Folks like me and Jeff Strong are being attacked by a new breed of marketing savvy Mormon apologists. Can someone help me learn more about these folks? Who are Todd Noall, Richard Ferguson, and John Porter, and what do we know about Fusion 360 in Utah?
Mormonism Explained Inc.
(All of the below is publicly available information.)
EIN 33-4022618 · Draper, Utah · Governance, financial status, and principals
Mormonism Explained is a private foundation — elected in its own charter, not assigned by default — run by a three-person self-perpetuating board with no members: Todd Noall, Richard Ferguson, and John Porter. It was incorporated by Graden P. Jackson of Strong & Hanni, who is also listed “Of Council” at Fusion 360 — Noall’s marketing agency, which shares the foundation’s exact suite address.
It claims a written trademark license from Intellectual Reserve covering “Mormon” and “Mormonism” for use in its own name — stated in four places including its coverage of the suit against Open Stories, and obtained before launch through the Church’s permissions portal (§4). That claim cuts against an abandonment defense and toward selective enforcement; the terms decide which.
Meanwhile: it told Utah on 15 April 2026 that it owes no Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N or 990-PF — five months after an IRS letter expressly requiring 990-PF (§6) — while telling readers its finances are already “public record via our annual Form 990 filings on ProPublica.” No filing can be located.
1 · The entity and its IRS status
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Legal name | Mormonism Explained Inc. |
| EIN | 33-4022618 |
| Address | (Withheld) UT |
| Exemption effective | 3 March 2025 |
| Determination letter | Posted by IRS 19 November 2025 [1] |
| Classification | Private operating foundation, IRC §4942(j)(3) |
| Pub 78 deductibility code | POF |
| Required annual return | Form 990-PF |
| Accounting period | Ends 31 December |
| NTEE code | X83 — Religious printing / publishing |
| Gross receipts on file | $0 |
| Returns filed to date | None |
Documented There is no Form 990 and there never will be one. As a private foundation the organization files 990-PF. Nothing appears in the IRS “Copies of Returns” database or in ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.[1][2] The first 990-PF covering TY2025 was due 15 May 2026 and is extendable to mid-November 2026, so it is unlikely to surface publicly before late 2026 or 2027.
Why the classification matters
- A private operating foundation is normally funded by one donor or family rather than broad public support — consistent with the donate page’s offer that “all donations will be matched by an anonymous donor.”[3]
- The 990-PF names every officer and director, their compensation, and — unlike a public charity’s 990 — its substantial contributors. Schedule B donor names are not redacted on a 990-PF the way they are on a 990.
- Private foundations must supply, on written request, both the 990-PF and the complete exemption application (Form 1023 and all attachments). The 1023 lists initial directors, officers, compensation arrangements, projected budgets, and any planned transactions with related parties.
Governance — who actually runs it
All of the following is taken from the corporation’s own filings with the Utah Division of Corporations, obtained 5 September 2026. Entity 14548366-0140, formed 3 March 2025, status Active/Current, renew by 31 March 2027.
| Role | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Todd Noall — (Address Withheld) | Annual Report, 15 Apr 2026 |
| Director | Richard Ferguson — South Jordan, UT | Annual Report, 15 Apr 2026 |
| Director | John Porter — Morgan, UT | Annual Report, 15 Apr 2026 |
| Incorporator | Graden P. Jackson, Strong & Hanni, (Address Withheld) | Articles of Incorporation, 3 Mar 2025 |
| Registered agent (original) | Graden P. Jackson, Strong & Hanni, same address | Articles of Incorporation; Amended Articles |
| Registered agent (current) | Lori A. Jackson, (Address Withheld) | Annual Report, 15 Apr 2026 |
| Signatory on 2026 annual report | Graden P. Jackson, “Attorney or Attorney in Fact” | Annual Report, 15 Apr 2026 |
Director home addresses appear in the filings and are therefore public record; they are omitted here because they serve no purpose in this analysis. The PDFs in this folder contain them.
The Strong & Hanni thread
Documented Graden P. Jackson incorporated Mormonism Explained, served as its original registered agent, signed its 2026 annual report as attorney in fact — and appears by name on Fusion 360’s leadership page under “Of Council.”[5] That is a documented person-level link between Noall’s marketing agency and the foundation, independent of the shared address.
Documented The same firm handles the trademarks: the three pending USPTO applications were filed by Brien J. Brockbank of Strong & Hanni.[11]
Todd Noall’s public roles
| Role | Detail |
|---|---|
| Mormonism Explained | Director (state filing); “Co-Founder and Executive Director” and bylined writer (self-description) [4] |
| Fusion 360 | CEO + Founder, ~2 decades; agency founded 2003, <49 employees [5][6] |
| Other ventures | “Founder of several SaaS ventures” (unnamed) [5] |
| Make-A-Wish Utah | Former board member — see §5 [9][10] |
Documented His bio calls Mormonism Explained “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded June 2023.”[4] The corporation was not formed until 3 March 2025, and exemption was not recognized until later still. The project may predate the entity, but the sentence as written describes something that did not exist.
What the charter says
- Documented Original stated purpose, in full: “Explain Mormonism.”
- Documented Amended & Restated Articles approved by the directors 20 October 2025, filed 22 October 2025 — three weeks before the IRS determination letter. Article III §3.1(c): the corporation “is organized as a private foundation within the meaning of IRC § 509(a).” Private foundation status was elected, not defaulted into — which means the organization never has to satisfy a public-support test.
- Documented Article IV: “The corporation will have no members.” The board is self-perpetuating and answers to no membership.
- Documented Article III §3.3(d) binds the corporation: it “will not engage in any act of self-dealing, as defined in IRC § 4941(d).” Standard language — but it is now their own charter obligation, and it is the provision any payment from the foundation to Fusion 360 would test.
The agency–foundation overlap
Identical registered address. Documented The foundation’s IRS address of record is withheld.[1][2] Fusion 360’s published headquarters is withheld.[6] Not merely the same building — the same suite.
Shared personnel
Documented The hiring contact on Mormonism Explained’s own job listing s alea@whatdomormonsbelieve.org.[7] Fusion 360’s leadership page lists a Managing Partner named Alea.[5]. Documented Separately and now confirmed: Graden Jackson, listed “Of Council” on Fusion 360’s leadership page, is the foundation’s incorporator, original registered agent, and 2026 annual-report signatory. That link is no longer an inference. Inference Fusion 360’s Controller is listed as Angela; Noall’s foundation bio names his wife as Angela.[4][5] Possibly the same person; unconfirmed.
Church-affiliated client work
Documented Fusion 360’s public case studies and client lists name law firms, medical and plastic surgery practices, nutraceuticals, and consumer brands including Red Bull and Pepsi.[6][8] No LDS Church-affiliated client — Intellectual Reserve, Deseret Management, Deseret Book, BYU, or Bonneville — appears anywhere in the agency’s public materials. That is an absence of evidence, not evidence of absence; agency client rosters are routinely incomplete and often bound by NDA.
The pending trademark applications
Documented Mormonism Explained, Inc. filed three applications on 6 May 2025 through Brien J. Brockbank of Strong & Hanni — the firm that also incorporated it:[11]
| Mark | Serial | Status |
|---|---|---|
| MORMONISM EXPLAINED | 99171334 | Awaiting examiner assignment |
| EXPLAINING MORMONISM | 99171513 | Filed 6 May 2025 |
| MORMONISM WIKI | 99171660 | Filed 6 May 2025 |
Public record: the 2021 Make-A-Wish resignation
Documented In September 2021 Noall wore a T-shirt to the BYU–Utah football game bearing former BYU quarterback Max Hall’s 2014 arrest mugshot and text mocking his cocaine addiction. He posted the photo to his own Facebook page; it circulated on Cougar Board and Twitter. Noall apologized publicly and privately and pledged to match donations made to Make-A-Wish in Hall’s name, which reached roughly $26,000 within the week. Make-A-Wish Utah asked for his resignation from its Board of Directors and he complied. Hall accepted the apology but said the episode showed “ignorance about addiction.”[9][10]
Context in fairness: the coverage also records that Noall received threats concerning his family and employment during the backlash, which he did not solicit and which no one should treat as a legitimate part of the record.
The discrepancy
Documented Fusion 360’s current leadership page describes Noall in the present tense as “serving as a Wish-Granter and a member of the Board of Directors at Make-A-Wish” and features a statistic — “$200K+ · Amount Raised for Make-A-Wish by Wearing T-shirt to a Utah/BYU game” — that reframes the incident as a philanthropic achievement.[5] His Mormonism Explained bio similarly calls him “a long-time wish-granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”[4] Neither mentions the requested resignation.
This bears on the reliability of self-description generally, which is relevant because every claim about the foundation’s governance currently rests on the same self-description.
What the foundation publishes about you
Noall personally bylined three articles in spring 2026:[14]
- “Church of Jesus Christ Sues John Dehlin, Host of ‘Mormon Stories'” — 22 April 2026, updated 21 May 2026.
- “Are John Dehlin and Mormon Stories Making Millions by Monetizing Anti-Mormon Propaganda?” — 23 April 2026, updated 21 May 2026. Built from Open Stories Foundation Form 990 data via ProPublica: 2024 revenue $1,120,862 against $948,986 expenses; 2023 revenue $1,192,816; donations 73.9% of revenue; your 2024 compensation cited at ~$248,084 and 2023 at ~$255,000; plus YouTube AdSense and Patreon estimates.
- “Responding to Matt Fradd’s ‘7 Reasons Joseph Smith Was a False Prophet'” — 5 May 2026.
An organization whose own governance is entirely undisclosed published a financial exposé of your organization using the disclosure obligations you actually comply with. That asymmetry is itself the story, and it resolves the moment the 990-PF and Form 1023 become available.
Remaining gaps
- Documented The board is now known from state filings — Noall, Ferguson, Porter (§2). None of the three is named anywhere on the organization’s own website, which still says only that the team “comprises religious scholars and researchers.”[15][16] Ferguson and Porter appear nowhere in its public-facing material at all.
- Documented Noall calls himself “Co-Founder.” The co-founder is not identified by the organization; Ferguson and Porter are the candidates the filings supply. Which of them, if either, is unresolved.
- Documented Don Bradley — historian, Joseph Smith Papers intern, lead researcher on Brian Hales’s Joseph Smith’s Polygamy — has a bio page on the site, but no role is stated. Contributor, advisor, and officer are all consistent with what is published.[17]
- Documented The site’s author sitemap contains exactly two accounts:
toddandstaff-writer. - Documented Recruiting for in-person writing interns in Draper at $15/hour with tuition reimbursement, and freelance writer/editor/researchers.[7]
- Documented Fusion 360’s advisory board — Brad Bonham, Legrand Lewis, Matt Davis, James Anderson, and Graden Jackson “of council” — is published, but none is connected to the foundation by any source.[5]
Sources
- IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, EIN 33-4022618, and determination letter PDF (FinalLetter_33-4022618_MORMONISMEXPLAINEDINC_11192025_00.pdf) — apps.irs.gov/app/eos
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization 334022618
- Mormonism Explained donate page — mormonismexplained.org/donate/
- Todd Noall bio — mormonismexplained.org/about/todd-noall
- Fusion 360 leadership page — fusion360agency.com/leadership/todd-noall
- DesignRush agency profile, Fusion 360 (address, founding year, size, clients)
- Mormonism Explained careers and Writer/Editor/Researcher listing; Glassdoor writing-intern listing
- Fusion 360 work and case-study pages — fusion360agency.com/work
- Deseret News, “Utah Utes fan apologizes for insensitive T-shirt worn to BYU-Utah football game,” 19 September 2021
- KSL Sports, “Max Hall Responds To Apology From Make-A-Wish,” September 2021
- Justia Trademarks — Mormonism Explained, Inc., serials 99171334, 99171513, 99171660
- Salt Lake Tribune, “LDS Church sues ‘Mormon Stories’ podcast host John Dehlin over trademark claims,” 19 April 2026
- Deseret News, “Church of Jesus Christ files trademark complaint against podcaster,” 19 April 2026
- Mormonism Explained author archive — mormonismexplained.org/author/todd/
- Mormonism Explained About page — mormonismexplained.org/about/
- Mormonism Explained editorial process page
- Don Bradley page — mormonismexplained.org/don-bradley/
Compiled from public records, IRS filings, USPTO records, published news reporting, and the organizations’ own websites. No data-broker, people-search, or background-check sources were used, and no non-public personal information is included. Inferences are labeled as such and should be confirmed before publication.
