The popular U.S. fast food chain, Chick-fil-A, Inc., has announced a new policy in 2020 concerning its charitable giving. According to an online statement, the policy will focus the company’s charitable donations on the areas of hunger, homelessness and education.
In 2019, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm, donated to upwards of 300 charitable organizations. Under the new policy, the foundation will distribute $9 million in pledged donations next year and will limit its partnerships to only one charity for each of its three initiatives.
The foundation stated that in 2020 it will be expanding its partnerships with Junior Achievement USA to support childhood education and Covenant House International to address youth homelessness. The foundation also announced plans to “support more than 120 communities by dedicating $25,000 to a local food bank at each new Chick-fil-A opening.”
The Atlanta-based company has faced intense criticism in recent years over its charitable donations to groups that opposed same-sex marriage. Under the new policy, the foundation will no longer distribute funds to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Salvation Army, or the Paul Anderson Youth Home, three former partner organizations whose views on homosexuality have sparked criticism of Chick-fil-A.
Established in 2012, the Chick-fil-A Foundation has distributed more than $52 million in donations to support “education, entrepreneurship and leadership development programs.” Chick-fil-A has not attributed the policy shift to criticism or outside pressure. Instead, the company says the new policy reflects a more thoughtful philosophy of giving.
“Our goal,” Tim Tassopoulos, president and COO of Chick-fil-A, Inc., said in a statement, “is to donate to the most effective organizations in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger. … Faith-based or non-faith-based, no organization will be excluded from future consideration.”