Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
FREE PRESS ACTION FUND
FREE PRESS ACTION FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,606,650 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Voice Inc ($1,575,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $890k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What Free Press Action Fund does
Mission
Free Press Action Fund fights for your rights to connect and communicate. We fight to save the free and open internet, curb runaway media consolidation, protect press freedom, and promote digital civil rights. We believe that change happens when people have a real voice in the political process. To that end, we mobilize our growing base of activists to sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, and attend rallies and town-hall meetings, to lobby in support of policies that serve their interests and against those that don't. We are active in all efforts to expose the impact of public policy on the most vulnerable among us, including people of color and low income communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Future of the internet and media: continued work on availability, access and affordability of broadband internet nationwide. Continued to work in congress and at the fcc to create a permanent low-income broadband subsidy to ensure that everyone can access high-speed internet. Promoted the idea that digital inclusion is a public good. Provided training to people from all over the country to advocate for their work in digital equity and then supported their efforts to lobby members of congress to demand that the commerce department release the $2.75 billion in funding their states had been promised through the bipartisan digital equity act, a component of the 2021 infrastructure investment and jobs act. Supported the broadcast freedom and independence act of 2025, a bill that would prohibit the fcc from punishing broadcasters on the basis of viewpoints aired and prohibit the fcc from revoking a license or otherwise taking action against any individual or entity. Opposed congress' rescission of $1.1 billion it had previously appropriated for the corporation for public broadcasting, funding that included essential educational programming, invaluable journalism and lifesaving emergency…
$160,314 spent31% of program spendingDemocracy and digital civil rights: continued highlighting the role of social media companies in the perpetuation of hoaxes, disinformation, and hate speech and the impact to society and especially to marginalized communities, women, and people of color. Continued to assert that lawmakers should pass a comprehensive federal privacy law that limits how tech companies collect, store, analyze and sell our personal data. Helped defeat a provision in federal legislation that would have enacted a 10-year moratorium blocking state governments from regulating ai. Supported the reintroduction of the artificial intelligence civil rights act, which would help eliminate biases from ai tools.
$175,841 spent34% of program spendingFuture of journalism: continued to work in and with communities around how local news can be revived, strengthened and transformed. Promoted policies that will boost media ownership among women and people of color and create opportunities for local media owners who are committed to serving their communities. Defended a free press and urged protections for journalists. Testified before new jersey's senate legislative oversight committee urging lawmakers to invest in public media and to specifically support the new jersey civic information consortium. Support from state civic leaders and residents secured $2.5 million for the consortium in new jersey's 2026 budget. Built support and momentum for two bills in pennsylvania, one would create a pennsylvania civic information consortium and the other creates a state fellowship for local reporters. Advocated in california for investment of public funds to address community-information needs. Encouraged california's allocation of $15 million to continue supporting the local news fellowship program, which helps early-career journalists working in underserved communities across the state.
$188,293 spent36% of program spendingFree Press Action Fund conducts education, organizing and mobilizing efforts to support our members to advocate for better media, open technology and a healthier democracy. Areas of focus include network neutrality, affordable internet access, online privacy, corporate and government surveillance, journalism, civic information, public media, media consolidation, media diversity, and government transparency and accountability. In 2025, free press action continued to build public awareness and enthusiasm for better media in the united states by providing education, resources and networking opportunities for our members. Our members acted more than 60,000 times to sign petitions and make phone calls to their local, state and federal elected leaders. Free press action filed public comments, participated in several federal communications commission and federal trade commission proceedings, and designed and advocated for policies related to internet, journalism, public media and disinformation. We garnered more than 840 press hits in outlets including the associated press, the guardian, la opinin, mother jones, the new york times, the new yorker, nbc news, npr and the washington post.…
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $524,448.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $1.0M to $1.6M (+53%).
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.
97% of FREE PRESS ACTION FUND’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Victor Pickard
Director, chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income rose $271k → $520k.
3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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: $1.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Free Press). These are real filings, and they are not money FREE PRESS ACTION FUND raised.
From the IRS filings of FREE PRESS ACTION FUND’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
FREE PRESS ACTION FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 FREE PRESS ACTION FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 60% · 2019 94% · 2020 75% · 2021 71% · 2022 70% · 2023 63% — 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
50% of FREE PRESS ACTION FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
70% of FREE PRESS ACTION FUND's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $345k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Against its field
FREE PRESS ACTION FUND runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 904 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 904 civil rights nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FREE PRESS ACTION FUND
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 32 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Free Press · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FREE PRESS ACTION FUND: 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 FREE PRESS ACTION FUND?
- FREE PRESS ACTION FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,606,650 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Voice Inc ($1,575,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FREE PRESS ACTION FUND have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $2,606,650 in grants to FREE PRESS ACTION FUND, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREE PRESS ACTION FUND?
- Democracy Fund Voice Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,575,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREE PRESS ACTION FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Free Press Action →
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 8 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