North Carolina · Nonprofit
FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL
FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,722,236 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,925,125). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $459k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $3.7M
- Net assets
- $682k
What Freedom to Lead International does
Mission
To cultivate competent christ centered leaders through story symbol and song to unleash their potential for impacting local communities with the whole gospel
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
South asia project leadership development for 18000 in south asia africa project leadership development for 8000 in africa leadership development for 70 in pacific rim
$550,153 spentof which $19,820 as grants$30 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $550,153.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $1.6M to $1.1M (−31%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Michelle M Sessoms
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2023 and FY2024, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $86k → $204k.
5 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL’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 TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
65% 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 FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 47% · 2019 66% · 2020 52% · 2021 48% · 2022 84% · 2023 49% — 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
57% of FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
65% of FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.
Against its field
FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL is better cushioned than half of the 7,850 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,850 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL
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 North Carolina
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
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL: 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 FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL?
- FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,722,236 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,925,125). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $3,722,236 in grants to FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,925,125 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREEDOM TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 9 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