The Thanks-Giving Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1964 and is the chief operator of Thanks-Giving Square, providing resources so that citizens from diverse backgrounds can use thanksgiving and gratitude as ways to heal divisions and enhance mutual understanding.
As an advocate of interfaith dialogue, the Thanks-Giving Foundation has organized international convocations and seminars to promote understanding, harmony, and friendship in a community of diverse faith traditions and cultures. It has hosted numerous guests at Thanks-Giving Square since 1976 including President Gerald Ford, the Dalai Lama, Rosa Parks, Arun Gandhi, President George H.W. Bush, Cardinal Francis Arinze, Martin Luther King III, W. Deen Mohammed, and Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.
The Thanks-Giving Foundation sponsors two interfaith networks: The Interfaith Council (consisting of representatives from 26 faith denominations, covering almost every major continent of the world), and Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square (a broad and diverse coalition of Dallas’ faith leaders).
In 1981, the Thanks-Giving Foundation collaborated with President Ronald Reagan and Ambassador Anne Armstrong to name the first Thursday in May the National Day of Prayer, reviving a long-dormant tradition. Confirmed by Congress in 1988, the annual event assembles civic, community, religious, government, and business leaders in a celebration of unity around prayer and gratitude inclusive of “all faiths in America.”