American Free Enterprise Foundation

What it reported doing in 2024

Although the American Free Enterprise Foundation (AFEF) was formed in October 2020, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic completely shutdown the entire school system, this precluded the AFEF from holding the intended annual educational and scholarship event, the American Free Enterprise Success Seminar (AFESS).The event's purpose is to educate high-school students about setting goals, understanding credit, overcoming adversity, and developing values that will guide them throughout their lives, and to expose them to experts who have created businesses and career paths that could set students on valuable paths forward. At the culmination of the program, scholarships are awarded to participating students. Because of the on-going effects on the school system of the pandemic, the program which had been held every year from 2011 to 2019 was suspended until 2025.The concept for the AFESS event originated with Kathy Loveless when she was asked to speak at the scholarship program that had been administered by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers, under the direction of John Morgan. At that time, no training was provided to students, just scholarships.Kathy Loveless knew that far more than money was needed to set students on the right path and she proposed to John Morgan that she would create the first AFESS. Kathy knew she could call on her colleagues in the professional training and speaking business to give their time and talent to train the next generation. That was accomplished just a few months later in November of 2011. That program continued every year until 2019 under the non-profit, Sons of Utah Pioneers. The program had expanded greatly in the number of scholarships, number of training programs and it became evident that it now needed to become its own entity with its own funding and board of directors. That is why it was created as its own 501 (c) 3 in 2020, before it was known what COVID-19 would do to the school system.Wayne Webster also became a new provider of scholarship funds in 2020. (Although he sat on the board during its formative years to assist with establishing AFEFs mission and operations, the organization maintained an independent board majority, and no personal or financial benefit was provided to Wayne Webster or any related party. All contributions were/are unrestricted gifts used to advance the organization's exempt purposes.)Because COVID-19 restrictions and hesitancy among school personnel continued through much of 2024, AFEFs program activities were limited during 2024. During this period, the organization focused on rebuilding the program infrastructure, developing partnerships with schools, refining event materials, and securing the financial resources necessary to relaunch, ensuring that when schools were ready to participate the program could resume on a sustainable basis.Those preparations culminated in April 2025 with the first full-day AFEF event since the pandemic, during which 70 students attended the training and were awarded scholarships in accordance with the organization's exempt purpose.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 5.8%; rating input score 6
• Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 94.2%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 460.17; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -136.2% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings