Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873557064
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lancaster, SC, USA
Phone
3476042179
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$243,578
Expenses
$346,436
Assets
$199,641
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kenny Xu (Executive Director until Oct 1 2025)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kenny Xu (Executive Director until Oct 1 2025): $104,616 total reported compensation
  • Savannah Damon (Managing Director Exec Dir): $78,035 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Promoting free speech and expression open debate viewpoint diversity and ideological balance at Davidson College Davidson NC. A parallel goal is ensuring that the College maintains its high pedagogical standards. DFTD is an independent alumni ae organization not affiliated with the College its membership including current and former elected federal and state officials successful businessmen nonprofit executives prominent intellectuals and journalists. DFTD stands up for the free speech rights of ALL-progressives moderates and conservatives if we see free speech or expression being threatened or denied. DFTD aims to bring to the College administrations and Trustees attention specific developments on campus that impede free expression open debate or academic freedom and to hold the administration and Trustees accountable. All Davidsonians-alumni faculty staff students and parents of students-are welcome to participate in the activities of DFTD.

What it reported doing in 2025

DFTD has just one program which is devoted solely to its mission. In 2025 we helped support the Davidson Free Speech Alliance which conducts an on-campus external speakers program that sponsored 5 speakers in 2025. The average audience for these events was 65. We published an email newsletter every six weeks that reports on the organizations work to strengthen freedom of expression and viewpoint diversity at Davidson. We maintain a vibrant website dftdunite. org that informs supporters and others of the organizations work and posts important articles published in the media on higher education free speech viewpoint diversity and academic standards issues. We interact with College leaders encouraging increased attention to freedom of expression and viewpoint diversity issues. We serve as ombudsman for students whose free speech rights appear to have been abused or threatened. We participate in the Colleges Deliberative Citizenship Initiative and are active members of the national Alumni Free Speech Alliance the consortium of prominent university and college alumni groups with the same mission as DFTDs. DFTDs leadership presents at the annual US Congressional Higher Education Free Speech Forum and at the annual Higher Education Free Speech Conference conducted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni ACTA. DFTD works with FIRE the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to include Davidson College in FIREs annual surveys of higher education students on freedom of expression issues.

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 95% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 97
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $103.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -42.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 52.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 43.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $329K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 11 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.