DIGITAL

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Foundation Recognizes
“Franchising Gives Back”
Award Winners during
Inaugural Dinner
Fifteen International
Franchise Association
members and their
charities recognized
for service to their
communities
BY JOHN REYNOLDS, CFE
Shaping the
Future of
Franchising
There is a famous quote by Winston Churchill that goes like this — “We
make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” This was
clearly the theme of the inaugural Franchising Gives Back Celebration
and Awards Dinner when International Franchise Association volunteer leaders
gathered this fall in Washington, D.C., for the Franchise Action Network Annual
Meeting.
Fifteen IFA members and their charities — five Gold Award Winners and 10
Silver Award Winners — were recognized for their outstanding service to their
communities. Collectively, these 15 businesses and their charities have helped
children, veterans, sufferers of chronic diseases, and entire communities. In
terms of total impact, these businesses have donated more than $127 million
dollars, engaged more than 30,000 volunteers, donated hundreds of thousands
of hours, and helped millions of people in thousands of communities around the
United States.
The awards dinner also celebrated reaching a milestone in the first year of
Franchising Gives Back, whose purpose is to recognize businesses for their
charitable acts and encourage others to do the same. During the dinner, the
top award-winning charities also received donations of $5,000 from the IFA
Educational Foundation. More than 200 IFA members attended the dinner and
there was an outpouring of support from sponsors who financially contributed
to the success of the event, including founding sponsor Roark Capital Group,
and awards dinner sponsor Ecolab. (See sidebar: Franchising Gives Back
Sponsors Support Awards Dinner.)
HONORING OUR GOLD AWARD WINNERS
This year, we presented five Gold Awards to franchise businesses that
contributed millions of dollars in monetary and in-kind donations and employees
devoted countless hours volunteering to make a difference in their communities.
(Visit FranchisingGivesBack.org for profiles on all the awards winners.)
(Continued on page 46)
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