Freedom Folk and Soul

Overview

Mission

Freedom Folk & Soul provides life-changing opportunities for individuals to embark on a journey of self-discovery and personal empowerment within a nurturing community, using the wisdom of indigenous traditions, experiential learning, spiritual exploration, and expert guidance to support inner healing and leadership/facilitation for positive change in their lives and communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Hosted services programs and activities for spiritual journeys to fulfill our purpose

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823279902
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Madison, TN, USA
Phone
6154780916
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Buddhism
Affiliation
Buddhism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$376,206
Expenses
$378,135
Assets
$28,652
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.1%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 95.6%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: $348.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.5%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 96.1% of revenue deployed · 95.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $361K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 annual filings from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

People named in this filing

  • JEREMY PAJER (PRESIDENT)
  • STEPHANIE JONES (VICE PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025.