Madfreedom Advocates Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
993358723
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Brattleboro, VT, USA
Phone
8442531163
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Residential Intellectual & Developmental Disability Facilities (Group Homes, Intermediate Care Facil

Reported finances

Revenue
$440,637
Expenses
$437,875
Assets
$81,779
Liabilities
$79,017

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • HILARY MELTON (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • WILDA WHITE (CONSULTANT DIR): $60,000 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTOPHER NIAL (FORMER EXEC DIR): $28,846 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

MadFreedom Advocates (MFA) is a grassroots, non-profit organization run by and for psychiatric survivors, mad folks, and others marginalized by the mental health system. Were working towards equal rights, better services, and ending discrimination. MadFreedom Advocates works across Vermont to support leadership, education, and advocacy for people with lived experience of trauma, institutionalization, neurodivergence, extreme states, or other marginalization by sanism.

What it reported doing in 2025

MadFreedom Advocates (MFA) is a grassroots, non-profit organization run by and for psychiatric survivors, mad folks, and others marginalized by the mental health system. Were working towards equal rights, better services, and ending discrimination. During the year 2025: leadership activites (20), community forums (49), advocacy activities (15), education events (14), patient visits (823). NEWSPAPER: issues published (1), copies distributed (5,000), subscriptions (248), and newsletter subscriptions (200).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 94% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.5%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 75%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.97; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 148.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 148.6% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 62.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.5% of revenue deployed · 75% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $328K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.