Arizona · Nonprofit
ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM
ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM (Arizona) receives grants from 549 organizations whose IRS filings report $308,242,716 to it, the largest being Servant Foundation ($100,767,680). 372 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $120M
- Funders on record
- 549
- Grants received
- $308M
- Net assets
- $100M
What Alliance Defending Freedom does
Mission
Alliance Defending Freedom exists to keep the door open for the gospel by advancing every person's god-given right to live and speak the truth. We contend for the truth in law, policy, and the public square, and equip the alliance to do the same.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Legal advocacy: adf is a global religious legal organization that contends for truth in law, policy, and the public square by engaging in litigation and advocacy advancing free speech, religious freedom, parental rights, and the sanctity of life and marriage. Adf offers expertise in constitutional law and international human rights law at the highest levels of the u.s. And international legal systems. Federal and state legislators have sought adf's counsel, inviting adf attorneys to testify before congress and state legislatures. Adf's impact is also being felt in corporate america, as adf attorneys promote an ethic of free speech, religious freedom, and human dignity in the corporate sphere. Adf also provides grants to support our network attorneys working on matters aligned with adf's strategic objectives.
$41,333,531 spentof which $10,573,070 as grants$2,691,250 earned by the program49% of program spendingAllied support and training: adf seeks to cultivate allies across multiple professions who contend for truth in law, policy, and the public square. Adf provides training, education, events, amicus curiae opportunities, and other supportive initiatives so that adf's mission can be multiplied through a committed community.
$26,096,273 spentof which $1,354,900 as grants$1,924,274 earned by the program31% of program spendingEducation: as a legal advocacy organization, adf seeks to educate the public about the importance of protecting the fundamental freedoms within its mission. This is accomplished through a variety of channels, including public speaking; digital, electronic, and print resources; social media; events; and a comprehensive website. Key examples include a parental rights toolkit to help parents know their rights and a quarterly magazine entitled faith & justice. These and other educational initiatives increase awareness about key cultural and legal issues of the day, while serving to identify potential adf allies.
$17,144,153 spent$1,282,850 earned by the program20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $84,573,957.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $49M to $78M (+61%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Kristen Waggoner
CEO, president & chief counsel
Board chair
John Rogers
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 140 funders to 279 funders, grant income rose $20M → $48M.
78 of 549 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $3.4M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Adf Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM raised.
From the IRS filings of ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 549 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 73% · 2019 57% · 2020 56% · 2021 50% · 2022 32% · 2023 38% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
55% of ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
84% of ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $49M that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Arizona, across 45 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $260M arriving through sponsors registered in 30 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 25 states
Part of a family of 10 related entities
- 15100 LLC · disregarded
- Adf Foundation · exempt
- Adf Action · exempt
- Alliance Defending Freedom International · exempt
- 15100 Solar LLC · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM?
- ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM (Arizona) receives grants from 549 organizations whose IRS filings report $308,242,716 to it, the largest being Servant Foundation ($100,767,680). 372 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM have?
- IRS filings report 549 organizations giving $308,242,716 in grants to ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM, 372 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM?
- Servant Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $100,767,680 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 549 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing