Ingram's December 2022

2022 • Philanthropist of the Year

2022 • Philanthropist of the Year

Building Blocks Giving of

by Dennis Boone

F or close to 100 years, the name Dunn has been synonymous with the con cept of corporate philanthropy in the Kansas City region. For nearly half that time, Terry and Peggy Dunn have been moving that same ball down the field, then taking it even further on a personal level with giving made possible largely through his work at JE Dunn Construction Co., where as CEO for 24 years he turned a Kansas City brand into a multi-billion- dollar national contracting monolith. Indeed, the Dunn family story is a pow erful narrative about wealth creation’s abil ity to finance a greater good. Yet to hear Terry tell it, it’s still not enough. The need is too great; the call to serve for everyone— individuals and corporations—retains its urgency. But few are in the same league as this Kansas City power couple, whose philan thropic fingerprints range from one end of the metro area to another. At the corporate level, nearly a decade after his retirement, JE Dunn still donates 10 percent of its pretax profit to philanthropy. On a personal level, the Dunns themselves directly fund a long list of charitable concerns. Through their family foundation, their reach is extended into an other generation with their four children. In terms of civic engagement, their im pact is immeasurable. It’s a history of board service for the region’s most influential non-profits and corporations; it includes advisory roles in business-related and com munity groups; it has impacted the arts, health care, education, children’s and so cial causes. They’ve even done their part to help keep Kansas City a major-league city as part of the investor group that helped John Sherman pony up $1 billion to acquire the Royals from the Glass family in 2019. For those reasons and, frankly, toomany others to count, Ingram’s 2022 Philanthro

Peggy and Terry Dunn reflect on a lifetime of philanthropy that has run wide, broad and deep in the Kansas City region.

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I n g r a m ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

December 2022