Alliance Defending Freedom: mission, leadership and finances

What it does

Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, is a legal advocacy organization based in Arizona. It litigates cases on religious freedom, free speech, parental rights and the sanctity of life, funds allied attorneys, and trains lawyers.

Alliance Defending Freedom is listed here in the category "Legal". A listing on 4conservative.com describes an organization; it is not an endorsement of it or of its positions.

History

ADF was founded in 1994 by a group of Christian leaders including James Dobson, Bill Bright and Larry Burkett. It argued cases at the U.S. Supreme Court including Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 303 Creative v. Elenis and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal organization. It is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ. Its IRS tax status is 501(c)(3). Like other organizations in this collection, it is described here from its own published material and from public records, and the facts on this page are limited to what those sources state.

Leadership and funding

ADF is led by president and CEO Kristen Waggoner, who has argued before the Supreme Court. Its Form 990, shown here, is public. It reports funding from individual donors and foundations.

The IRS figures on this page come from the latest Form 990 filing that ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer lists for the organization, for tax year 2023: total revenue of $101.8 million, total expenses of $97.1 million and total assets of $97.6 million at year end. ProPublica lists the filer as Alliance Defending Freedom. The figures describe a single tax year and can differ sharply from year to year; check the filing itself and the organization's own site for the current picture.

Where it stands

ADF says it defends the right to live out faith freely. The Southern Poverty Law Center designates it a hate group because of its positions on LGBTQ issues; ADF rejects that label.

These summaries reflect the organization's own stated mission and publicly known activities as of the date below; they are neutral descriptions, not evaluations. Related organizations on this site include Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, First Liberty Institute, Liberty Counsel.