American Reformer

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
870851385
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Dallas, TX, US
Phone
7147439138
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Religious Media, Communications
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$280,922
Expenses
$630,085
Assets
$770,231
Liabilities
$1,968,150

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • NATHANIEL FISCHER (CO-FOUNDER)
  • AARON RENN (CO- FOUNDER AND SENIOR FELLO)
  • CHRIS BUSKIRK (DIRECTOR)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

American reformer's mission is to promote a vigorous christian approach to the cultural challenges of our day, rooted in the rich tradition of protestant social and political thought.

What it reported doing in 2024

Summer fellowship: the cotton mather fellowship graduated its fourth cohort in summer 2025. Each year, fellowship gathers a unique network of young american protestants for a summer-long education and vocational experience. Key topics include political theology, moral order, christian civic engagement, and american history. The fellows meet weekly for video discussions of key texts in the western philosophical and religious tradition, with the goal of providing an intellectual foundation to their christian faith. The capstone of the fellowship is a three-day in-person retreat full of intellectual discussions and team-building activities. The fellows leave this experience equipped and encouraged to carry their newfound learning into their vocations.

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 98% 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.

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 total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 56
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 49.2%; rating input score 49
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -124.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.56; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 111.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 49.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $310K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.