Friday, June 5, 2015

Message from our National Director and President

The following is a message from Dream Factory National Director Todd Fairbanks and President Daniel Forrest as it appears on page 2 of our 2014 Annual Report. Click here to view the entire Annual Report.


It is a privilege to write this letter as the new National Director/CEO of The Dream Factory, Inc. I started my relationship with The Dream Factory’s group of wonderful volunteers in 2009 when I was Executive Director of Something mAAgic Foundation, a nonprofit foundation made up of American Airlines employees. Ten Dream Factory chapters participated in “mAAgicflight”, the marquee event of the foundation in which 10 seriously ill children and their families each experienced an unforgettable vacation in Orlando, Florida. Over the following number of years, I learned about the hard work and dedication the volunteers at our chapter level invest daily to fulfill the dreams of children with critical and chronic illnesses.

When I found out that Anne Bunger, past National Director/CEO, announced her retirement, I was able to pursue a dream of my own - to be associated with a national organization that does great things for seriously ill children and their families.

The last seven months have been a whirlwind of activities. I have been able to meet some great people with huge hearts and look forward to working with them as we move The Dream Factory into its next phase of development.
Thank you for your interest in this wonderful organization and please stay tuned as we grow this organization so we may help more children with critical and chronic illnesses.
I am excited about the future of the Dream Factory, and I hope you are as well.

Best regards,

Todd Fairbanks, National Director/CEO


This has been a remarkable year and I would like to share what an honor it is to serve as the President of the Board for the Dream Factory, Inc.  We are the preeminent, all-volunteer powered, dream granting organization in the world.  As we move from one fiscal year to another we do so with a huge milestone of transitioning our National Director.  After 25 years of service, our previous National Director, Anne Bunger, retired - but not before assisting us in recruiting our new National Director, Todd Fairbanks.  We are very fortunate to have Todd join our team after a detailed national search. He comes as no stranger.  During the past 6 years, The Dream Factory has been privileged to be part of “mAAgic Flight” and get to know Todd in his roll with the Something mAAgic Foundation.  We welcome Todd to our Dream Factory family.

In 2014 we celebrate several major accomplishments.  We established a great partnership with Millennium Hotels and Resorts.  The partnership is part of the award winning Ask Alfred children’s program launched last summer across 14 Millennium Hotels and Resorts properties in North America.  Since last year, we have increased our revenue by 13% allowing us to increase our total dreams by 12% (272 dreams).  We saw a large boost in our social media footprint by almost 40%.  For the third consecutive year we have maintained our excellent 4-star rating with Charity Navigator, the largest evaluator of charities in North America.   Last, but certainly not least, in September 2014 we saw the formation of The Dream Factory Foundation, Inc., a public foundation, established exclusively for the purpose of supporting the programs and mission of The Dream Factory and its local chapters.   While they are a separate 501(c)3 organization, we look forward to partnering with them as we take our strategic planning to the next level.

We greet the coming year with a great sense of optimism, as we continue the life changing work of granting dreams to critically and chronically ill children across the US.  We look forward to the formation of new chapters, recruitment of new volunteers and continuing to serve our children and their families.

Respectfully yours,


Daniel Forrest, President

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