Moving forward with education and research programs to benefit the franchising community. (FW focus: IFA Educational Foundation).

Last year at this time we were in the final days of the foundation's capital campaign which, thanks to many donors, raised more than $2.5 million. This year we have poured our energy into building on successful programs and developing new ones. All of these efforts -- and the donations that make them possible -- have one goal. Our goal is to safeguard franchising and make it better for future generations of entrepreneurs and business owners.

All of the members of the franchising community are our stakeholders. The foundation's contributors can take pride in knowing that their money pays for the education and research tools that we have deployed.

Education

Enrollment by franchise professionals in the Institute of Certified Franchise Executive (ICFE) program has nearly doubled in the past two years, with 213 candidates now working toward completing their requirements. We have raised the standards and guidelines for Course Providers and increased the number of courses, seminars, and online programs being offered.

At the annual convention on February 8-9, the ICFE program will offer seven full-day seminars ranging from Franchise Law Basics, to Diversity Today, to Tactical and Strategic Planning for International Expansion.

Several online courses are now available through cooperation with IntraLearn, including Franchising Basics, Franchise Sales Compliance, and a new four-part series on Diversity Today--Dynamics, Workplace, Marketplace, and Strategic Planning.

The ICFE Board has completed the first comprehensive evaluation of the program since it was started in the mid-1980s and based on feedback from both CFE graduates and candidates, is planning major improvements for the CFE program in 2002-2003.

Scholarships

Thanks to the generous support of IFA members, the foundation will announce several scholarship recipients at the annual convention. More importantly, the donors have established restricted funds which will provide scholarships for not just this year but for future years.

The first Irl Marshall CFE Scholarship Award will go to a franchise professional who exemplifies the highest standards of our profession.

Two college students and one adult learner were selected from applications to receive the first Foundation/Marriott International Minority Entrepreneurs Scholarship awards. The college students will receive $2,500 scholarships toward tuition, and the adult learner will receive a $5,000 scholarship toward tuition.

Several scholarship awards are available to minority high school and college students through the jointly sponsored Foundation/PepsiCo Foundation "Franchising Minority Entrepreneurship Program."

The Regis Corp. has established a Scholarship Fund for CFE candidates enrolled in the University of St. Thomas Franchise Institute program.

Minority and Diversity Programs

One outgrowth of the capital campaign was a focus on new minority and diversity initiatives. Coca-Cola established a Diversity Training Institute with a $250,000 grant to the foundation. The PepsiCo Foundation established the Franchising Minority Entrepreneurship Program with a $200,000 grant to the foundation.

The foundation is offering Diversity Today seminars around the country, a special session at the IFA convention, and a series of online diversity training courses. Additional programs are being developed for 2002-2003.

The foundation is cooperating with Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) and Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), to provide franchise education programs to high school and college students. A number of IFA members are participating in these pilot projects, through providing career days, mentoring, and visits to their corporate and franchise locations. Student teams are completing franchise projects as part of a competition, with the best projects being awarded prizes and recognition at the IFA annual convention. Part of the grant has funded the preparation of special materials to teach young people at the high school and college level about franchising.

Research

The Profiles of Franchising, Volumes 1-3, based on the collection and analysis of UFOC data from 1996-1998, remains the most comprehensive, definitive body of franchising data published to date. The Profile studies are frequently used by academic researchers, think-tanks, and government policymakers on a wide range of franchising questions.

Three additional studies are underway--The Profitability/Operating Ratio study will provide data on operating ratios, costs, and profitability of franchise systems. The Minority Best Practices Study, under a grant from the PepsiCo Foundation, will identify IFA member companies with minority recruitment and retention programs, which will be published in a series of case studies. The Multi-Unit Owners, and Multi-Generational Franchisee Study, being conducted by Drs. Frank Wadsworth and Wayne Jones, at Indiana University Southeast, will study these trends in franchising.

Lastly, at this year's annual convention, the foundation will present the Arthur S. Karp Research Award for the best applied research paper in franchising to a member of the International Society of Franchising, an organization of academic researchers specializing in the franchising field. This award was established last year by a generous grant from the Karp family, to recognize Arthur Karp, the co-founder of the Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Company, who served as chairman of IFA in 1989, and was a founder and chairman of the IFA Educational Foundation.

The foundation is on the move, thanks to our many donors and supporters, laying the stepping stones for future generations of franchisors and franchisees.

Sidney Feltenstein is chair of the IFA Educational Foundation and chair and CEO of Yorkshire Global Restaurants.