About Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Through evidence-based, results-driven national service programs, foster care adoption awareness campaigns and innovative grantmaking, we work to ensure every child has a safe, permanent family.
Focus Areas
AdoptionFoster careChild welfareRecruitment and retention of adoptive familiesAwareness and public campaignsTraining and support for child welfare professionals
Who They Fund
children in foster careadopted children/post-permanency youthadoptive families
Funding Style
program-specific grantsdirect service fundingtargeted post-permanency support
About Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption centers its grantmaking on evidence-based adoption from foster care, especially the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids model that places full-time recruiters in child welfare agencies to find permanent families for children who have waited the longest. That program appears repeatedly in the recent grant record, including multi-million-dollar awards to The Villages of Indiana Inc in Bloomington and Caring for Kids Inc in Ohio, showing a strong commitment to scaling a single intervention across states and years. The foundation also ties grantmaking to post-permanency support, reflecting an interest in what happens after adoption is finalized, not only in placement. Its work is structured around children in foster care, adopted children, adoptive families, and the professionals who support them. Public awareness campaigns and National Adoption Day sit alongside direct service grants, so the portfolio combines recruitment, finalization, family stability, and field education. Recent awards also include grants to state agencies and nonprofit providers, indicating a mix of public-sector and community-based partners. Across the recent list, repeat funding and recurring program labels suggest a disciplined, program-specific approach rather than broad, open-ended philanthropy.
What Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Funds
A defining theme is recruitment for adoption from foster care. In 2025, the foundation gave $3,056,524 to The Villages of Indiana Inc for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Grants, and in 2025 it awarded $2,060,348 to Raise the Future for the same program. Those grants show how much of the portfolio is built around staffing and implementation of the recruiter model. Post-permanency support is another clear strand. Caring for Kids Inc received $2,116,250 in 2025 for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids & Post-Permanency Grants, tying adoption recruitment to services after permanency is achieved. The foundation also funds agency-level adoption work. Massachusetts Department of Children and Families received $1,251,562 in 2025 for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Grants, while Bethany Christian Services of Georgia received $954,800 in 2025 for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids & Post-Permanency Grants. These grants show a mix of nonprofit and government partners in child welfare and adoption services.
How Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Gives
Typical awards cluster in the mid-five-figure to low-six-figure range, with a p25 of $73,750, median of $89,600, and p75 of $214,757. The recent grant list also includes several much larger program grants in the hundreds of thousands and millions, which points to a layered model: many standard awards, plus larger implementation grants. Repeat funding is common. The Villages of Indiana Inc, Caring for Kids Inc, Raise the Future, and several Ohio agencies appear across multiple years, often under the same Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program label. The foundation is a regular funder and does not make grants to individuals or program-related investments. It also includes discretionary and program-specific grants in its philosophy tags.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$31.4M
Total Assets
$117.3M
Total Revenue
$61.6M
Total Expenses
$52.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $74K and $215K, with a median of $90K.
25th Percentile
$74K
Median
$90K
75th Percentile
$215K
Geographic Reach
National46 states funded
About 16% of grants go to recipients in AZ.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
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