The civics charity that paid its founder.
A nonprofit that says it teaches millions of children about the Constitution. A founder who is now a Trump envoy. And a set of tax filings that show where most of the money actually went.
The Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG) has raised $7.7 million over a decade to bring civics education to K-12 students. A ProPublica review of its public IRS filings found that in 2024 the MAGA influencer who runs it, Nick Adams, and his mother were paid a combined $587,279 — 53% of the charity’s revenue that year — while the filings show no line items for payments to schools, teachers, or distributors in six years. Every figure here is anchored to FLAG’s own Form 990s and to named nonprofit-law experts. We report the documented record as fact and keep the harshest word — “fraud” — where it belongs: in the mouth of the law professor who said it.
What this page is about
Nick Adams — an Australian-born conservative commentator whom Trump has called one of his favorite authors — founded the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG) in 2016 to teach K-12 students about the Constitution. Over ten years it raised $7.7 million. In July 2026, ProPublica reviewed FLAG’s public tax filings and found that its spending looks far less like a civics program than like a paycheck: Adams was paid $411,209 in 2023 and $385,418 in 2024, and his mother, listed as secretary, drew $201,861 in 2024 — a combined 53% of that year’s revenue. No other employee earned more than $5,000 in any year.
Meanwhile the education is hard to find in the records. FLAG’s filings list no payments to schools, teachers, or distributors over six years; documented school visits trail off after early 2017. The charity also runs direct-mail sweepstakes dangling a $1,000,000 prize that ProPublica could not find paid in nine years of filings, and sells Adams’s own books through its store. All of this now carries a government stamp: in March 2026 Trump named Adams a Special Presidential Envoy, and a cabinet secretary has praised FLAG from a federal podium. This page grades that record.
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The record, in order
Every dated event on this page, assembled chronologically. The page may cover events in a different order for the narrative; this is the straight timeline.
- 2017FLAG’s filings show little recent evidence of the civics education it advertises.
- 2019The founder’s pay started at zero and escalated into the six figures; no other employee ever cleared $5,000.
- 2024FLAG reported no independent review of its compensation — and answered ‘no’ when asked whether its officers were related.
- 2024FLAG runs direct-mail sweepstakes promising a $1,000,000 prize that its own filings do not show it ever paid.
- 2024FLAG’s charity store sells the founder’s personal books.
- 2024In 2024, Nick Adams and his mother were paid a combined $587,279 by FLAG — 53% of the charity’s revenue.
- 2026FLAG functions more as a personal-income and self-promotion vehicle than as the civics charity it presents itself as.
- Mar 17, 2026All of this now carries a government stamp: a Trump envoy title, a cabinet endorsement, and a Department of Education coalition seat.
The charity, claim by claim
The entries below are anchored to FLAG’s public IRS Form 990 filings and to ProPublica’s July 2026 records review. The documented facts are graded FACT; the overall reading — that FLAG functions more as a personal-income vehicle than as the civics charity it advertises — is graded PROBABLY TRUE and attributed to the numbers and to named nonprofit-law scholars.
In 2024, Nick Adams and his mother were paid a combined $587,279 by FLAG — 53% of the charity’s revenue.
FACTPer FLAG’s IRS Form 990 filings, reviewed by ProPublica: Adams was paid $385,418 in 2024 and $411,209 in 2023 (about 30% of revenue that year); his mother, Angelika Adamopoulos, listed as the organization’s secretary, received $201,861 in 2024. Their combined 2024 compensation of $587,279 was 53% of FLAG’s roughly $1.1 million in revenue. FLAG raised nearly $1.5 million in 2023 and $7.7 million across its first decade.
The founder’s pay started at zero and escalated into the six figures; no other employee ever cleared $5,000.
FACTAdams took no salary from 2016 through 2018, first drew $20,400 in 2019, and saw his compensation climb into the $385,000–$411,000 range by 2023–2024. Over the 2016–2024 period, no employee other than Adams and his mother was paid more than $5,000 in any year — a compensation structure concentrated almost entirely on the founding family.
FLAG’s filings show little recent evidence of the civics education it advertises.
FACTProPublica found no line items in FLAG’s tax filings for payments to schools, teachers, or educational distributors in the past six years. FLAG regularly posted photos of school visits in 2016 and early 2017, but ProPublica could locate no comparable documentation of visits after that period. The only documentation of educational activity it found in the past six years was a 2020 video of Adams speaking at a teachers’ conference. FLAG’s claims of reaching “2 million children” and distributing “over 1 million” classroom resources are presented here as FLAG’s own claims, which ProPublica reported it could not verify.
FLAG reported no independent review of its compensation — and answered ‘no’ when asked whether its officers were related.
FACTOn its IRS filings from 2017 through 2024, FLAG answered “no” to whether the compensation of its top officials was set by an independent review using comparability data. It also answered “no” to whether any officers had family relationships — despite Adams’s mother serving as secretary and drawing a six-figure salary. Nonprofit-law experts told ProPublica that the absence of an independent compensation review can itself constitute an “excess benefit transaction” under IRS rules.
“It can be an excess benefit transaction on its own. — Philip Hackney, University of Pittsburgh nonprofit-law professor and former IRS official”
FLAG runs direct-mail sweepstakes promising a $1,000,000 prize that its own filings do not show it ever paid.
FACTFLAG solicits donations through direct-mail sweepstakes under names including “Payout Decision” and “Winner Search Swps,” advertising a $1,000,000 grand prize. ProPublica found no $1,000,000 payout in nine years of FLAG’s tax filings; the organization held roughly $512,000 in total assets at peak — not enough to cover the advertised prize. FLAG did not register the sweepstakes in Florida despite a requirement to do so, and repeatedly postponed drawing deadlines. In April 2024 a retired senior citizen filed a Better Business Bureau complaint seeking a refund. A nonprofit-law professor characterized the arrangement in blunt terms.
“Lying to induce people to support you — that’s fraud. — Lloyd Mayer, Notre Dame nonprofit-law professor (characterizing the unpaid sweepstakes prize)”
FLAG’s charity store sells the founder’s personal books.
FACTFLAG’s website store sells Adams’s own books — including “Alpha Kings,” “Trump and Churchill,” and “From Mar-a-Lago to Mars” — for up to $40 each, displayed with FLAG branding. A nonprofit’s use of charitable infrastructure to market a founder’s personal products was flagged by a law professor as eroding its charitable character.
“At some point it’s not really a charity anymore. — Lloyd Mayer, Notre Dame nonprofit-law professor”
All of this now carries a government stamp: a Trump envoy title, a cabinet endorsement, and a Department of Education coalition seat.
FACTOn March 17, 2026, President Trump named Adams the Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism and Values — a newly created post — after an earlier ambassador-to-Malaysia nomination stalled. In September 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised FLAG at a National Archives ceremony, crediting it with reaching “2 million children.” FLAG is a member of the Department of Education’s America 250 Civics Education Coalition alongside 40-plus conservative groups. The appointment is independently confirmed in mainstream reporting.
FLAG functions more as a personal-income and self-promotion vehicle than as the civics charity it presents itself as.
PROBABLY TRUEThis is the synthesis, not a documented line item, so we grade it conservatively. It rests on the converging documented facts — a majority of revenue to the founding family, negligible traceable spending on the advertised education, a personal-book storefront, and a sweepstakes whose headline prize never appears paid — and on two named nonprofit-law scholars who told ProPublica the compensation is “very high” and that the enterprise, at some point, “is not really a charity anymore.” We grade it PROBABLY TRUE: the pattern is strong and expert-backed, but characterizing intent is an interpretation, and legal conclusions belong to regulators, not to us.
What the filings show, and what they don’t
- The money is documented. The compensation figures come straight from FLAG’s own IRS Form 990s. That a majority of 2024 revenue went to the founder and his mother is not an inference; it is what the filings report.
- A salary is not a scandal by itself. Nonprofits pay their staff, and founders may draw compensation. The issue our sources raise is proportion and process — pay that runs to roughly half of revenue, set without the independent review the IRS form asks about.
- The absence of evidence is reported as absence. We do not claim FLAG did zero education. We report what ProPublica found: no filing line items for schools or teachers in six years, and no documented school visits after early 2017. FLAG’s own reach numbers are labeled as its claims.
- The hardest words are attributed, not asserted. “Fraud” and “not really a charity anymore” are the words of a named law professor. We grade the synthesis PROBABLY TRUE and leave any legal conclusion to the IRS and state regulators, where it belongs.
When the grift gets a government podium
A poorly-run charity is an ordinary story. What makes this one belong in the Self-Dealing hub is the direction of travel: a nonprofit whose filings show most of its money going to its founder has been elevated, not scrutinized, by the state. Its founder holds a presidential envoy title; a cabinet secretary has praised it from a federal lectern; it sits inside a Department of Education coalition shaping how the country teaches civics for its 250th anniversary. Public office and public endorsement convert private fundraising into public credibility. That is the pattern this site tracks — not merely that someone may be enriching himself, but that the machinery of government is lending its name to it.
Questions worth taking seriously
Isn't it legal for a charity to pay its founder?
Yes. Nonprofits pay staff, and founders can draw a salary. What the experts ProPublica interviewed flagged is proportion and process: compensation running to about half of revenue, set without the independent, comparability-based review the IRS form asks about. One professor said the missing review can itself be an “excess benefit transaction.” Legal in principle does not mean beyond question in degree.
Are you accusing Nick Adams of fraud?
No. The word “fraud” in this piece is a direct characterization by Lloyd Mayer, a Notre Dame nonprofit-law professor, applied specifically to a sweepstakes that advertised a $1,000,000 prize the filings do not show was ever paid. We report the documented facts and attribute that characterization to him. We are not making a legal accusation in our own voice; that is for regulators.
Did FLAG or Adams respond?
Per ProPublica, Adams did not respond to detailed questions; FLAG’s new CEO requested questions by email but did not answer them; and the White House and Pentagon press offices declined to comment. Our standing invitation to respond, correct, or add context is open and posted below.
If you are named on this page
If you are named on this page, or are a party materially affected by the claims made here, and you wish to respond, correct the record, or add context, use the Contact page. Responses are published verbatim alongside the original claim, with the sender identified and the date of receipt. The channel stays open for the life of the page.
This site aggregates and grades a record that other outlets and primary sources have already put on the record. Every FACT-graded claim above is sourced to court filings, government reports, sworn whistleblower disclosures, published investigative journalism, or named-source statements. The citations are the accountability mechanism; this section is how you get on the record too.
The record
- ProPublica (Kali Bomeli, Jul 28, 2026) — Nick Adams’ FLAG Charity Spends Very Little on Civics Education, Records Show
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (EIN 47-5088082), Form 990 filings
- Fox News — Trump taps Nick Adams for special presidential envoy role
- Travel Weekly — Conservative influencer named U.S. tourism envoy
- LegiStorm — Nicholas Adams, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism and Values (Mar 2026–)