WinShape Foundation
| 220px | |
| Founded | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Type | 501(c)(3) private foundation |
| 58-1595471 (EIN) | |
| Location | |
|
Key people
|
Robert Skelton, Executive Director S. Truett Cathy, President Donald Cathy, Vice President |
|
Revenue
|
$26.1 million (2010)[1] |
| Website | www |
| 2010 Grants and Contributions[1] | |
|---|---|
| Organization | Grant |
| Lar Winshape | $313,684 |
| Fellowship of Christian Athletes | $480,000 |
| Marriage & Family Foundation | $1,188,380 |
| National Christian Foundation | $247,500 |
| Sonscape Retreats | $7,500 |
| Berry College | $413,419 |
| Atlanta Fest Foundation | $65,000 |
| Battlefield Ministries | $1,050 |
| Brackenhurst Ministries | $35,000 |
| Exodus International | $1,000 |
| Family Research Council | $1,000 |
| Helping Hands Ministries Inc | $30,000 |
| Lifeshape Inc | $895,052 |
| National Institute of Marriage | $37,000 |
| The Hideaway Foundation | $25,000 |
| Arm Ministries | $1,500 |
| Care for AIDS | $1,000 |
| Center for Relational Care | $9,895 |
| Georgia Family Council | $2,500 |
| Georgia Public Policy Foundation | $1,000 |
| Heritage Christian Church | $7,500 |
| Kumveka | $10,000 |
| Leadership Development Intl. | $10,000 |
| Lifegate Counseling Center | $1,000 |
| Paulding Pregnancy Services | $1,000 |
| Resurrection Lutheran Church | $2,500 |
| New Mexico Christian Foundation | $54,000 |
The WinShape Foundation is an American charitable organization founded in 1982 by Jeanette Cathy and Truett Cathy, founder of fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A. WinShape's sister foundation, Lifeshape, was started by the Cathy's daughter and husband, Trudy and John White.
Contents
Origins
After its 1983 school year, Berry College (1902–present) closed its affiliated middle and high school operations at their financially struggling Berry Academy, forming the WinShape Foundation in 1984. As a separate non-profit foundation WinShape focused on a small college scholarship program housed in the former Berry Academy buildings. Subsequently a boys and girls summer camp were each added and foundation programs expanded to include foster homes, a challenge/ropes course, corporate and marriage retreats, and United States as well as global mission trips.
Programs
In 2007, the Foundation spent $18 million[2] on the projects it supports, which include college scholarships, a network of foster homes and camps, and programs for marriage counseling.
Scholarships
The WinShape scholarship currently provides students at Berry College $8,000 yearly – funded jointly by WinShape and Berry College. These funds replace the first $8,000 of any academic scholarships offered by the college and require a special application and interview process. The program originated with only several dozen students and offered a total of $10,000 over four years. Today, WinShape currently has over 400 college students enrolled per year, with over 800 alumni in just over 20 years.
The requirement details of the scholarship program have varied since its inception. Eligibility originally required current Chick-fil-A employment, high achievement and community involvement in high school, and a willingness to sign a contract including Christianity-based rules. Employment by Chick-fil-A is no longer a requirement, but the Christian-based nature of WinShape is perhaps stronger today than ever; the current contract specifies weekly meeting attendance, leadership discussion group participation, community service, and an evangelical Christian lifestyle, including abstaining from alcohol and drugs. Beginning in 2006, freshmen and transfer students were required to attend a week-long orientation camp known as FreshThing.
As of 2009, the foundation had awarded 951 Berry College scholarships with a maximum of $32,000 per student.[3]
The foundation has awarded scholarships up to $32,000 to nearly 820 students of Berry College.[4][5]
Residential camps
After inception of the college program in 1984, and wanting its campus to be used also during summer months, Cathy co-founded a summer camp (1985) for boys and girls (1987) on the Mountain Campus of Berry College (Mt. Berry).[6] with Rick Johnson who had previously worked at North Carolina's Camp Ridgecrest, where Cathy's children had earlier attended. Modeled after Ridgcrest, the new camp was designed as a sports camp with a Christian emphasis using Native American (Indian) themes to structure achievement. Age groups are organized into "tribes." The boys camp tribes include Apache (rising 2nd–4th grade), Shawnee (rising 5th–6th grade), Choctaw (rising 7th–8th grade), Navajo (rising 9th–12th grade) and Sioux (the adventure program, rising 10th–12th grade). The girls camp tribes include Chippewa (rising 2nd–4th grade), Chickasaw (rising 5th–6th grade), Cheyenne (rising 7th–8th grade), Cherokee (rising 9th–10th grade), Catawba (rising 11th–12th grade) and Creek (the adventure program, rising 12th grade). Campers achieve a hierarchy of "Indian ranks" based on Christian character and leadership. Top ranks are "Little Chief" for boys and "Black Comanche" for girls.
In 2011, WinShape begun a one-week girls camp at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia. This camp consists of three clubs: Skocean, Bumbline and Royalum. The camp is divided into junior camp (rising 2nd-6th grade) and senior camp (rising 7th-9th grade).
In 2015, WinShape begun a one-week boys camp at Truett-McConnell College.
International camps
After 25 years of sponsoring camp programs in the United States, in 2009 WinShape Camps started Camp in Brasília, Brazil. In 2010, WinShape Camps went back to Brazil to do week-long day camps around the capital city.
WinShape Homes
S. Truett Cathy[7] began a foster home in 1987 near the WinShape Centre on Berry College’s campus. It was designed to provide a home for up to twelve children with full-time parents to take care of them. To date, WinShape operates 13 homes for children who are simply victims of circumstance. There are 9 homes in Georgia, 3 in Tennessee, and one in Alabama. A Transitional Living Home has also been opened outside of Rome, Georgia to help young adults, from the program, transition successfully from high school to independence. [8][9]
Retreat center
WinShape Center is located near the hilltop campus of Berry College and more specifically at the adjacent former middle and high school campus of the Berry Academy. Once owned by Martha Berry, the site had once been home to a dairy farm with buildings originally constructed in the architectural style of Normandy, France. After founding WinShape, the academy buildings were remodeled and new buildings were added to create the resort. The new retreat center hosts meetings and fund raising events, with over 8000 guests annually. Donald (a.k.a. Bubba) and Cindy Cathy conduct marriage counseling programs at the center, aimed at those with healthy marriages to those actively considering divorce.
WinShape Wilderness
Started in 1991, WinShape Wilderness uses various techniques such as field games and ropes courses to encourage team-building and help organizations and groups work through issues and experience an improved sense of community.[10]
WinShape International
WinShape International is an organization that inspires Chick-fil-A operators and other leaders in the Chick-fil-A community to support leadership programs for young people globally. WinShape International uses Chick-fil-A’s SERVE model of leadership as a platform to help train young people to become servant-focused leaders.[citation needed]
Anti-gay donations
Since 2003, WinShape has donated over $5 million to allegedly anti-gay groups,[11] including Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Family Research Council, Exodus International and the Marriage & Family Legacy Fund. Approximately $2 million was given in 2009[12][13][14] and almost the same amount in 2010.[15][16] WinShape's financial support of these groups has caused gay-rights advocates to denounce[17][18] Chick-fil-A and protest against its restaurants and products on various college and university campuses including Northeastern University and NYU. Northeastern University's Student Senate voted on February 28, 2012 to cancel plans for an on-campus Chick-Fil-A restaurant[19] and an online petition against the NYU franchise was also launched that same month.[20]
Chick-fil-A released a statement in July 2012: "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."[21] In March 2014, tax filings for 2012 showed the group stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized.[22]
References
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