The Dana Brown Charitable Trust honors the legacy of St. Louis entrepreneur, philanthropist, and adventurer, Dana Brown. When Dana passed away on October 21, 1994, the Dana Brown Charitable Trust was established at Mercantile Trust Company (now U.S. Bank). Since then, the Dana Brown Charitable Trust has continued Dana Brown’s personal mission to share his self-made fortunes to enrich the lives of his fellow St. Louisans.
Learn About Our Legacy
The Dana Brown Charitable Trust (DBCT) has adopted a new process for reviewing requests during the two grant cycles each year. An independent Grant Review Committee, consisting of non-profit and community leaders, has been recruited to review all Dana Brown Charitable Trust grant submissions.
Ten (10) Grant Review Committee members have committed to reviewing, voting, and awarding grants for each cycle during the year.
The new committee members have agreed to serve staggered terms. Four to five members will be assigned to each grant cycle to review LOIs, invite organizations to apply, and allocate awards. The Trust Chair will approve these decisions, and the final fiduciary approval will allow awards to be distributed.
Senior Vice President – U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management Missouri & Arkansas Market Leader and Chair of the Dana Brown Charitable Trust
Consultant at the Rome Group, Chief Development Officer at Center for Human Services - Missouri, former Director of External Relations at Endangered Wolf Center
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, bringing over 25 years of experience in both corporate and nonprofit financial leadership.
Kim began her career at Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she spent two decades honing her expertise in financial strategy and operations. Her career took a transformative turn when she embraced the nonprofit sector, serving as CFO for Youth in Need for five years. Kim has served on several boards and volunteered for many organizations that are child focused.
Former executive director of St. Louis Community Foundation and the Columbus Foundation, Columbus, Ohio. A former college professor at The Ohio State and adjunct professor at Washington University, retired professional
Dr. Tullia Hamilton has agreed to serve in an Emeritus role on the Dana Brown Grant Review Committee, participating in review sessions and voting when majority is needed for award decisions.
Currently serves as the Chief Innovation Officer of Reacon Dynamics. Quintinus grew his career at Graybar, working 34+ years in various technology and operation roles, serving in a leadership position his last 13 years there. He also served on Graybar's St. Louis Workforce Development as a Board Member. He participated in the Leadership St. Louis /FOCUS Leadership 2011-12 program. Quintinus's philanthropic work is focused on boards and volunteering with organizations that serve children, and youth while promoting character, career and collegiate development.
Diversity, Equity, Accessibility & Inclusion (DEAI) Director at the Saint Louis Zoo. He has 18 years of hands-on experience advising organizations on short- and long-term inclusion objectives for employees and students in higher education and as a public health educator. His expertise includes leading and developing hiring and retention initiatives for underrepresented groups in the educational, STEM, and business area (minoritized racial/ethnic communities, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities). Rory has served on several allocation committees in his academic and professional career.
Former Chief Development Officer of St. Patrick’s Center, adjunct professor at UMSL, entire professional career in non-profit leadership roles, retired professional.
Alper is General Manager at Four Seasons St. Louis, serving since 2010 when the iconic hotel opened. He began his career in hospitality in Istanbul, Turkey, and moved to the Four Seasons in 2004. Alper's business acumen and long history of working with non-profits in our community that host events at the Four Seasons will bring a unique perspective to the grant review process. He has been involved in the community through his service and support at his daughter's school, Marygrove of the Catholic Charities of St. Louis, and the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation.
Currently serves as Vice President of Latino Outreach Initiative at the International Institute of St. Louis. He is former President & CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis and also worked for Midwest BankCentre and served on an St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, St. Louis Sports Commission and United Way Boards, FOCUS Leadership St. Louis 2011-12 program member. Karlos currently serves on the St. Louis Children's Hospital Board and the Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) Board.
Kathy is the Chief Executive Officer of Prosperity Connection; she has served in this role for over three years. For 18+ years she served at U.S. Bank as Regional Community Affairs Manager, leading corporate social responsibility and community affairs functions for nine-states. As a U.S. Bank officer, she also served on the Dana Brown Trustee team, reviewing grants and allocating awards for over 10 years. Kathy has been involved in many St. Louis nonprofit organizations including the United Way, St. Joseph Housing Initiative and FOCUS St. Louis. She currently serves on the Community Builders' Network board of directors.
Former Executive Director, now Emeritus, of University City Childcare Center (UCCC), founder and served as the CEO of the LUME Institute, strong advocate and resource for early childhood education, retired professional.
Through collaboration, we can all achieve greater outcomes from our work. The Dana Brown Charitable Trust profoundly values the commitment of organizations that find opportunities to unify their missions toward a common goal. In 2023, we contracted independent legal and organizational reviews of our 30 years of grant-making excellence.
The outcomes of this critical work are present in new process directives, which include recruiting a DBCT Grant Review Committee, restating the mission statement to better reflect the original trust that Dana Brown outlined before his passing, and launching a collaboration initiative in which we provide the resources and network for grant-seeking organizations to connect and better implement their strategic plans.
Learn MoreThe Dana Brown Charitable Trust views our journey as a philanthropic adventure where the outcome is opportunity. We provide organizations the chance to have a strong positive impact on the St. Louis region specifically for those who are least capable of helping themselves: children and animals.
