The Media Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521061431
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Vienna, VA, USA
Phone
7035068030
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$432,040
Expenses
$421,824
Assets
$64,882
Liabilities
$95,101

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Richard Kaplar (President/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Richard Kaplar (President/CEO): $58,282 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To foster freedom of speech, a competitive media and communications industry, and excellence in journalism.

What it reported doing in 2025

Free Speech America - An Institute event held every fall that presents two awards to deserving individuals. The American Horizon Award recognizes leadership in promoting the vitality and independence of American media and communications. The Freedom of Speech Award recognizes and indivudal who has made important contributions to the advancement and protection of free speech. Additionally, the Institute facilitates Free Speech Week, a yearly event to raise public awareness of the importance of free speech in our democracy- and to celebrate that freedom. As freedom of speech is a right all Americans share, this non-partisan, non-ideological event is intended to be a unifying celebration.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% 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

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 90%; rating input score 90; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.4%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.47; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.8%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.7% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.7% of revenue deployed · 81.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $345K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $58K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.