Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The mission of the Acton Institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
- Income
- $10.8 million
- Spending
- $12.2 million
- Spent on programs
- 81%
- Reserves
- 11.6 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 88%
- Employees
- 41
- Volunteers
- 30
- Highest pay
- $385,870, president
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 72 out of 100. Higher than 37% of charities in its peer group (civil rights, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 11.6 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 1% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 13% of income.
Income trend
5 of 15Income fell 10% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1581% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 17 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 39% of charities in its peer group (civil rights, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 2513 of 15 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $5.0 million spent. Education: The Programs and Education Department of the Acton Institute equips current and emerging leaders in economics, religion, and business through high-quality educational initiatives. These programs emphasize the moral foundations of a free economy and aim to foster an environment where all individuals have the opportunity to thrive. While open to all, priority is given to applicants with a demonstrated ability to effect change and influence within their institutions, communities, and denominations-both nationally and internationally. The Institute offers a range of educational programs, from intimate seminars to large-scale conferences. Its flagship event, Acton University, is a four-day annual conference that attracts over 800 participants from nearly 90 countries to explore the principles of a free and virtuous society. Many attendees receive financial assistance to help cover expenses such as lodging, meals, registration, and, when needed, travel. Additionally, the Education Department actively builds ecumenical networks of religious leaders, students, educators, and business professionals to broaden the Institute's impact, form strategic partnerships, and stay responsive to the needs of its global audience. (Expenses $ 1,186,539 including grants of $ 56,892)(Revenue $ 206) The Center for Social Flourishing focuses the Acton Institute's work-promoting the ideas necessary for a free and virtuous society-on the alleviation of poverty and related social problems in the United States. The Center does this through conferences, research, a partnership network, and film and media, including a new feature-length documentary movie about attempts to address poverty in the United States.The Center's team also operates a related initiative of the Acton Institute: the PovertyCure project, which is an expression of Acton's work on global poverty and development. In 2024, the Center organized four conferences in collaboration with Acton's Programs department, including the biennial PovertyCure global virtual summit, and monthly listening sessions with local Grand Rapids nonprofits. The Center also developed a new website for the Center for Social Flourishing and redesigned the PovertyCure website, which makes the initiative's video curriculum available for streaming from the website. The largest individual project of the Center is the new documentary on poverty in the United States. Directed by Michael Miller, who is also the Center's director, the film explores the flaws of large-scale attempts to solve poverty in the US. In 2024, the team filmed about 50 interviews in various cities around the country. The film is expected to be completed by fall 2025, at which point it will be submitted for film festivals. The Center continues to promote other Acton media products, including the PovertyCure series and the documentary Poverty, Inc. Many churches, schools, and universities have incorporated the PovertyCure series resource into their curriculums. Acton's documentary Poverty, Inc. has earned more than 45 film festival awards to date, including the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award.The film has screened more than 500 times in 28 countries.Its impact continues, and it streams on multiple platforms.
- $1.9 million spent. General Education and Communications: The Institute reaches out to business leaders, policymakers, students, and religious and community leadership groups through lectures, media products, web and social media, and various writings. The Institute hosts a variety of events across the nation to engage our supporters and partners. In 2024, we hosted luncheons and dinners with distinguished Acton lecturers that ranged from 25-100+ participants in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. Additionally, we hosted our 34th Annual Dinner which was held in Grand Rapids to promote outreach and to thank supporters for their partnership. The dinner and program festivities included prominent public speakers, Institute supporters and partners from all over the world. Over 500 participated, representing many states and several foreign countries. We host a busy slate of activities and events in our local facility for discussions of a variety of topics related to our work, including our Acton Lecture Series. Acton Institute also operates a bookstore to promote and sell its own publications, in addition to outside publications, related to our mission and program outreach areas. These educational materials were sold, distributed and exhibited at a variety of events throughout the world. Our rich and robust web presence centers on the Acton website (www.acton.org), and includes other Acton sites such as Religion and Liberty Online as well as a great deal of current and historical Acton-produced content. The Institute has a broad and growing presence in social media. This platform has steadily increased the scope and frequency of Acton's outreach to the general public. The Communications Department manages the Acton websites, blog, podcasts, and social media which use leading technology to integrate text, audio, and video content in easily accessible formats and venues to promote Acton's message to web users. It publishes the print and digital editions of the redesigned Religion & Liberty. The Communications Department also connects Acton experts with print and broadcast journalists covering faith and policy issues. Acton's newest documentary film The Hong Konger was released in 2023. It received multiple film festival screenings and awards and continues to bring exposure to the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai and his fight for freedom in Hong Kong.
- $1.8 million spent. Research: The Institute's academic investigations are conducted by its Research Department. The work produced at Acton Research includes the disciplines of philosophy, economics, theology, and history, among others, and it includes the contributions of both in-house research fellows, affiliates, and of invited scholars. Additionally, the materials and research produced at the Acton Institute are delivered locally in Grand Rapids as well as at national and international conferences with the goal of reaching the scholarly community at large. The Research Department publishes books, a journal, the Acton Institute's Religion & Liberty magazine, Religion and Liberty Online, monographs, and occasional papers, along with essays at respected and scholarly online outlets. The Research Department with Acton's Marketing and Communications Department produces the weekly Acton Line podcast. The Journal of Markets & Morality is a semi-annual refereed journal that provides a forum for scholars from many disciplines to engage issues concerning the morality of the marketplace. Select primary sources are translated and edited for wider dissemination and use by scholars. Non-Christians have also written articles and books addressing relevant themes of interest to the Acton Institute, such as liberty, religious freedom, and the free economy. The Research Department also manages Acton's academic scholarship programs. Fellowships are awarded to provide financial assistance to promising doctoral candidates, graduate students, and seminarians who are advancing an understanding of the connection between economic liberty and religious values. Free Market Mini-Grants help fund university course development and faculty research in market economics at colleges, universities, and seminaries in the United States and Canada. The Freedom and Prosperity Grant promotes research by scholars internationally into the relationship between freedom and prosperity using the Atlantic Council Freedom and Prosperity Indexes. The Calihan Academic Grants provide financial assistance to scholars and graduate students whose academic work shows outstanding potential to advance understanding in the relationship between theology and the principles of the free and virtuous society. The annual Novak Award recipient is presented with a prize to acknowledge and reward new research on the relationship between religion, economic freedom, and the free and virtuous society. Lastly, the Research Department manages or helps manage a number of programs, including (1) conferences for scholars, graduate students, public intellectuals and leading religious figures, (2) an academic colloquium held annually in Grand Rapids, (3) and the scholarly and programmatic outreach of Acton's Rome office. Internationally, we have held conferences on various topics such as economic liberty, justice, economic history, poverty and development, Catholic social teaching, war and peace, Protestant social thought, Judaism and the economy, property rights, monetary policy, and limited government. (Expenses $ 1,186,539 including grants of $ 56,892)(Revenue $ 206) The Center for Social Flourishing focuses the Acton Institute's work-promoting the ideas necessary for a free and virtuous society-on the alleviation of poverty and related social problems in the United States. The Center does this through conferences, research, a partnership network, and film and media, including a new feature-length documentary movie about attempts to address poverty in the United States.The Center's team also operates a related initiative of the Acton Institute: the PovertyCure project, which is an expression of Acton's work on global poverty and development. In 2024, the Center organized four conferences in collaboration with Acton's Programs department, including the biennial PovertyCure global virtual summit, and monthly listening sessions with local Grand Rapids nonprofits. The Center also developed a new website for the Center for Social Flourishing and redesigned the PovertyCure website, which makes the initiative's video curriculum available for streaming from the website. The largest individual project of the Center is the new documentary on poverty in the United States. Directed by Michael Miller, who is also the Center's director, the film explores the flaws of large-scale attempts to solve poverty in the US. In 2024, the team filmed about 50 interviews in various cities around the country. The film is expected to be completed by fall 2025, at which point it will be submitted for film festivals. The Center continues to promote other Acton media products, including the PovertyCure series and the documentary Poverty, Inc. Many churches, schools, and universities have incorporated the PovertyCure series resource into their curriculums. Acton's documentary Poverty, Inc. has earned more than 45 film festival awards to date, including the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award.The film has screened more than 500 times in 28 countries.Its impact continues, and it streams on multiple platforms.
- $1.2 million spent. The Center for Social Flourishing focuses the Acton Institute's work-promoting the ideas necessary for a free and virtuous society-on the alleviation of poverty and related social problems in the United States. The Center does this through conferences, research, a partnership network, and film and media, including a new feature-length documentary movie about attempts to address poverty in the United States.The Center's team also operates a related initiative of the Acton Institute: the PovertyCure project, which is an expression of Acton's work on global poverty and development. In 2024, the Center organized four conferences in collaboration with Acton's Programs department, including the biennial PovertyCure global virtual summit, and monthly listening sessions with local Grand Rapids nonprofits. The Center also developed a new website for the Center for Social Flourishing and redesigned the PovertyCure website, which makes the initiative's video curriculum available for streaming from the website. The largest individual project of the Center is the new documentary on poverty in the United States. Directed by Michael Miller, who is also the Center's director, the film explores the flaws of large-scale attempts to solve poverty in the US. In 2024, the team filmed about 50 interviews in various cities around the country. The film is expected to be completed by fall 2025, at which point it will be submitted for film festivals. The Center continues to promote other Acton media products, including the PovertyCure series and the documentary Poverty, Inc. Many churches, schools, and universities have incorporated the PovertyCure series resource into their curriculums. Acton's documentary Poverty, Inc. has earned more than 45 film festival awards to date, including the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award.The film has screened more than 500 times in 28 countries.Its impact continues, and it streams on multiple platforms.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 1990.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.