Wendy’s/Arby’s Sidebar: Dave’s Legacy
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E-mailThe Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has been quietly transforming the lives of tens of thousands of adoptees and their families every year since its founding in 1992, says Rita Soronen, the foundation’s executive director.
Wendy’s founder, who was adopted as a child, knew firsthand how vital that mission is. More than 129,000 children in North America’s foster-care systems are ready for adoption right now, according to Soronen. Their average age: nine. And while 50,000 foster children found permanent homes last year, she says, 65,000 became eligible for adoption. “Clearly there is much work to be done.”
Part of that work is via awareness-building campaigns the foundation develops in conjunction with corporate partners, such as Macy’s Inc. (M) and The Coca-cola Co. (KO). Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, for example, puts adoption recruiters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, and placed its 800th foster child in an adoptive home in December. All 1,400 corporate-owned Wendy’s restaurants and nearly 100 percent of the 5,200 franchise locations promoted the program, which earned a 2007 Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Another foundation-sponsored program, the Adoption-Friendly Workplace initiative, encourages firms to offer adoption benefits to employees. Soronen says that after the foundation first listed the “Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in America” on its Website and began receiving national press in 2007, more than 50 companies established or enhanced adoption benefits in 2008. The foundation also is a founding sponsor of National Adoption Day, an annual event in which courts across the country open for one Saturday in November to finalize thousands of adoptions from foster care, and communities host activities to celebrate all adoptions. Other initiatives include the creation of a toll-free number that provides adoption information to tens of thousands of callers, the production and airing of pro-adoption public-service announcements, an adoption stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service, and advocacy on landmark pieces of legislation, including the adoption tax credit and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, for which Dave Thomas provided impassioned testimony before Congress in 1997.
The money to run the foundation comes from private donors, corporate philanthropy programs and proceeds from the sale of Wendy’s products, Soronen says. For example, on the second annual Father’s Day Frosty Weekend in 2008, 50¢ from each Frosty sold ($1 in Canadian restaurants) went to the foundation, raising more than $1.7 million for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The promotion was good not only for adoption awareness but also for the company, she notes, pointing to the pride employees take in working for a values-driven company. What’s more, the promotion produced a measurable sales spike that weekend. That, Soronen says, is especially important, as the franchisees are optional participants and the sales bump makes the event “sustainable” from one year to the next.
