The Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, a Florida-based nonprofit founded by conservative commentator Nick Adams, has raised $7.7 million over the past decade for its stated mission of bringing civics education to K-12 students. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the group at a Sept. 17 ceremony at the National Archives, saying it had reached 2 million children with civics education since it was founded in 2016.
But a review of FLAG’s financial records, donor operations and online activity found little evidence the nonprofit has actually delivered that education. According to ProPublica, Federal tax filings show no line items for payments to schools, teachers or educational distributors in the last six years the group has operated.
The review also found that Adams and his mother, Angelika Adamopoulos, were paid a combined $587,279 in 2024, which made up 53% of the organization’s total revenue that year. Much of FLAG’s money comes from a sweepstakes operation that has promised donors a chance to win $1,000,000, a prize records show no evidence of ever being paid out.
Tax filings show little documented classroom activity
FLAG’s website invites teachers to request free classroom presentations from “certified FLAG Ambassadors,” including Adams himself, along with guest speakers described as entrepreneurs, business leaders and immigrants. In 2016 and early 2017, FLAG regularly posted photos of visits to schools. After that period, similar documentation could not be found.
Since 2016, FLAG’s annual revenue grew from $68,000 to $1.1 million in 2024. Despite this growth, the organization’s federal tax filings show almost no indication that money was spent on its stated mission.
Only two lines, from a 2017 filing, list specific education-related spending: $26,925 for “Student’s Constitutions, Printing” and $5,670 for “Book Donations, Shipping & Supplies.” The only other documented activity resembling education work in the past six years is a 2020 video of Adams speaking at what is described as a teachers’ conference.
Adamopoulos was paid $201,861, including benefits, as FLAG’s secretary in 2024. In that same filing, FLAG told the IRS that no officer or director shared a family relationship with another officer or director. Adamopoulos did not respond to requests for comment. Adams did not respond to a detailed list of questions about FLAG’s financial practices, sweepstakes operation and educational programming.
Lloyd Mayer, a nonprofit law professor at Notre Dame Law School, said the amount paid to Adams and his mother stood out. “The amount being paid, both in absolute dollar terms and as a percentage of the organization’s revenues and expenses, is very high,” Mayer said.
He added that Adams’ rising pay over the years is more of “a yellow flag” than a clear violation, since nonprofit boards can pay executives more in later years to make up for underpayment early on, if that reasoning is made explicit.
FLAG’s federal filings from 2017 to 2024 show the organization answered “no” every year when the IRS asked whether its executive compensation was reviewed by independent people or compared to similar organizations.
Philip Hackney, a nonprofit law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a former IRS official, said this lack of independent review carries its own legal risk. “Technically, that can be an excess benefit transaction on its own,” Hackney said, referring to the IRS category covering pay to nonprofit insiders that exceeds fair market value. Questions about financial oversight involving politically connected figures have surfaced elsewhere, including in a report on a Pentagon loan tied to Trump Jr.
FLAG reported to Florida regulators that 66% of its revenue went toward program services. But salaries for Adams and his mother, along with social media and travel spending, made up $755,541, or 86%, of the $878,208 the group classified as program service spending. Mayer said this classification is not automatically improper, since “education as a charitable purpose is a very broad category” that can include staff pay and online communications.
FLAG’s online store also sells Adams’ personal books, including “Alpha Kings” and “From Mar-a-Lago to Mars,” with some signed copies priced at $40. Only one of these books includes language stating that proceeds go toward FLAG’s mission rather than to Adams directly. Mayer said this practice raises concerns.
“He’s free to market his books,” Mayer said, “but if he has a charity do it, that means it’s not really a charity anymore, in that respect. It’s not about public benefit – the private benefit to him overrides the public benefit.” Other organizations tied to political figures have also drawn scrutiny over unclear finances, such as Trump’s earnings from a coin-related group that reportedly lacks any public online presence.
Much of FLAG’s funding comes through a direct-mail sweepstakes campaign run under names such as “Payout Decision” and “Winner Search Swps.” FLAG does not disclose this sweepstakes program in its federal filings, and no official registration for it could be located in any state, including Florida, where such registration is required for charities running sweepstakes. Nine years of FLAG’s federal filings show no transaction matching a $1,000,000 payout. Mayer said this absence raises legal concerns. “If the promise is that someone will win $1,000,000 and no one ever does, that’s fraud,” Mayer said. “That’s lying to induce people to support you.”
In April 2024, a Better Business Bureau complaint accused FLAG of repeatedly postponing its sweepstakes drawing deadlines, a practice the complainant said was shared by more than a dozen other charities.
FLAG told the BBB on May 6, 2024, that it had responded to the complaint. Adams stepped down as FLAG’s CEO in March, handing the role to Cooper Rodenburg, around the same time he accepted a State Department position promoting American tourism. Rodenburg did not respond to detailed questions sent by email.
Published: Jul 29, 2026 12:00 pm