excited to continue to learn ways to elevate our success as well as her personal enrichment in this philanthropy.

Board Member, director

Ken Mahoney - President of Mahoney Asset Management, an individual with a comprehensive financial expertise and background. He is also a believer in giving back, and has served in many community volunteering efforts for more than two decades.

In addition to his work as a financial advisor and community leader, Ken is a successful Broadway producer and investor. Ken won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as producer of Pippin and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for producer of the Best Musical Theater Album Matilda and Nice Work.

 As an adoptee, Ken directly benefited in his search working alongside our Search Angels. He reunited with his maternal side of the family and continues to form a close bond with them to this day.

board member, director

Kelly Dantas - Originally from Aracaju, Brazil now living in the northeast of the US, Kelly is a business owner and entrepreneur in her own right. Most of all, Kelly is an inspirational individual. To quote her directly, "If we could be aware of how short our life is, perhaps we would think twice before throwing away the opportunities we have to be happy and make others happy as well. Open your heart, love, touch, hold, feel, live, laugh and be happy."

Kelly contributes her ideas and business experiences at every meeting or communication. She has always been a positive influence and optimistic thinker, which we all welcome.

As a successful Business & Marketing Entrepreneur and Real Estate investor. Kelly won 19 awards for marketing and business including the Stevie® Awards - the world's premier business awards. Kelly also had been awarded the USA EB1 self sponsor Green Card for “persons of extraordinary ability."

board member, treasurer

Suzanne Hall - has been an active member of Search Angels for many years and has been instrumental in her commitment to helping adoptees solve their life long searches for their birth family. She has been with us since the very beginning and has solved so many cases, we cannot even count the people she has helped.

Suzanne is great at solving puzzles and unearthing research, others might miss. She has been a dedicated and vigilant angel, always involved in a dozen or more cases at any one time. 

Client Outreach Officer

Lead role in outreach efforts who assist in responding to client requests and concerns related to their search submissions and other special interests that further streamline our workflow and processes.

Kira Bricknell - has been a dedicated member of our search angel’s community since day one. She has often stepped up to help respond to clients, suggest workflow improvements and encourage changes that had the potential to improve our policies, professionalism and efficiencies within the organization.

FORMER Board members and Officers

past officer

David Neal - was an officer of special initiatives helping us orient new volunteers for many years. He is still an active and enthusiastic volunteer Search Angel. He has made himself available for those just needing some tips and familiarity with our processes, as well as, a journeyman willing to share his experiences, techniques in genetic genealogy and challenges faced by adoptees throughout the process. He understands that volunteers largely set their own schedules and techniques with whatever works for them, but also can be a helping mentor for those who ask for a more. Besides his talents as a searcher, David has experience in Agile Manifesto in Lean Software Development and Continuous Learning; where people would share ideas and collaborate to become more productive. He can also just be a buddy to bounce ideas off of.

FROMER Board President

Dwight Brooks - is President of his own product design firm, Brooks Technical Solutions, Inc. Part of creating new products involves hours of internet research to solve technical challenges. This problem-solving skill is much like the techniques he uses to solve complex family searches.

He has enjoyed doing genealogy for the last ten years and using DNA to aid his research the last four years. After years of researching his own family, he sought out new challenges involving genealogy and DNA which led him to helping adoptees find their birth family on sites like SearchAngels.org. He has become adept at researching on genealogy sites like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org; using all the DNA matching sites including GEDmatch, FTDNA, and 23andMe; and finding scanned vital records from both domestic and international sites. He has found that helping adoptees is some of the most rewarding volunteer work he has ever done and enjoys hearing about reunions from his clients.