The Ina Calkins Board has assisted people and non-profit organizations in Kansas City since 1930. Mrs. Calkins, widow of A. W. Calkins, millionaire pump manufacturer, died in 1930 leaving her estate to be administered by ten persons "of high character interested in their fellow man.”
History and Founding Donors
Mr. Calkins began as a traveling pump salesman working in western Illinois, Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and northern Missouri. He visited Kansas City regularly and in 1880 organized the Kansas City Pump Company.
In her will, Ina Calkins directed that the income from the assets of her estate be used by the board:
a) To some organization or organizations in the State of Missouri, which are engaged in teaching to the public generally or to some portion thereof, and particularly to the young, advantages, social, moral, economical, and physical of the total abstinence from the use of alcoholic liquor as a beverage, and the advantages of the enactment and enforcement of law for the prohibition of the traffic in intoxicating liquor.
b) To meet the physical needs of needy men and women who are above the age of sixty years.
c) To provide for the care of children who cannot be properly provided for by those upon whom they are dependent or who have none upon whom they may depend, or/and, to make provision for such children so that they may have the benefit of life in a home, either with their parents or friends or elsewhere.
d) To furnish medical or surgical aid for poor children who are crippled or deformed.
e) To provide means for the education of those, who being without means thereto, wish to study and prepare themselves for social service of one type or another.
f) To aid from time to time in endowing any college or colleges, or any university or universities situated within Kansas City, Missouri, which admit the worthy youth of Kansas City to the privileges thereof.
g) To assist in providing funds for erecting buildings for, or/and for carrying on the work of some Young Men’s Christian Association or Associations, or Young Women’s Christian Association or Associations.
h) Provided that the people or/and institutions receiving financial aid as aforesaid, and to be benefited thereby, shall be within the City of Kansas City, Missouri, that is, all such people shall be residents of Kansas City, Missouri, and all such institutions shall be located in said City of Kansas City, Missouri, except that the moneys expended under the provisions of sub-paragraph (a) above shall not be so limited.
The Calkins Board will make all grant decisions during the fourth quarter of the year. Any 501c3 organization located in Kansas City, MO that meets Mrs. Calkins' criteria is encouraged to submit an application no later than September 1st. (The application page makes it very clear that the organizations must be located and operate in KCMO).
Bank of America, N.A. is the sole Trustee for this charitable trust, which is managed in the Bank of America, Kansas City office; however, all grants will be determined by an independent board of ten members.
