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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC

FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 270 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,570,894 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($26,356,227). 170 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$40M
Funders on record
270
Grants received
$125M
Net assets
$64M
170/270 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 70%
01What it does

What Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Inc does

Mission

The foundation for individual rights and expression's (fire's) mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of all americans to free speech and free thought-the most essential qualities of liberty.(continued on schedule o)fire educates americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them. Fire recognizes that colleges and universities play a vital role in preserving free thought within a free society. To this end, we place a special emphasis on defending the individual rights of students and faculty members on our nation's campuses, including freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Communications: fire's communications program shares our mission with millions of americans through channels including print media, podcasts, videos, radio and television, social media, and online platforms. In the fiscal year 2023-24, we amassed more than 920,000 subscribers and followers, welcomed 4.6 million visitors to our website, and received a record-breaking 15,730 media mentions.

    $6,843,886 spent$8,373 earned by the program
    31% of program spending
  2. Research: fire's research team compiles data on threats to free speech so we can confront and respond to the most commonly made arguments against freedom of expression.

    $3,711,758 spentof which $199,721 as grants$30,000 earned by the program
    17% of program spending
  3. Fire litigation: fire strategically litigates in courts nationwide to vindicate first amendment rights. In service of our expanded mission to defend free speech both on and off campus, our litigation program is growing into a premier public-interest law firm for free expression. Fire attorneys review each and every case submission we receive and also proactively seek out legal challenges with the potential to secure lasting legal precedents, major public-policy reform, or clear cultural impact. Since fire began litigating in 2014, fire's litigation program has secured 28 victories and more than $3 million in damages and fees. (continued on schedule o.)

    $3,575,716 spent$28,001 earned by the program
    16% of program spending
  4. Campus rights advocacy (cra): fire continues to place a special emphasis on defending the individual rights of students and faculty members on campus, and our cra program leads these efforts. Our expert staff reviews every case submission we receive and takes action by intervening directly with administrators; engaging in creative advocacy such as freedom of information act (foia) requests or threats to schools' accreditation; and applying public pressure to schools to reverse rights violations. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, fire's cra team recorded 74 victories.

    $2,058,034 spentof which $304 as grants$8,182 earned by the program
    9% of program spending
  5. Strategic partnerships: fire's strategic partnerships program initiates, cultivates, and maintains relationships with fire's growing list of allies. Through these efforts, we monitor and maintain opportunities to enhance our work by collaborating with a wide range of partners.

    $1,250,390 spentof which $54,500 as grants
    6% of program spending
  6. Engagement & mobilization: fire's engagement and mobilization team is rapidly becoming the "home base" for america's free speech constituency, giving them the community, the knowledge, and the resources needed to promote a culture of free expression.

    $1,040,704 spentof which $173,800 as grants
    5% of program spending
  7. Fire student development: fire's student development programs educate and empower current college students to defend free speech on campus through events and signature initiatives like our summer internship program. These programs also help fire build the next generation of talented free speech leaders, some of whom go on to work with fire.

    $1,026,201 spentof which $39,679 as grants
    5% of program spending
  8. Legislative and policy: fire's legislative and policy team supports our mission on both a state and federal level by advocating on behalf of rights-protective legislation and against proposed laws that threaten first amendment rights. In the fiscal year 2023-24, our legislative and policy team worked with legislators to pass a comprehensive campus free speech bill in new hampshire while helping to defeat eight bills that threatened individual rights in florida, arizona, south carolina, indiana, new hampshire, new jersey, and nebraska.

    $897,157 spent$4,000 earned by the program
    4% of program spending
  9. Public advocacy: fire's public advocacy department engages in non-litigation advocacy to defend and promote expressive rights and a strong culture of free expression. In the fiscal year 2023-24, the public advocacy team secured 12 victories.

    $821,017 spent$2,450 earned by the program
    4% of program spending
  10. Policy reform project: our policy reform project proactively and systematically documents and exposes campus policies that violate college students' free speech rights. The centerpiece of the project's work is maintaining fire's spotlight database, which catalogs restrictions on free speech on over 475 campuses nationwide. In the fiscal year 2023-24, the policy reform team reformed 48 policies on 19 campuses impacting more than 300,000 students.

    $550,266 spent
    2% of program spending
  11. Faculty outreach: the fire faculty network conducts outreach to college and university faculty, connecting them with a network that will give them the knowledge and resources needed to promote academic freedom on their campuses.

    $313,406 spentof which $96 as grants$300 earned by the program
    1% of program spending

The 11 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,088,535.

02The organization over time

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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($11M) Expenses 100 ($6.8M) Net assets 100 ($11M)2018 Revenue 116 ($13M) Expenses 119 ($8.1M) Net assets 142 ($15M)2019 Revenue 100 ($11M) Expenses 128 ($8.7M) Net assets 162 ($17M)2020 Revenue 126 ($14M) Expenses 139 ($9.5M) Net assets 199 ($21M)2021 Revenue 148 ($16M) Expenses 155 ($10M) Net assets 273 ($29M)2022 Revenue 341 ($37M) Expenses 329 ($22M) Net assets 392 ($42M)2023 Revenue 330 ($36M) Expenses 504 ($34M) Net assets 422 ($45M)2024 Revenue 307 ($33M) Expenses 412 ($28M) Net assets 498 ($53M)2025 Revenue 367 ($40M) Expenses 438 ($30M) Net assets 603 ($64M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (367)Expenses (438)Net assets (603)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $31M to $44M (+43%).

$12M
$16M
$19M
$23M
$31M
$44M
$51M
$63M
$74M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

91% of FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 156 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$4.1M
’17
$4.5M
’18
$2.2M
’19
$4.3M
’20
$5.6M
’21
$15M
’22
$1.7M
’23
$5.4M
’24
$10M
’25
2.5
months of
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

Gregory Lukianoff

President and CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed141618171821212021
Joined·+2+2+0+5+6+1+5+2
No longer listed·00143161
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 43 funders to 131 funders, grant income rose $5.6M → $25M.

49 of 270 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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: $113k from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest The Donald and Paula Smith Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC raised.

From the IRS filings of FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 270 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

FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

66% 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 FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC.

21%
largest funder
46%
top three
~12
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 34% · 2019 18% · 2020 20% · 2021 18% · 2022 50% · 2023 24% — 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

53% of FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

51% of FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC'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 $61M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 35 states.

ME
NH
WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
KS
AR
TN
NC
DC
OK
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Pennsylvania out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $63M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 63 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin26% · top quartile
Months of reserve2.5mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 63 civil rights nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC

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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 10%Fundraising 11%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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 28 states

NH
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
RI
CA
UT
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
SC
HI
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC?
FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 270 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,570,894 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($26,356,227). 170 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC have?
IRS filings report 270 organizations giving $124,570,894 in grants to FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC, 170 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $26,356,227 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 270 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