Form 990 for tax year 2025

Totals

Total revenue

$15,351,878

Total expenses

$10,832,635

Contributions and grants received

$14,207,242

Grants paid

$1,031,390

Program service revenue

$117,725

Investment income

$751,305

Other revenue

$275,606

Total assets, end of year

$33,074,010

Total liabilities, end of year

$1,383,911

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$31,690,099

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$8,987,546

Management and general expenses

$634,048

Fundraising expenses

$1,211,041

Program service expenses (Part III)

$8,987,546

Program services were 83.0% 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 · 2025

• LAWSUITS CHALLENGING UNCONSTITUTIONAL ENTANGLEMENTS OF RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT ENDORSEMENT OR PROMOTION OF RELIGION. FFRF FILED 6 NEW LAWSUITS, INCLUDING ONE IN STATE COURT IN ILLINOIS, WHERE, BARELY A MONTH AFTER FILING A CHALLENGE OF A TEN COMMANDMENTS MONUMENT ON COURTHOUSE PROPERTY, THE CASE WAS FAVORABLY SETTLED WHEN JEFFERSON COUNTY REMOVED THE MONOLITH. FIVE NEW CHALLENGES OF STATE LAWS REQUIRING POSTING OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE FILED WITH A COALITION REPRESENTING A VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS AND NONRELIGIOUS PLAINTIFFS, INCLUDING TWO IN ARKANSAS FEDERAL COURT AND THREE IN TEXAS FEDERAL COURT. FFRF FILED SUIT IN OCTOBER 2025, ON BEHALF OF FFRF MEMBER JAMES REEL, A VETERAN, WHO WANTED TO CONTINUE SERVING HIS COUNTRY BY BECOMING A POLL WORKER BUT WAS REQUIRED TO TAKE A RELIGIOUS OATH. FFRF AND A COALITION FILED SUIT IN STATE COURT IN MAY 2025 ON BEHALF OF RESIDENTS TO HALT THE INSTALLATION OF TWO STATUES COSTING TAXPAYERS AT LEAST $850,000 DEPICTING CATHOLIC SAINTS AT A NEW PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING IN QUINCY, MASS. IN JANUARY 2025, FFRF FILED A STATE LAWSUIT IN DANE COUNTY, WIS., ON BEHALF OF THREE HOMEOWNERS, CHALLENGING A TAX LAW CREATED TO BENEFIT TWO EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE CHURCH-OWNED PROPERTIES DESIGNED FOR STUDENT RENTERS. ADDITIONALLY FFRF IS DEFENDING AN APPEALS COURT VICTORY WON IN 2018 PROHIBITING SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS FROM OPENING PUBLIC MEETINGS WITH PRAYER IN CHINO VALLEY, CALIF. THIS LITIGATION JOINED ONGOING LAWSUITS INCLUDING ONE FILED WITH A COALITION IN FEDERAL COURT IN 2024 CHALLENGING A LOUISIANA LAW REQUIRING TEN COMMANDMENTS TO BE DISPLAYED IN EACH PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASSROOM AND A CASE IN FEDERAL COURT IN ARKANSAS CHALLENGING A TEN COMMANDMENTS MONUMENT AT THE STATE CAPITOL. ADDITIONALLY TWO OKLAHOMA CASES WERE DISMISSED: ONE CHALLENGING A MANDATE TO INCORPORATE THE BIBLE INTO ALL CURRICULA, AND ANOTHER AGAINST THE STATE VIRTUAL CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD, AFTER VIOLATIONS WERE ENDED.FFRF RESPONDED TO 1,892 REPORTS OF CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS, SENT MORE THAN 603 FORMAL COMPLAINT LETTERS PLUS 870 FOLLOW-UPS TO VIOLATING GOVERNMENT ACTORS, MOSTLY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, RESULTING IN 212 SIGNIFICANT CONSTITUTIONAL VICTORIES. IN ADDITION, FFRF FILED AMICUS BRIEFS IN 7 OTHER STATE/CHURCH LAWSUITS.

  Expenses $1,925,993

• EDUCATIONAL EVENTS, AWARDS. FFRF TOPPED MORE THAN 42,000 MEMBERS, AND HELD ITS 48TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., WITH MORE THAN 500 ATTENDEES REPRESENTING MOST STATES. FFRF ALSO CO-HOSTED THE SCOPES TRIAL CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE IN TENNESSEE ATTRACTING ABOUT 250 PARTICIPANTS. LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE STAFF SPOKE AT 21 EVENTS, INVOLVING CHAPTERS AND DIVERSE CONFERENCES, AND CO-PRESIDENTS SPOKE OR DEBATED AT 10 EVENTS INCLUDING IN PERU, PARAGUAY, GEORGIA, OHIO, TENNESSEE AND NEW YORK. FFRF AWARDED ABOUT $139,000 IN ESSAY CONTEST SCHOLARSHIPS TO 80 STUDENT WINNERS; TUITION SCHOLARSHIPS TO 14 STUDENTS WHO WERE FIRST-IN-FAMILY TO ATTEND COLLEGE AND HUMANIST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH PARTNERS, AND 15 STUDENT ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIPS, SOME AWARDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STUDENT GROUP. FFRF HOSTED, WITH PARTNERS, THE SECOND CONGRESSIONAL REASON RECEPTION ON THE HILL.

  Expenses $4,328,944 · Grants $381,390 · Revenue $117,725

• PUBLISHING, BROADCASTING, AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH. FFRF PUBLISHED 10 ISSUES OF FREETHOUGHT TODAY NEWSPAPER; BROADCAST WEEKLY EDITIONS OF FREETHOUGHT RADIO ON RADIO STATIONS IN 10 STATES, WITH PODCASTS REACHING MORE THAN 2 MILLION DOWNLOADS SINCE BEGINNING IN 2006. PRODUCED 20 FINAL EPISODES OF "FREETHOUGHT MATTERS" TV SHOW, WHICH AIRED WEEKLY IN 6 MAJOR CITIES AND ON YOUTUBE. AIRED "FFRF'S ASK AN ATHEIST"/"SECULAR SPOTLIGHT" REGULARLY ON YOUTUBE. PRODUCED A MONTHLY "WE DISSENT" PODCAST WITH OTHER SECULAR ORGANIZATIONS SHOWCASING SECULAR WOMEN ATTORNEYS. MAINTAINED FFRF'S WEBSITE WITH LEGAL AND FREETHOUGHT NEWS AND RESOURCES. SOCIAL MEDIA INCLUDES 466K FACEBOOK FRIENDS, 87.1K FOLLOWERS ON X, 16.3K ON BLUE SKY, 25.3K ON INSTAGRAM AND 29.6 ON TIKTOK. FFRF ISSUED ABOUT 314 NEWS RELEASES ABOUT FFRF ACTIVITIES AND 110 BLOG POSTINGS. PUBLISHED A FREETHOUGHT CALENDAR AND DISTRIBUTED BOOKS AND EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS PROMOTING ITS PURPOSES. RAN PERIODIC ADS IN THE NATION, PROGRESSIVE, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, NEW YORK TIMES. RAN ADS ON CBS, MSNBC AND COMEDY CENTRAL. FFRF PLACED VARIOUS COMMERCIALS, INCLUDING LIVE READS BY HOSTS, ON SIRIUSXM AND ABOUT 20 PODCASTS WITH MORE THAN 15,00 PLACEMENTS AND NEARLY 13 MILLION IMPRESSIONS THROUGH DIGITAL ADS ALONE. FFRF MAINTAINED 23 CHAPTERS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

  Expenses $1,301,240 · Revenue $275,606

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

  Expenses $1,431,369 · Grants $650,000

As filed on the 2025 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

  $650,000

  OPERATING AND LOBBYING GRANT

• CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

  $50,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA INC

  $30,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• ABORTION COALITION FOR TELEMEDICINE

  $20,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• THE FREEDOM FUND

  $10,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• CONSERVATION VOTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA

  $10,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• OPTIONS FUND

  $10,000

  OPERATING GRANT

• BLACK NONBELIEVERS INC

  $10,000

  OPERATING GRANT

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

2025

Filed

19 August 2026

IRS schema version

2025v4.2

Source object

202612319349301716

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