Form 990 for tax year 2023

Totals

Total revenue

$7,663,963

Total expenses

$10,073,846

Contributions and grants received

$6,912,229

Grants paid

$1,377,855

Program service revenue

$214,081

Investment income

$437,568

Other revenue

$100,085

Total assets, end of year

$23,482,447

Total liabilities, end of year

$423,941

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$23,058,506

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$9,286,473

Management and general expenses

$643,861

Fundraising expenses

$143,512

Program service expenses (Part III)

$9,286,473

Program services were 92.2% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2023

• LAWSUITS CHALLENGING ENTANGLEMENT OF RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT ENDORSEMENT OR PROMOTION OF RELIGION. FFRF WON FOUR LAWSUITS IN 2023: THE 5TH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS RULED IN FFRF'S FAVOR AGAINST TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT'S CENSORSHIP OF FFRF'S BILL OF RIGHTS NATIVITY DISPLAY IN THE CAPITOL. FFRF'S TOSONE V. WAY IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT STOPPED NEW JERSEY'S RELIGIOUS TEST FOR PUBLIC OFFICE. OUR SETTLEMENT IN MAYS V. CABELL CO. BOARD OF EDUCATION, W.VA., AT FEDERAL DISTRICT LEVEL WILL PREVENT FUTURE EMPLOYEES FROM PROSELYTIZING STUDENTS. OUR CASE IN SOUTH CAROLINA STATE COURT, PARKER V. MCMASTER, STOPPED $1.5 MILLION EARMARKED FOR CHRISTIAN LEARNING CENTERS OF GREENVILLE COUNTY TO PROVIDE BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION TO STUDENTS. ONGOING LAWSUITS: WITH A COALITION, FFRF FILED A FEDERAL LAWSUIT IN JULY CHALLENGING THE NATION'S FIRST RELIGIOUS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL APPROVED IN OKLAHOMA AND ARE CHALLENGING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS MONUMENT AT THE ARKANSAS STATE CAPITOL IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT. FFRF FILED FIVE AMICUS BRIEFS, INCLUDING IN GROFF V. DEJOY (US SUPREME COURT) AND FOUR LOWER COURT BRIEFS. FFRF SENT MORE THAN 700 LETTERS OF COMPLAINT TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, PLUS TWO MASS MAILINGS, ACHIEVING 147 VICTORIES HALTING STATE/CHURCH ENTANGLEMENTS IN 2023.

  Expenses $1,497,048 · Revenue $136,156

• EDUCATIONAL EVENTS, CONVENTION, MEETINGS, MEDIA APPEARANCES, SPEECHES, DEBATES, TRAVEL, AND AWARDS. FFRF TOPPED MORE THAN 40,000 MEMBERS, AND HELD ITS 46TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MADISON, WIS., WITH MORE THAN 500 ATTENDEES FROM 45 STATES, D.C., AND CANADA. OFFERED FREETHOUGHT PROGRAMMING AND SPOKE AT 37 EVENTS, INVOLVING MULTIPLE STAFF MEMBERS AT CHAPTER, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS. FFRF ANNOUNCED THE $500,000 BRIAN F. BOLTON AND ANNE NICOL GAYLOR ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP IN SECULAR STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER. FFRF FORMED THE FFRF ACTION FUND, AN ADVOCACY ARM, THAT TRACKED 2,000 BILLS AND SENT 150 LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERTS TO MORE THAN 47,000 ADVOCATES WHO MADE 152,000 CONTACTS WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS. FFRF ISSUED 367 NEWS RELEASES AND 192 BLOG POSTINGS ABOUT FFRF ACTIVITIES. AWARDED OVER $125,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS IN 5 SEPARATE ESSAY COMPETITIONS WITH 90 STUDENT WINNERS; TUITION SCHOLARSHIPS TO 6 STUDENTS OF COLOR/FIRST-IN-FAMILY TO ATTEND COLLEGE, IN CONJUNCTION WITH BLACK SKEPTICS LOS ANGELES AND 15 STUDENT ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIPS, SOME AWARDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SECULAR STUDENT ALLIANCE.

  Expenses $4,432,695 · Grants $273,000 · Revenue $77,925

• PUBLISHING, BROADCASTING, AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH. PUBLISHED 10 ISSUES OF FREETHOUGHT TODAY NEWSPAPER; 2 ISSUES OF PRIVATE LINE MEMBERSHIP NEWSLETTER; BROADCAST WEEKLY EDITIONS OF FREETHOUGHT RADIO ON RADIO STATIONS IN 10 STATES, WITH PODCASTS REACHING MORE THAN 1.4 MILLION DOWNLOADS SINCE BEGINNING IN 2006. PRODUCED ANOTHER SEASON OF ITS TV SHOW, "FREETHOUGHT MATTERS," WHICH AIRED IN 13 CITIES AND ON YOUTUBE. AIRED "FFRF'S ASK AN ATHEIST" FACEBOOK LIVE! ALMOST WEEKLY. PRODUCED A MONTHLY "WE DISSENT" PODCAST WITH OTHER SECULAR ORGANIZATIONS SHOWCASING SECULAR WOMEN ATTORNEYS. MAINTAINED FFRF'S WEBSITE WITH NEWS UPDATES, DAILY CALENDAR, LEGAL AND FREETHOUGHT FAQS AND RESOURCES; ACTIVE ON FACEBOOK, X, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK. PUBLISHED A FREETHOUGHT CALENDAR AND DISTRIBUTED FFRF-PUBLISHED BOOKS AND EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS PROMOTING ITS MISSION. RAN PERIODIC ADS IN THE NATION, PROGRESSIVE, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN AND SEVERAL OTHER PUBLICATIONS. RAN A 30-SECOND TV SPOT BY RON REAGAN ON CBS'S "60 MINUTES," "CBS SUNDAY MORNING," "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT," MSNBC'S "RACHEL MADDOW SHOW, AND "THE DAILY SHOW." FFRF HAD 20 CHAPTERS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

  Expenses $1,882,493

• OPERATION OF FREETHOUGHT HALL IN MADISON, WI, AND MAINTENANCE OF LIBRARY FOR MEMBERS' USE, AND CHAPTER REBATES

  Expenses $1,474,237 · Grants $1,104,855 · Revenue $100,085

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

• FFRF ACTION FUND

  $500,000

  OPERATING AND LOBBYING GRANT

• UW WHITEWATER

  $500,000

  ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP

• ENDING CLERGY ABUSE USA

  $50,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• WOMEN'S MEDICAL FUND

  $20,000

  DIRECT ASSISTANCE

Related organizations on this return

Schedule R Part II: tax-exempt organizations related to the filer by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

• FFRF ACTION FUND INC

  501(C)(4) · PRESERVE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE · WI

  Directly controlled by FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION INC

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2023

Filed

28 August 2024

IRS schema version

2023v5.1

Source object

202422539349301322

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