September 26, 2024
We’re proud to announce that Katie Lewis, the Foundation's Executive Director, has been recognized in the 2024 Blackbaud Impact Awards, which celebrate organizations and people achieving incredible results and driving impact with Blackbaud software. Katie won the Outstanding Leadership Award for her strategic leadership that has reinvigorated relationships with stakeholders, bolstered innovation, and increased the Foundation’s impact on the students and communities it serves.
For over 40 years, Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, has partnered with changemakers, organizations, and companies across the globe to fuel impact through essential software solutions. In honor of customers’ unmatched drive to innovate and unlock more potential from their technology and their teams that use it, the Blackbaud Impact Awards recognize their accomplishments, achievements and impact.
About Katie's Achievements:
Mission Impact:
Under Katie's leadership, the Burger King Foundation has seen remarkable growth and revitalization in its mission to make education and literacy more accessible and provide emergency relief for over 2,000 Burger King employees worldwide. In 2023, the foundation raised a record-breaking $8.2 million––nearly $2 million more than the previous year. Katie’s efforts have resulted in increased scholarship funds distribution to a diverse range of students, enabling them to achieve their educational goals. Katie also engaged franchisees in launching a new program for the first time in the Foundation’s 20-year history to provide critical classroom supplies to students and teachers in need. In its first year, the Crown a Classroom program will invest $1.1 million in school supplies to over 2,200 schools, impacting over 100,000 students.
Championing the Use of Technology:
With an extensive background in fundraising, Katie understands the importance of technology to maximize an organization’s fundraising potential. Realizing that the Foundation was not fully using its nonprofit fundraising CRM software, Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, to its fullest potential, she took quick action. One of the first things she did after coming on board was to hire a new team member to help with finance and data integrity, and they worked together to totally re-envision how the team used Raiser’s Edge NXT to track data, manage donations, and provide reporting—work that helped the organization achieve its record fundraising year.
Impact on Organizational Culture:
Katie has fostered a culture of innovation and excellence at the Burger King Foundation. She has encouraged continuous improvement of the Foundation’s scholarship program to address the evolving needs of students and communities and has focused the team on awarding students at high risk of being left behind.
Katie has also advanced a culture of giving back to the Foundation’s community of Miami, FL. She has built strong partnerships with local nonprofits and schools and has engaged corporate Burger King employees in volunteering their time to engage local students.
Uncomfortable with the status quo, Katie inspires her team to always look for new ways to grow and make an impact. While proud of their record-breaking 2023, Katie’s team is working hard alongside her to top their success in 2024.
