About FREE Foundation

Published v0.2

This page describes the legal and organizational structure of FREE Foundation, the entity that holds the global infrastructure supporting the FREE network.

What FREE Foundation Is

FREE Foundation is the legal name used for Forum for Real Economic Emancipation, established as the legal entity that allows the work of FREE to happen at scale. The Foundation handles the practical infrastructure that no individual chapter could maintain on its own: banking and financial accounts, legal liability, fiscal sponsorship for grants, accounting and tax reporting, and the operational backbone for FREE’s global programs.

The Foundation is currently registered as a nonprofit corporation in Oklahoma, United States. An application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is expected later in 2026. Until that determination, FREE Foundation operates with the support of a fiscal sponsor for major grants.

What FREE Foundation Does

The Foundation’s operational responsibilities currently include:

Global fundraising and donor relations, including grants from foundations and individual donors
Fiscal sponsorship pass-through for funds received in support of FREE’s mission, until 501(c)(3) status is established
Accounting, tax reporting, and financial governance, including transparency to donors and members
Marketing and communications, including the FREE newsletter, podcast, social media, and public-facing materials
Global program coordination, including the G+Local sessions, virtual event programming, and chapter activation support
Stewardship of shared platforms and tools that chapters can use, including the documentation infrastructure that hosts this wiki

The Foundation does not direct chapters. Chapters are sovereign in their local work. The Foundation provides shared infrastructure and support.

Current Governance

FREE Foundation is led by a Board of Directors, currently composed of seven members:

Clara Mattei, Board Chair and President
Three global academic board members, drawn from FREE’s broader intellectual and movement network:
- Camila Vergara, critical legal and political theorist, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex, and author of Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic
- David McNally, Cullen Distinguished Professor of History and Business at the University of Houston and a political economist of capitalism
- Homa Zarghamee, Chair and Professor of Economics at Barnard College and a behavioral and experimental economist
Three local Tulsa community board members, currently selected by the Tulsa General Assembly through a rotating election process

This board composition reflects the Foundation’s origin as the legal entity grown out of the founding Tulsa pilot. The structure has worked well during FREE’s early phase, when the Foundation and the Tulsa Assembly were closely entwined. As the network globalizes, this structure will evolve.

Anticipated Evolution

FREE is in the process of transitioning from a single-chapter pilot to a multi-chapter federation. That transition has implications for how the Foundation is governed.

In late 2026, alongside the 501(c)(3) application, the Foundation expects to reshape its board composition to reflect the broader network rather than the founding chapter alone. The specific structure is being worked out, with several possibilities under consideration:

Board members selected from the global membership through some combination of local chapter and federation-level elections
A hybrid model that preserves regional representation while opening seats to federation-elected positions
A structure aligned with eventual 501(c)(3) requirements, which may impose specific governance constraints

The Tulsa Assembly’s role in this transition is essential. Any change to the Foundation’s relationship with the Tulsa Assembly will be brought to the Assembly for ratification before it takes effect. The Assembly was the body that legitimated the original board composition, and it is the body that will legitimate the transition to a more globally representative structure.

This is a deliberate sequencing. The federation cannot legitimately reorganize the Foundation without the founding chapter’s explicit agreement, and the founding chapter cannot unilaterally restructure the Foundation as the federation grows. The path through is participatory and explicit at each step.

Why This Matters

Most movement organizations face a moment where the founding chapter’s relationship to the founding legal entity needs to change. Many handle it badly, either by allowing the founding chapter to retain effective control of an entity that is supposed to be broader, or by quietly restructuring without the founding community’s consent. FREE is trying to avoid both failure modes by being explicit about the transition and by anchoring it in participatory ratification.

This page will be updated as the transition progresses.

About FREE — The broader story of what FREE is and how it works
F1: What Is a FREE Chapter? — Specifically distinguishes what chapters do from what FREE Foundation provides
How to Engage with FREE — Practical paths into the network

This page reflects FREE Foundation’s structure as of mid-2026. Substantive changes will be reflected in version updates.