Appalachia Free Press Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
862375296
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Morgantown, WV, USA
Phone
7405412904
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$28,183
Expenses
$71,102
Assets
$10,038
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ashton Marra (President)

People named in this filing

  • Ashton Marra (President)
  • Dana Coester (Treasurer)
  • Jesse Wright (Secretary)

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

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Appalachia Free Press is a nonpartisan organization working to promote and support independent journalism in the region through reporting, research and trainings. AFP promotes and fosters diverse and independent media ownership to increase access to community information and reinvent local journalism. We prioritize collaborations between newsrooms, independent media makers and the communities they serve to challenge traditional industry gatekeepers and serve the public interest.

What it reported doing in 2024

Training for Community Journalism: Hosted 5 trainings and webinars for local reporters, editors, college journalism professors, students and student newsroom, published 3 new resources for local journalists and began development and research for new resources to be published in 2025 as part of the Reporting on Addiction training series. Continued development of additional programming for local reporters as part of Reporting on Religion training series.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 98
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.9%; rating input score 94

Transparency & Controls

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

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -152.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 34.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -76.4% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -136.3% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $67K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.