[2] After leaving the foundation, Thomas continued to serve in leadership positions in American corporations and was on the board of the TFF Study Group, a nonprofit institution assisting development in South Africa.

[9] As president and CEO, Thomas led the organization renovating the exteriors of 3,682 buildings and 123 established businesses, and helped create 3,300 new jobs in the 96-block area.

[10] After leaving the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Thomas headed a study of US policy toward South Africa for the Rockefeller Foundation recommending peaceful change.

[12] His role came at a time where the foundations assets and resources were limited due to the stock market downturn in the 1970s and a large, cumbersome administration.

[8] As president, he examined the organization's structure, financing, and grant-making practices, and initiated a six-part agenda that was intended to regain managerial and financial control which led to mass firings in 1982, prompting criticism from the trustees.

[13] He also worked to improve the lives of women through the production of nonsexist textbooks, forming farm organizations in rural areas, increasing the number of female professionals at the Ford Foundation, and instituted paid paternal leave.

[14] In 2016, John Jay College established the Franklin A. Thomas Professorship in Policing Equity with $2.5 million in grants from the Ford Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies.