First Liberty Institute: mission, leadership and finances

What it does

First Liberty Institute is a nonprofit legal organization that represents clients in religious-liberty cases. It handles cases involving military chaplains, schools and houses of worship, and offers its services at no cost.

First Liberty Institute 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

It was founded in 1997 and was formerly known as the Liberty Institute. It is led by Kelly Shackelford, who argued Kennedy v. Bremerton School District before the Supreme Court.

First Liberty Institute is a legal organization. It is headquartered in Plano, TX. 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

It is funded by donations and files a Form 990, shown here.

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 $24.3 million, total expenses of $23.9 million and total assets of $24.7 million at year end. ProPublica lists the filer as First Liberty Institute. 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

First Liberty supports broad religious expression in public life.

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 Alliance Defending Freedom, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Liberty Counsel.