Organizations, often hospices and visiting nurse programs, that offer the services of volunteers who provide the support and physical presence that patients and families need when death is imminent. The needs and desires of dying patients and their loved ones differ so volunteers will try to tailor their approach to fit each family's unique wants and needs. Vigil volunteers receive special training and are part of a team that works in shifts to be there for the patient when doctors or other caregivers have determined that death is imminent, usually within 24 or 48 hours.

Organizations or programs which focus on the topic of death and/or the process of dying and which may provide information about death and dying from different historical, philosophical, spiritual, religious, medical or mental health perspectives through classes, workshops, speakers, printed materials, or other modalities which may assist interested people to develop their own way of viewing and dealing with these experiences.