Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Dec 1992.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
86 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? The org can add a note here. Request edit privileges.
Who runs it and what they're paid
36 people listed on the 990; $1.6M paid to officers and key staff.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rita L Soronen | $489,694 | $479,248 | $476,269 | $406,287 | $423,831 |
| Jennifer Justice | $230,848 | $213,552 | $200,841 | $191,515 | $186,388 |
| Jill Crumbacher | $228,821 | $212,198 | $199,531 | $190,448 | $185,281 |
| Melinda Haggerty | $222,366 | $197,869 | $184,696 | $176,059 | $174,225 |
| Eric Spires | $204,390 | $188,697 | $129,596 | — | — |
| David Frissora | $153,825 | $200,023 | $190,708 | $182,488 | $174,209 |
| Scott Kriss | — | — | — | $188,989 | $95,214 |
| Julianne Nichols | $162,379 | $145,196 | $136,517 | $123,573 | $121,230 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption executive salaries →Are you one of these people? Claim this org to confirm your role
Something off? The org can add a note here. Request edit privileges.
Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2Yes
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Increases foster care adoptions across North America and provides free educational resources to support families after their adoptions are finalized.
Know this organization? Claim it to add your story
Wendy's Wonderful Kids
Wendy's wonderful kids, a signature program of the foundation, is making a difference for thousands of children across the nation - one child at a time. The dave thomas foundation for adoption awards grants to public and private agencies to hire adoption professionals who implement a proactive, child-focused recruitment strategy targeted…
Program Grants & Awareness
The foundation is committed to nationally communicating the urgency of foster care adoption and to encouraging everyone to become an ambassador for waiting children. Year-round awareness efforts include daily social media communications; marketing programs dispelling myths and misperceptions surrounding the issue of foster care adoption…
Adoption-friendly workplacein 1990, president george H.W. Bush asked dave thomas, founder of wendy's, to be the spokesperson for a new adoption initiative. Dave, an adoptee and adoption advocate, enthusiastically accepted the challenge and began to speak out publicly, asking people to consider foster care adoption and encouraging other…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $24.1M | $33.8M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $16.6M | $21.0M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $6.9M | $7.1M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $50.1M | $65.4M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $8.8M | $8.0M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $41.3M | $57.4M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $20.4M | $20.4M | ||
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $72K | $72K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.4M | $688K | $485K | $207K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $3.0M | $1.6M | $665K | $646K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $87K | $48K | $16K | $23K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $574K | $334K | $127K | $113K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $231K | $124K | $60K | $48K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $81 | $81 | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $45K | $45K | ||
| Professional fundraising feesLn 11e | $861K | $861K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $58K | $58K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $242K | $178K | $64K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $543K | $514K | $28K | $2K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $144K | $26K | $29K | $88K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $367K | $318K | $49K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $160K | $160K | ||
| TravelLn 17 | $2K | −$40 | $873 | $1K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $8K | −$399 | $8K | $297 |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $270K | $251K | $8K | $11K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $45K | $45K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $299K | $42K | $257K | |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $56K | $9K | $26K | $22K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $28.8M | $24.7M | $1.9M | $2.3M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $61.6M | $52.9M | $8.8M | $109.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $56.1M | $44.6M | $11.6M | $100.3M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $52.4M | $40.5M | $12.0M | $84.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $45.8M | $36.8M | $8.9M | $72.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $39.2M | $28.8M | $10.4M | $57.4M | 990 PDF |
Want to add your own materials alongside these filings? Claim this org
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $39,207,140 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 23 of 24 board members independent, 1 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $39,207,140 across 11 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $28,821,951 across 22 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $65,372,837 assets, 18 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $57,397,166 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
Similar organizations you could support · Compare with another nonprofit
Names, privacy, and removal requests More
The names, titles, and compensation shown on this page are reproduced from IRS Form 990 filings, which are public records.
Philanthropy.org does not alter the content of those filings. All information appears exactly as reported by the filing organization for the tax year shown.
We publish only information contained in the public IRS filing — and less than the filing contains. Our profile pages do not display street addresses, telephone numbers, personal email addresses, or other personal contact information, even where the filing includes them.
Many people share the same name. A name shown on this page reflects only what one organization reported in one IRS filing for one tax year. It should not be interpreted as identifying any other individual with the same or a similar name.
If you are no longer affiliated with the organization, your name will generally stop appearing in future IRS filings once the organization no longer reports you. Pages for tax years in which you were reported remain published because those filings remain part of the public record.
Philanthropy.org does not alter or remove IRS filing records. Removing a page from this website would not remove the underlying IRS filing, which remains publicly available from the IRS and other publishers of the same information.
If you believe the IRS filing itself is inaccurate, corrections must be made by the filing organization or the IRS directly.
If you ARE the filing organization, claim this org and add context
Made it to the end? Claim this organization