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Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression
| Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Philadelphia. and Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) |
| Affiliation: | Nonpartisan |
| Top official: | Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO |
| Founder(s): | Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate |
| Year founded: | 1999 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Promoted policies | |
| Civil Liberties Policy | |
| Budget | |
| 2014: | $7,401,750 |
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression (FIRE) is an organization whose work concerns university students and faculty members the organization considers to have been discriminated against by administrators and the government while promoting values such as free speech, academic freedom, and due process.[1] Their website says they "worked to advance the cause of free speech and the values of the First Amendment on our nation’s college and university campuses."[2]
Background
FIRE was founded in 1999 by Alan Charles Kors, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvey Silverglate, a Boston-based civil liberties attorney who still serves on the organization's board of directors. The organization was formed following the publication in 1998 of Kors and Silverglate's book The Shadow University: The Betrayal Of Liberty On America's Campuses. FIRE's website says its mission is "to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought—the most essential qualities of liberty."[1][2]
Leadership
As of December 2025, the following were listed as members of FIRE's board of directors:[3]
- Kurt Jaggers, Chairman, Board of Directors
- Samuel J. Abrams
- John Ellis
- Kmele Foster
- Allison Hayward
- John B. Henneman III
- Sandy Leong
- Joseph Maline
- Virginia Postrel
- Keith Whittington
Work and activities
Lawsuits
FIRE has filed lawsuits over violations of freedom of speech, and as of December 2025, its website lists cases it has been involved in going back to 2021.[4]
College policies reforms
FIRE has a team focused on addressing policies that they say violate freedom of speech. The team works with the administrator and offers policy solutions. According to their website, FIRE "maintains a database that catalogs the speech codes of around 500 colleges and universities nationwide. That data fuels FIRE’s policy awareness and college reform advocacy efforts, giving us the ability to directly work with administrators to offer analysis and advice, coordinate targeted publicity efforts, and publish our annual Spotlight on Speech Codes report reviewing the state of free speech at America’s colleges and universities."[5]
Legislative policy
FIRE has a team that works with lawmakers to advocate for policies that they say would promote freedom of speech. Their website says they support "improving Title IX regulations governing procedures for campus sexual misconduct and passing legislation that defines a national standard for student-on-student harassment, bans “free speech zones” from public college campuses, protects academic freedom, and more."[6]
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.
Finances
The following is a breakdown of FIRE's revenues and expenses from 2014 to 2025. The information comes from ProPublica.
| Year | Revenue | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $3.1 million | $3.3 million |
| 2015 | $7.4 million | $4.2 million |
| 2016 | $6.4 million | $5.7 million |
| 2017 | $10.9 million | $6.8 million |
| 2018 | $12.6 million | $8.1 million |
| 2019 | $10.9 million | $8.7 million |
| 2020 | $13.7 million | $9.5 million |
| 2021 | $16 million | $10.5 million |
| 2022 | $37.1 million | $22.3 million |
| 2023 | $35.9 million | $34.2 million |
| 2024 | $33.4 million | $28 million |
| 2025 | $40 million | $29.7 million |
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms “Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression” FIRE. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- What is an influencer?
- Civil Liberties Policy
- Education Policy
- 501(c)(3)
- Nonprofit organization
- First Amendment
- Free speech on college campuses, 2015
- Political correctness
- David French
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 FIRE, "Mission," accessed June 8, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 FIRE, "Mission," accessed December 22, 2025
- ↑ FIRE, "Our Team," accessed December 22, 2025
- ↑ FIRE, "FIRE in the courts," accessed December 22, 2025
- ↑ FIRE, "Reforming College Policies," accessed December 22, 2025
- ↑ FIRE, "Legislative Policy Reform," accessed December 22, 2025
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