Muhammad Ali Center Received Half-Million Dollars From YUM! Brands Foundation
Promoting Diversity and Conflict Resolution

The Muhammad Ali Center and Yum! Brands Foundation—both based in Louisville, Kentucky—announced a half-million dollar, multi-year partnership.

“For many years, Muhammad and I have dreamed of creating a place to share, teach, and encourage people to be their best and to pursue their dreams,” said Lonnie Ali, Muhammad Ali's wife. “With the support of Yum! Brands Foundation, the Muhammad Ali Center will be able to continue developing facilities and programs that promote diversity, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth for people of all ages, colors, races and nationalities.”

“The Yum! Brands Foundation is proud to support the Muhammad Ali Center, especially during this time of global conflict," said David C. Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc. "The Ali Center's aim, to bring people of all cultures together and resolve differences, is both timely and consistent with our global culture of actively developing a workforce that is diverse in style and background," said Novak. 47% of the company’s employees are women; 53% are minorities.

Yum! Brands Foundation’s commitment will help the Louisville-based Muhammad Ali Center to:

• Promote diversity training including sensitivity training and conflict resolution.
• Prepare for the initial construction of the Muhammad Ali Center’s 93,000-square-foot, six-level headquarter building including: 24,000 square-feet of exhibit space; educational facilities; auditorium; interactive multimedia learning experiences; exploratory theme-based pavilions; library; retail shop and café.
• Continue to preserve and share the legacy and ideals of Muhammad Ali to promote respect, hope and understanding, and to inspire adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be.

According to Michael J. Fox, President and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center, the Yum! Brands Foundation donation is among the largest contributions in the Center’s recent history and marks a huge milestone for our fundraising efforts. “ We're very excited by this contribution to help us build our headquarters and develop our global cultural programs," said Fox.

Yum! Brands Foundation is a 501 (c)3 not-for-profit organization. The Foundation's goal is to make a difference in the lives of Yum! Brands customers and families by giving back to the community. While the foundation financially supports hundreds of charities across the globe, its efforts are primarily focused on nourishing the bodies, minds and souls of children in need. The Foundation accomplishes this through programs dedicated to hunger relief, day-care subsidies, reading incentives and mentoring at-risk teens. Programs include, Yum! Harvest, Pizza Hut's BOOK It!, KFC's Colonels' Kids and Taco Bell's TEENSupreme programs.