Media Freedom Foundation
Overview
Mission
Public education on contemporary social issues and protection of the 1st amendment of the U.S. constitution.
What it reported doing in 2024
Publish books & newsletters to educate the public on contemporary issues.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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
- 943383394
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Headquarters
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5303216637
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Camps
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 55
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 54.5%; rating input score 55; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.5%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 50.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 31.7% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 72% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $508K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $120K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 3 annual filings from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Adam Armstrong (CFO): $120,450 total reported compensation
- Mickey Huff (CEO): $103,500 total reported compensation
- Andy Roth (Secretary): $63,198 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.