The Brittany Murphy Foundation, run by mother Sharon Murphy and husband Simon Monjack, is not an official non-profit organization. In fact, they have not applied yet for non-profit status. The foundation that claimed to be a charity, dedicated to arts education for children, was questioned last weekend. TMZ broke the story Friday afternoon, discovering that the foundation was not registered as a charity with the IRS or the state of California. The Brittany Murphy Foundation website took down the site after it was questioned. On Sunday, the site went back up with a message on the front page that read:
"Dear friends,
We began the Brittany Murphy Foundation to honor Brittany's wishes and to give her family, friends, and fans a way of keeping her legacy alive. In an effort to get the foundation off the ground quickly, we established it as a private foundation with plans to apply for nonprofit status down the road. However, after some thought, we have decided instead to wait until we have our nonprofit status approved before proceeding to ensure that we can truly honor Brittany's charitable desires. Any donations made up until this point will be returned until we have all our paperwork solidified.
We would like to thank the thousands of people who have reached out with kind words of love and support; you have made the hardest journey a little bit easier.
We hope you will bear with us and check back regularly for updates on the foundation. We hope to have it back up and running as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or want to write to us, please feel free to email us at info@brittanymurphyfoundation.org.
With love and sincere gratitude,
Sharon Murphy and Simon Monjack"
The website is no longer taking donations and is returning all prior donations. While the Foundation awaits its 501(c) non-profit status, it is considered a private foundation.