The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF) – celebrating 5 years – was founded in 2014 by Dr. Brian Grim. Prior to that, there was no organization devoted to educating the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and inviting them to join forces with government and non-government organizations in promoting respect for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). RFBF has single-handedly created this new field and has provided practical business tools to advance the cause.
RFBF brings a powerful new hope in today’s increasingly polarizing environments by engaging diverse people and businesses in the common cause of freedom of belief and conscience – for all – and doing this in ways that demonstrably strengthen harmony, economic flourishing and personal fulfillment.
The Next 5 Years – Catalyzing Global Change describes the unique catalytic approach that RFBF will apply in its next 5 years to fulfill its extraordinary mission.
Leadership: Shifting the Paradigm
5 years ago, none of this existed; 5 years from now it’ll be the norm
RFBF’s unique catalytic approach multiplies its mission impact. Rather than building up an institution, we lead powerful networks (p.3 of the brochure) of freedom stakeholders, shifting the paradigm of how freedom of religion and belief is advanced worldwide. Our work is advanced by a simple and powerful truth: religious freedom is good for business and business is good for religious freedom. We show this truth through our original research (p.4) and practical resources (p.5 and p.8) that help businesses maximize positive impact of having faith friendly workplaces on employees’ lives and company profitability. RFBF further incentivizes businesses to join the movement through our awards program (p.6).
A direct result of RFBF’s groundbreaking work was the call at the start of the 2019 United Nations General Assembly for a coalition of businesses to protect religious freedom. Two days after this call, RFBF cohosted the first international religious freedom coalition business roundtable together with the US State Department and Berkshire Capital CEO H. Bruce McEver (one of our award-winners) at the Harvard Club of New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly. Animated by a cause that transcends politics, the roundtable provided excellent opportunities for business leaders to share best practices with religious freedom in their workplaces. A core RFBF objective for the next 5 years is to enable and make permanent more such roundtables throughout the world (see p.8-10 for profiles of three award winners at the NYC Business Roundtable).
“We all need to answer to this call. International actors, states, religious leaders, civil society representatives, business leaders. The global issue requires a truly global response.” — Forbes 9/23/2019