The Ombuds Blog: International Franchise Association to Launch a Franchise Ombuds Pilot

July 31, 2025

International Franchise Association to Launch a Franchise Ombuds Pilot

IFA, the nonprofit trade group focused on government and public relations efforts for the franchise industry, has contracted with MWI to launch an Ombuds pilot for franchised businesses in the fall of 2025. The goal of this IOA standards-compliant Ombuds pilot is to help franchisors and franchisees build trust, working relationships, and resolve concerns early before they escalate into time-consuming grievances and lawsuits. This program will be similar to the global franchise Ombuds program that McDonald's Corporation launched in 1974. Individual Ombuds for the IFA program have not yet been identified.

Ombuds services will be provided by MWI, a dispute resolution firm that provides outsourced Ombuds and other ADR services for over three decades. In addition to working with franchisees, MWI will provide the IFA and the participating franchisors with anonymized Ombuds usage summaries via a dashboard to provide leadership with insights about trends, franchisee concerns, and other information.

1 comment:

Anonymous7/31/2025 1:23 PM
dispute resolution firm"

Non-profits are not usually considered to be firms; nevertheless, it seems appropriate to use that term for this organization that seems more like a sole proprietorship than a non-profit community mediation organization.
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany/Austria -- Ombudspersonen and Ombudsleute

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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