Danforth Foundation

Danforth Foundation is one of the largest private non-for profit foundations in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. The foundation has 1.5 billion USD in assets as of 2003. Established in 1927 by Ralston Purina founder William H. Danforth and his wife^[1], the Danforth Foundation grants funds exclusively to the St. Louis region. In the 1950s and 1960s it funded many projects involving religion and higher education. The Danforth Fellows Program, which supported graduate study in religion for scholars in other fields, was folded into the Society for Values in Higher Education. In 1973 Methodist minister and theologian Merrimon Cuninggim resigned as executive director because of a perceived conflict of interest from a $60 million grant to Washington University in St. Louis authorized by William Henry Danforth, Jr., who was then both chairman of the foundation and chancellor of the university^[2].

References

1. ^ "WILLIAM H. DANFORTH, FOUNDER". Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080612165623/http://www.purina.com/company/Danforth.aspx. Retrieved 2008-11-03. 
2. ^ "Merrimon Cuninggim, 84, Minister and Educator". The New York Times. 1995-11-05. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E2DB1739F936A35752C1A963958260. Retrieved 2008-11-03. 

External links

• Danforth Foundation Shifts Focus, Cuts Staff
• About the Danforth Foundation