Free the People

Free the People is a non-partisan production company that creates documentary films, video web series, and podcasts with pro-liberty values geared towards younger Americans. 1 Free the People uses storytelling and social media engagement to promote the values of liberty, including individual responsibility, free choice, and entrepreneurship. Free the People focuses on issues like criminal justice, health care choice, and corporate cronyism. 2

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At-A-Glance

Type: Non-profit, 501(c)(3)
Website: freethepeople.org
Formation:

2016

President:

Matt Kibbe

Location: Washington, DC View on map
Tax ID: 47-5598652
Most Recent Filing: 2024
Budget (2024): Assets: $440,799 Revenue: $1,465,649 Expenses: $1,695,829

Contents

    Free the People is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a coalition of free-market state-level policy organizations. 3 While Free the People is non-partisan, members of its staff have affiliations with the Republican and Libertarian Parties.

    Activity

    Free the People is a non-partisan production company that creates documentary films, video web series, and podcasts with pro-liberty values geared towards younger Americans. 1 Free the People uses storytelling and social media engagement to promote the values of liberty, including individual responsibility, free choice, and entrepreneurship. Free the People focuses on issues like criminal justice, health care choice, and corporate cronyism. 2Top of Form

    Free the People advocates for criminal justice policies that include ending civil asset forfeiture (which it claims is unconstitutional), ending mandatory minimum sentencing, and reforming prison systems and sentencing procedures on both the state and federal levels. 4 In 2019, Free the People published a video claiming that the high rate of incarceration in the United States is caused by our laws, not by people committing crimes at higher rates than in other countries. The video further claims that other areas of criminal justice such as bail reform, expungement, fines and fees, and prosecutorial misconduct are often overlooked and deserve more attention when considering reforms. 5

    Free the People advocates for free markets and against crony capitalism, which it claims is the opposite of free enterprise. Free the People opposes government bailouts, government subsidies, and state-created monopolies. It claims that government support of inefficient or unprofitable companies prevents market innovation, impedes competition, and restrains trade. 4

    Free the People advocates for defending the Bill of Rights in its entirety and claims that government interference has led to only selective rights being defended. Free the People claims that the internet allows the government more opportunities to infringe on civil liberties, including the right to free speech, freedom from unjust searches and seizures, and the right to due process of law. Free the People further claims that the government now has more ways to invade citizens’ privacy, that agencies like the FBI and the National Security Agency spy on citizens without due process, and that the government can coerce companies to compromise their users’ security. 4

    Free the People claims that free choice is the foundation of individual liberty and advocates for choice in health care. Free the People supports the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity’s solution to create a market-based healthcare system instead of a government-run single payer system, or “Medicare for All.” 6 Free the People also advocates for ending the War on Drugs, claiming that people should be free to choose the substances they want to consume. 4

    Free the People advocates for school choice, including private schools, homeschooling, and online academies. Free the People claims that a single approach to education has always failed, as all students learn differently. 4 In a 2017 article, Free the People points out that the word “education” is not mentioned in the Constitution, drawing the conclusion that education should not be the responsibility of the federal government. Free the People also points out that mandatory schooling did not exist at the time of the Constitution, and claims non-compulsory public schools gave parents the choice of whether to send their children to school, establishing the freedom of school choice. 7

    Funding

    Free the People is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While Free the People does not disclose its donors, tax filings show donations from the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, which contributed between 2018 and 2019;8 QXZ, Inc., which contributed in 2016;9 and the Davis L. Smith Foundation, which contributed in 2018. 10

    People

    Matt Kibbe is co-founder, president, and chief community organizer of Free the People and co-founder of Fight the Power Productions. Kibbe is a co-founder of FreedomWorks, where he formerly served as president. Kibbe is the founder of AlternativePAC, formerly served as senior advisor to a SuperPAC associated with U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), and formerly worked as a budget director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and senior economist for the Republican National Committee. 11

    Terry Kibbe is co-founder and CEO of Free the People and co-founder of Fight the Power Productions. Kibbe formerly served as a senior advisor to AlternativePAC and as a fundraiser for various organizations, including a Paul-aligned SuperPAC, FreedomWorks, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Cato Institute. 12

    Kara Pally is the chief technology officer of Free the People and the former chief technology officer of FreedomWorks. 13

    Matt Battaglia is the executive producer of Free the People and former creative manager of FreedomWorks. 14

    Logan Albright is the head writer and sound engineer at Free the People and a former senior research analyst at FreedomWorks. 15

    Joel Davis is the social media coordinator at Free the People and formerly served as a Libertarian mayor of Paden City, West Virginia. 16

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2024 $440,799 $1,465,649 $1,695,829 View
    2023 $582,215 $1,503,005 $1,813,205 View
    2022 $864,714 $1,588,497 $1,449,771 View
    2021 $728,272 $1,549,000 $1,319,825 View
    2020 $516,505 $1,593,639 $1,296,174 View

    Prior year filings: 2018

    Revenue Detail

    Expenses Detail

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $6,937,615
    • Number of Grants: 79
    • Number of Funders: 28

    Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $537,5002023 Vanguard CharitableFOR RECIPIENT'S EXEMPT PURPOSE
    $427,6202021 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $378,1702022 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $352,4802020 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $336,5002024 Vanguard CharitableFOR RECIPIENT'S EXEMPT PURPOSE
    $250,0002024 Carroll Petrie FoundationBUILD FREE THE PEOPLE'S AUDIENCE
    $250,0002023 Carroll Petrie FoundationBuild Free the People's audience
    $185,5002021 Vanguard CharitableFOR RECIPIENT'S EXEM
    $102,4702023 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $89,9002024 Donors Trust Incfor general operations
    $55,1002023 Donors Trust Incfor general operations
    $50,0002021 The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation IncTo support The Constitution Line by Line video series
    $50,0002020 Donors Trust Incfor the Freedom over Fear proposal
    $46,2002022 Donors Trust Incfor general operations
    $29,1002021 Donors Trust Inc$29,000 for general operations/ $100 2021 Independence Day, Upward to Liberty Campaign
    $27,5002024 The Armstrong FoundationNATIONAL AND STATE POLICY
    $25,0002023 Atlas NetworkEconomic Education
    $25,0002023 The Armstrong FoundationNATIONAL AND STATE POLICY
    $21,5002020 Donors Trust Incfor general operations
    $15,0002022 The Craft FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $10,0002024 The Craft FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $10,0002023 Peterson Family FoundationGENERAL FUND
    $10,0002023 The Craft FoundationGENERAL SUPPORT
    $10,0002023 Margulis Foundation for Freedom and OpportunityGENERAL OPERATING
    $10,0002022 Margulis Foundation for Freedom and OpportunityGENERAL OPERATING

    Contact InfluenceWatch to report errors, suggest edits, or provide tips for additional profiles.

    Contact Us

    Financials, employee compensation, and grant information provided by Candid.

    Mentioned in this Article

    References

    1. “Donate to Free the People.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/donate/.
    2. “About Free the People.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2021.  https://freethepeople.org/about/.
    3. “The Network: Alabama.” State Policy Network, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2021. https://spn.org/directory/#AL.
    4. “Our Issues.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/issues/.
    5. “Top 5 Overlooked Areas of Criminal Justice Reform.” Free the People Foundation, May 27, 2019. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/top-5-overlooked-areas-of-criminal-justice-reform/.
    6. “How Can We Actually Improve Health Care?” Free the People Foundation, March 10, 2021. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/kol-how-can-we-actually-improve-health-care-guest-kara-jones-ep-112/.
    7. “5 Reasons Why School Choice Is Freedom.” Free the People Foundation, August 24, 2017. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/5-reasons-school-choice-freedom/.
    8. Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018-2019, Part XV, Line 3a.
    9. QXZ, Inc., Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2017, Schedule I, Part II.
    10. Davis L. Smith Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV, Line 3a.
    11. “Matt Kibbe.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/author/mkibbe/.
    12. “Terry Kibbe.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/author/tkibbe/.
    13. “Kara Pally.” LinkedIn, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karapally/.
    14. “Matt Battaglia.” LinkedIn, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-battaglia-15a5b648/.
    15. “Logan Albright.” Free the People Foundation, 2021. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://freethepeople.org/author/lalbright/.
    16. “West Virginia Libertarian city council member elected Mayor.” Libertarian National Committee. Accessed March 18, 2021. https://www.lp.org/blogs-staff-west-virginia-libertarian-city-council-member-elected-mayor/.