Overland Park, Kan. – KBP Brands—a leading national franchiser of KFC, Taco Bell and Arby’s across the country—raised and donated $3.1 million in 2022 to invest in its employees and in the communities the company serves nationwide.
KBP Brands employs roughly 20,000 individuals at its more than 1,000 owned and operated quick service restaurant locations in 31 states. The company uses its unique footprint around the country to support local, employee-driven charities, dividing its philanthropic giving into four categories:
1. Community-based charity giving in its stores’ regions
2. Corporate giving initiatives
3. KBP Cares, and employee assistant program supported by KBP Brands and its employees
4. Continued education scholarships program for employees
KBP’s regional charity program uses restaurant level programs to raise money for select charity partners around the country. Since the program’s inception more than a decade ago, the company has donated more than $12 million to charities nationwide.
KBP Brands President & CEO Michael Kulp says the company prides itself on supporting local charities with personal meaning to its employees.
“We believe that when people come together to form strong, united communities, we can change lives,” Michael Kulp said. “This program was originally spearheaded by KBP Brands COO Matt Hansen. Now in its tenth year, this initiative to give back to the local communities we serve gives our employees an opportunity to make a strong impact by supporting charities that make a difference in their own backyards.”
In 2022, KBP Brands donated to several Kansas City area charities (where its corporate office is headquartered) in support of children, housing and hunger relief efforts in the city including the University of Kansas Health System, Down Syndrome Innovations, the Parade of Hearts and its beneficiaries, Brandon’s Hope, Sleepyhead Beds, Adopt a Family, Arts KC, and Children’s Mercy.
Dr. Jason Drummond, CEO at Down Syndrome Innovations says the partnership with KBP Brands throughout the last 18 years has been integral to the nonprofit successfully growing its services for Kansas City families.
“KBP’s generosity and commitment to our mission have allowed us to dream big about how we serve our families,” said Drummond. “Their support, consistent volunteer work and event fundraising has helped us expand our services to all ages in a newly renovated, state-of-the-art building designed with our new services and the future of our community in mind. Without KBP by our side, none of this would have been possible.”
Because philanthropy and community support are so integral to the mission and purpose of KBP Brands’ founding, the company established KBP Cares, an independent nonprofit organization designed to support KBP employees in times of critical hardship through financial grants nationwide, in 2015. Since its inception, the program has awarded more than $3.1 million to KBP Brands employees.
KBP Cares President Stephanie Kulp says the internal charity is central to the company’s mission:
“Our people are our family and our reason why. When an accident, illness or a life-changing event occurs, we want to be there for our employees in their greatest time of need to show our support,” said Stephanie Kulp. “KBP Cares is our way of advocating for them, and we’ll always be here to lend a helping hand.”
On the heels of a record-breaking charitable giving year in 2022, KBP Brands aims to nearly double its giving in 2023 to $6 million and has a goal of $25 million in charitable giving by 2025. Among its initiatives, the company plans to put a strong focus on its annual employee scholarship program. Last year the program raised and distributed $450,000, which it plans to grow to $3 million under the new direction of Executive Vice President Mark Everett before the end of the year.
“Education is a barrier that makes a lot of jobs and opportunities unattainable,” said Michael Kulp. “As part of our mission to help our employees grow personally, professionally and financially, we want to help them finish their education or take the next step to furthering their careers.”
KBP Cares was named a Corporate Champion by Ingram’s Magazine, a Champion of Business by the Kansas City Business Journal and received the Life Saver Award from Our Military Kids, a nonprofit organization that offers extracurricular activity grants to children of deployed National Guard, deployed Reserve, or post 9/11 combat-injured service members that build the child’s self-confidence, enhance family wellness, and strengthen a shared sense of community.
Throughout the past eight years, KBP Brands’ growth and excellence in business has consistently landed it on Top Growing Companies lists, from Nation’s Restaurant News, Franchise Times and Multi-Unit Franchise Magazine to the Kansas City Business Journal and Ingram’s Magazine.
About KBP Brands
KBP Brands is one of the nation’s largest and fastest growing franchise organizations, representing 1,000 YUM! Brands and Inspired Brands restaurants throughout 31 states. Learn more at kbpbrands.com.
