Foundation for Free Enterprise Education

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
251394365
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Erie, PA, USA
Phone
8148339576
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development - Business

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,278,633
Expenses
$1,685,739
Assets
$8,894,735
Liabilities
$485,206

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

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN M MUSANTE (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN M MUSANTE (PRESIDENT & CEO): $191,602 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See program service accomplishments below

What it reported doing in 2024

The foundation for free enterprise education successfully operated three youth education programs centered around business, skills development, career exploration, financial literacy and workforce preparedness that impacted nearly 15,000 young pennsylvanians in program year 2025. Pennsylvania free enterprise week (pfew) teaches high school students about modern business and free enterprise and helps them develop relevant, job-ready skills. Once again, pfew operated five week-long summer sessions on the campuses of lycoming college and Pennsylvania college of technology in williamsport, pa, educating 1,890 students statewide. The stock market game (smg) continued to grow, educating a record 10,935 students in grades 4-12 during the 2024-2025 school year. Smg is an in-school program that teaches students about investing, capital markets and financial literacy. The speaker series added more career exploration videos and regional programs and created two career exploration workbooks, one for students and one for teachers, that align with pa state career education and work (cew) and personal finance standards. The series videos and online resources gained over 2,000 additional unique views in 2025. All three of our youth programs meet or exceed the new personal finance standards and continue to support the Pennsylvania cew standards. Our programs effectively align with act 158 and the pde/cte's program of study task list for sales, distribution, and marketing operations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 60% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 47
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 48.3%; rating input score 48
  • Program expense ratio: 54.6%; rating input score 55
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 26%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.28; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 48.3% of revenue deployed · 54.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 28 of 28 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $921K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $192K · 31 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 48/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.