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Tennessee · Nonprofit

FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC

FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,442,125 to it, the largest being CHARLES KOCH FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2022
$380k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
$0
5/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 8%
01What it does

What Freedom Forum Institute Inc does

Mission

The mission of the freedom forum institute is to champion the five freedoms of the first amendment through education and entertainment.

As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The religious freedom center department is a nonpartisan national initiative focused on educating the american public about the religious liberty principles of the first amendment.

    $425,586 spent
    80% of program spending
  2. The newseum education department leverages the newseum's content to provide programs and resources onsite, online and in the community to students in grades 3-college, educators and other lifelong learners including corporate, government and international agencies.

    $104,984 spent
    20% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $530,570.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($9.3M) Expenses 100 ($8.0M) Net assets 100 ($1.8M)2018 Revenue 118 ($11M) Expenses 130 ($10M) Net assets 126 ($2.2M)2019 Revenue 97 ($9.0M) Expenses 124 ($9.9M) Net assets 81 ($1.4M)2020 Revenue 13 ($1.2M) Expenses 21 ($1.7M) Net assets 51 ($895k)2021 Revenue 9 ($816k) Expenses 16 ($1.3M) Net assets 22 ($392k)2022 Revenue 4 ($380k) Expenses 10 ($772k) Net assets 0 ($0)
201720182019202020212022
Revenue (4)Expenses (10)Net assets (0)

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 $2.3M to $1.1M (−50%).

$2.5M
$2.4M
$1.9M
$2.3M
$1.1M
$0
201720182019202020212022
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.3M
’17
$461k
’18
−$904k
’19
−$541k
’20
−$504k
’21
−$392k
’22
10
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

Jan Neuharth

CEO & trustee

Board chair

James W Abbott

Chair

As listed on its FY2022 Form 990.

201720182019202020212022
Listed2629271098
Joined·+8+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·521711
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $500k → $25k.

8 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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: $28M from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest The Freedom Forum Inc); $1.8M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Newseum Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC raised.

From the IRS filings of FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC’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

FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

69%
largest funder
91%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 70% · 2020 59% · 2021 46% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.

“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

13% of FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 3 states in all.

IL
PA
VA

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

’17
’18
’19
’21
’23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $216k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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

Government funding FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5k on record.

Federal$5k
grants $0contracts $5k
Top agencies
  • Department of Homeland Security$5k

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE 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 Tennessee

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

69% of spending goes to programs.

Program 69%Management 31%Fundraising 0%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

19%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 38 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Newseum Inc · exempt
  • The Freedom Forum Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE 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.

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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 FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC?
FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,442,125 to it, the largest being CHARLES KOCH FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,442,125 in grants to FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC?
CHARLES KOCH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Freedom Forum Institute →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 12 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