Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge

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The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (FFVF) is a right-wing, Pennsylvania-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been tax exempt since 1974.[1] FFVF's mission includes a "Bill of Responsibilities" and an "American Credo" which emphasize personal responsibility, individual freedom, constitutional government, and a fundamental belief in God.[2][3]

FFVF is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a group of right-wing think tanks and politically-active nonprofits.

News and Controversies

Volunteer Chapters

FFVF has fifteen volunteer chapters, which are "comprised of dedicated individuals who want to spread the message of engaged and responsible citizenship to schools and communities across America."[4] As of March 2021, FFVF was active in the following states:

  • Arizona
  • California
  • Florida
  • Lousiana
  • Massachussets
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Virginia

Ties to the State Policy Network

The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a group of right-wing think tanks and politically-active nonprofits. SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million.[5] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[6]

In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[7]

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[8]

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge received $345,250 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation between 2013-2019. Of these contributions, $2,000 supported general operations, $41,250 supported history education for Wisconsin teachers, and $302,000 supported U.S. history education projects.

FFVF also received $25,000 in 2016 from the Bradley Impact Fund, a donor-advised fund aligned with the Bradley Foundation that gives grants to organizations identified by the foundation.

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more.

Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Core Financials

2018[9]

  • Total Revenue: $1,180,024
  • Total Expenses: $1,597,955
  • Net Assets: $12,234,625

2017[10]

  • Total Revenue: $3,503,227
  • Total Expenses: $2,924,326
  • Net Assets: $13,261,607

2016[11]

  • Total Revenue: $4,715,596
  • Total Expenses: $2,594,071
  • Net Assets: $13,329,841

2015[12]

  • Total Revenue: $2,346,569
  • Total Expenses: $2,207,199
  • Net Assets: $10,849,413

2014[13]

  • Total Revenue: $1,801,463
  • Total Expenses: $1,861,325

2013

  • Net Assets: $10,977,701
  • Total Revenue: $1,813,613
  • Total Expenses: $1,942,469
  • Net Assets: $10,927,536

2012

  • Total Revenue: $5,627,704
  • Total Expenses: $1,968,708
  • Net Assets: $10,533,885

2011

  • Total Revenue: $2,098,610
  • Total Expenses: $2,089,655
  • Net Assets: $7,095,299

2010

  • Total Revenue: $1,550,376
  • Total Expenses: $1,865,112
  • Net Assets: $7,168,209

Funding

  • Adolph Coors Foundation: $50,000 (2016)
  • Armstrong Foundation: $20,000 (2015-2016)
  • Bank of America Charitable Foundation: $8,750 (2012-2014, 2016)
  • Bradley Impact Fund: $25,000 (2018)
  • Columbus Foundation: $6,000 (2010-2015)
  • Congressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States of America: $15,000 (2015)
  • Daniel M Tabas Family Foundation: $5,000 (2010)
  • Dillon Foundation: $12,650 (2013-2015, 2017-2018)
  • Foundation for Individual Liberty: $8,000 (2018)
  • Franci Neely Foundation: $3,000 (2012)
  • Hbe Foundation: $30,000 (2017-2019)
  • Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative: $5,000 (2010)
  • Hoxie Harrison Smith Foundation: $60,085 (2013-2019)
  • James R Crane Foundation: $3,000 (2012)
  • Joe M and Doris R Dealey Family Foundation: $15,000 (2017-2018)
  • JPMorgan Chase Foundation: $38,000 (2013)
  • Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $345,250 (2013-2019)
  • Malvern Federal Charitable Foundation: $46,000 (2014-2017)
  • Medal of Honor Foundation: $50,000 (2018)
  • Rhonda Fleming Foundation: $1,075 (2016-2017)
  • Sacramento Region Community Foundation: $10,339 (2014)
  • Schwab Charitable Fund: $160,500 (2014-2018)
  • Snider Foundation: $66,000 (2018)
  • Strake Foundation: $5,000 (2018)
  • Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States: $5,000 (2019)

Personnel

Board of Directors

As of March 2021:[14]

  • Sally Brinton
  • Jordan W. Clements (Chairman)
  • Sandy Cook
  • Diane Deshong (Vice Chair)
  • David Harmer
  • John C. Heenan
  • Col. Walter J. Marm Jr., USA (Ret.)
  • Jon Nehlsen
  • Christopher M. Rothey (Treasurer)
  • Marvell Ruppel
  • Shelby Scarbrough (Secretary)
  • Dianne Sehler

Contact Information

Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge
P.O. Box 67
Valley Forge, PA 19481

EIN: 23-1657857
Web: https://www.freedomsfoundation.org/
Phone: (214) 800-5590
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreedomsFoundation/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/108797032@N04/albums/with/72157679261555352
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freedomsfoundation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FFVF
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FreedomsFoundation

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch

IRS Form 990 Filings

2018

2017

2016

2015

References

  1. ↑ Guidestar, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, organizational website, accessed March 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Bill of Responsibilities, organizational website, accessed March 1, 2021.
  3. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, American Credo, organizational website, accessed March 1, 2021.
  4. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, About Our Chapters, organizational website, accessed March 1, 2021.
  5. ↑ David Armiak, State Policy Network and Affiliates Raises $152 Million Annually to Push Right-Wing Policies, ExposedbyCMD, September 30, 2022.
  6. ↑ Rebekah Wilce, Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
  7. ↑ Jane Mayer, Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, The New Yorker, November 15, 2013.
  8. ↑ Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, The Guardian, December 5, 2013.
  9. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 2018 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, November 14, 2019.
  10. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 2017 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, May 13, 2019.
  11. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 2016 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, May 14, 2018.
  12. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 2015 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, April 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 2015 IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, February 12, 2016.
  14. ↑ Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Board of Directors, organizational website, accessed March 1, 2021.
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