Arizona · Nonprofit
ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION
ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION (Arizona) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $585,000 to it, the largest being AZ LIBERTY NETWORK ($200,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $329k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $585k
- Net assets
- $86k
What Arizona Freedom Foundation does
Mission
The Foundation's mission is to foster independent journalism and provide the general public with access to news, research and information not covered by traditional corporate media outlets. To that end, the Foundation operates AZ Free News (www.azfreenews.com), an online news site that offers reporting, analysis and occasional commentary on a wide array of local news stories in Arizona. Although some national and international news stories are compiled from reputable third party news sources (such as the Wall Street Journal), the site consists primarily of original local news content generated by journalists and analysts commissioned by the Foundation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Independent News: The organization managed its website, azfreenews.com, which is made available free of charge. Website traffic exceeded 750,000 page views for the year. Free newsletter subscriptions also maintained at more than 18,000 subscribers. The content of the website is generated by freelance journalists and promoted primarily through social media channels, free email newsletters, and search engines.
$153,939 spent54% of program spendingInvestigative Journalism: The organization contracted with five freelance journalists during the year. These journalists wrote 914 original news stories on a wide array of topics related to Arizonamany of which often elude attention from mainstream commercial media outlets. In these stories, readers are provided with the pertinent facts to help them form their own opinions and conclusions.
$117,000 spent41% of program spendingResearch: The organization contracts with a Researcher on an ongoing basis. This person is responsible for initiating public records requests and doing other necessary research as needed for the journalists to ensure that they have the proper facts and documents. By performing these duties, the Researcher helps the journalists to be more efficient and focus on telling the stories that the people of Arizona need to hear. In 2025, the Researcher filed multiple public records requests to assist with these stories and assisted with research on dozens of stories and investigative pieces.
$12,000 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $282,939.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $139k to $79k (−43%).
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. 2 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $165k → $160k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
39% 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 ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 45% · 2023 63% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION: 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 ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION?
- ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION (Arizona) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $585,000 to it, the largest being AZ LIBERTY NETWORK ($200,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $585,000 in grants to ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION?
- AZ LIBERTY NETWORK is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION 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.
Play a game about who funds Arizona Freedom →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 6 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing