Charitable Giving

The Brown Shoe Charitable Trust

Our Mission:
Brown Shoe has a 130-year commitment to good corporate citizenship. Our commitment is simple, we aim to improve the communities where we live, work and where we do business.

Focus Areas:
Brown Shoe’s Charitable Trust makes donations to non-profit organizations that further this mission. When determining funding, the Trust considers our historic giving, the original Trust purposes as established by company-founder George Warren Brown, involvement of our employees with the organization, and our current giving priorities:

1. Education (supporting private institutes of higher learning)
2. Arts/Culture
3. Civic
4. Health and Human Services (focused through a limited number of community- and industry-sponsored agencies)

Wherever possible, we seek to fund organizations and programs where we can form partnerships and make a difference by truly improving our communities.

Further defining our giving focus:
Only U.S.-based organizations that are classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible. The Brown Shoe Charitable Trust and Brown Shoe employees are large givers to the United Way, our industry’s Two Ten Foundation, and FFANY Shoes on Sale to benefit breast cancer research. These are the principal conduits for Brown Shoe’s contributions to health and human services initiatives. As a general rule, organizations that receive United Way funding will not receive additional separate funding from the Brown Shoe Charitable Trust.

Additionally, the Brown Shoe Charitable Trust usually does not fund the following:

• Individuals;
• Private foundations;
• Organizations primarily funded by state or federal tax-payers;
• Fraternal organizations;
• Political or advocacy groups;
• Non-profit agencies operating primarily in communities where Brown Shoe does not do business;
• Non-profit entities not located and operating primarily in the U.S.;
• Charities whose focus and operations are primarily international;
• Religious organizations when funding is to be used for primarily religious purposes;
• “Umbrella" organizations that provide funding to non-profits.

Submitting a Request:
All requests must be made in writing (emails and phone calls are not accepted). Be sure to include a description of your organization’s:

• Purpose
• Need for funding
• How this funding could make a difference in one of our key, priority areas

Send your requests to:
Brown Shoe Charitable Trust
8300 Maryland Ave
St. Louis, MO 63105-3693

Note: The Charitable Trust meets every two months to consider requests for funding.

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