Ingram's December 2022

2022 • Philanthropist of the Year

 In keeping with their Catholic roots, their foundation has funded hundreds of thousands of dollars to faith-based caus es, including the Society of the Most Holy Trinity in Corpus Christi, Texas, as well as the One Faith campaign for the Kansas City archdiocese, the Jewish Community Relations Bureau and many others.  Their support for youth organiza tions includes the Boy Scouts of America

 Civic champions? The foundation’s gifts have included $100,000 to American Public Square, while other recipients in clude the National World War I Museum, United Way of Greater Kansas City and the Salvation Army, plus board service for the KansasCityAreaDevelopmentCouncil and the Economic Development Commission of Kansas City. There are also plenty of honors and tributes from, or service on behalf of, org- anizations well outside this region. They range from household names to the truly obscure, as with Peggy’s affiliation with the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepul cher of Jerusalem. As we said—an unusual level of engage- ment and commitment. Early Influences So where does this depth of philan thropy originate? Just as it has done with their own children, it started at home. “Both of us have been privileged and honored to come from a background of parents who have been very generous peo ple, who raised us in households where giving back was important and where char ity was important,” Peggy says. Too, their exposure to charitable events and causes during their parochial school education played a role. “I can recall even as a child, giving part of my allowance to St. Antho ny’s Boys Home, and still give to this day,” Peggy says. “St. Anthony is the patron of lost things, and I can find almost anything with a prayer to St. Anthony. People who know me call and ask me to pray for them if they lose something. It was just instilled in us from the beginning.” It was, Terry concurs, experiential while growing up. “From my education to my parents to others, the whole respon sibility of giving time, talent and treasure was very much ingrained in us from an ear ly age,” he says. “And not just giving char ity, but time and whatever you could do to assist others and actually be there and experience people in need. All of it rein forced how we give and what we give to.” With such a lengthy roster of benefi ciaries, one might think it a challenge to reach agreements on where to give—and how. “We give to a number of organizations, but probably have a top 10 we give to that I believe are addressing people at risk or

pist of the Year award goes to Peggy and Terry Dunn. They follow previous honor ees Henry Bloch and Bill Dunn Sr. (Terry’s Dad) in 2017, Charlie and Kent Sunder- land of Ash Grove Foundation in 2018, Shirley and Barnett Helzberg in 2019, John Sherman in 2020, and Mick and Marlys Haverty in 2021. And, just as each of their predeces- sors has done for the previous five years,

Next Up | Terry and Peggy Dunn say their philanthropic commitment was formed during their own upbringing, and they have worked to pass that call to serve along to their four children and their families. The family (l-r): Katie Dunn Fitzgerald and Matt Fitzgerald; Amanda and Pat Dunn; Terry and Peggy, Mike and Melinda Dunn, Brian and Lynn Dunn.

Peggy Dunn greeted news of that distinc tion with a humble “we feel we are not deserving of this honor.” The mayor of Leawood isn’t wrong about many things, but she’s wrong about that one. Let us count just a few of the ways their impact reverberates across the city, and will for decades to come:  They have served as the chairs a capital campaign that raised more than $200 million for the University of Mis- souri-Kansas City, where Peggy earned a degree in sociology and Terry earned his MBA a year before going to work for the family construction company in 1974. UMKC remains high on the list of favor- ed causes, and Peggy was designated co chair for the university’s 80th Anniver sary celebration, and is a senior fellow at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Lead ership in the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.

and theChildren’sMiracleNetwork, Child- ren’s TLC and the Marillac Center, among many others.  Health-care concerns they’ve funded include what is now University Health, the National Kidney Foundation, American Heart Association, Ability KC and others.  Secular education gets a lift with gifts to the endowment foundation at the University of Kansas and to Park Universi ty, and faith-directed schools to that have benefitted from their work and contribu tions include Rockhurst University and Benedictine College, St. Thomas Aquinas High School and the Catholic Education Foundation. Again, among others.  The arts are covered at both the per forming and visual levels with donations to the Kauffman Center for the Perform ing Arts (which JE Dunn built, by the way) and Starlight Theater, two iconic venues for the region.

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December 2022

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