Our Community

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics draws on the vast experience and resources of many people to fulfill its mission: to deepen academic and public understanding of religion and politics in the United States.

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Contributors

We are deeply grateful to the many contributors who have given generously to the Center. 

Gifts directly support the Center’s research projects, faculty mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, our postdoctoral fellows, our online journal, and our varied public programming. Information about how to become a contributor is here.

Mrs. Marie Oetting and Prof. Marie Griffith (2014)

Ms. Amber Lea Aarsvold
Dr. Edmund O. Acosta
Ms. Anna G. Ahrens and Dr. Jamieson Spencer
Dr. Michael Ariel
Mrs. Karen A. Atkin and Dr. Stuart Roy Atkin
Dr. Jared Murray Baeten and Dr. Mark Ruffo
Mrs. Leuwania Baker and Mr. Keith A. Baker
Thomas Bean Fund
Mrs. Lisa P. Bernstein and Dr. Jeffrey L. Bernstein
Ms. Isabel Marie Bone and Mr. Michael Clear
Mr. Robert S. Boyd
Mr. Philip Byers
Dr. and Mrs. Lynn N. Carlton
Ms. Lourene W. Clark and Mr. Robert R. Clark
Ms. Karen Levin Coburn
Mr. Joseph M. Colvin
Ms. Rachel Jasmine Cragg
Ms. Carol Diane Craig
The Hon. Kathianne Knaup Crane and Mr. David D. Crane
Mrs. Martha E. Cunningham and Mr. Brian C. Cunningham
Mr. Michael Curran
Mrs. Jennifer Dalzell and Dr. Stephen Dalzell
Sen. and Mrs. John C. Danforth

Sen. John C. Danforth and Mrs. Sally D. Danforth (2016)

Sen. Danforth established in 2016 a distinguished professorship to honor his wife Sally Dobson Danforth and the important role she has played in his life and the lives of their children. Sen. Danforth is a retired politician and Episcopal priest, a partner with Dowd Bennett LLP in St. Louis, and an active member of the Center’s national advisory board. John Inazu was installed in September 2016 as the inaugural holder of this professorship, which is a joint appointment between the Washington University Law School and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Mrs. Rebecca C. Davolt and Mr. Barry Davolt
Dr. Anne V. Dean
Dr. Margo Denke and Dr. James E. Griffin
Dr. Dennis Clark Dickerson
Mrs. Katie Corey DiLeo
Dr. Jasmine Hunt Dimitriou
Ms. Ashley Diane Dodge
Mrs. Ellen S. Dubinsky and Mr. Henry W. Dubinsky
Ms. Lynn Duffield
Mrs. Suzanne Ellis and Dr. Harry L. Ellis
Ms. Sara Elyse Elster
Dr. Paul W. Eykamp
Mrs. Karen M. Farmer and Dr. Thomas Leslie Farmer
Mrs. Glenda Finnie and Dr. Bill Finnie
The Hon. Nancy B. Firestone
Mrs. Joan Fiehrer Flick and Mr. Gerald A. Flick
Mrs. Michelle L. Gaggini and Mr. Allen Gaggini
Mrs. Gloria A. Goetsch and Mr. Gustav Goetsch
Mr. F. Joseph M. Goldkamp
Ms. Kate Michelson Goldkamp
Mr. Samuel Goldstein
Dr. Mary Jane Gray
Prof. R. Marie Griffith and Prof. Leigh Eric Schmidt
Mr. Harrison Davis Hall
Ms. P. Hannele Haapala and Mr. David P. Juedemann
Ms. Frances Rae Hamilton
Jean Hamilton Charitable Fund
Mrs. Judith A. Hartung and Dr. Bruce M. Hartung
Mrs. Silvia Figueiredo Hausmann and Mr. Carl L. Hausmann
Ms. Sally I. Heller and Mr. Ronald N. Van Fleet II
Dr. John D. Heyl
Ms. Laurie Anne Hill and Mr. Richard Hill
Mr. Hideharu Hirashima
Mrs. Erika Hoagland and Mr. Karl K. Hoagland
Mrs. Ellen Hockaday and Mr. Irv Hockaday Jr.
Mr. John Richard Honey
Dr. Fred Lee Horowitz
Mrs. Patricia Richards Hovis and Mr. Donald L. Hovis
Mr. Kaicheng Hu
Jeannette R. Huey Charitable Fund
Mr. David Allen Imler
Ms. Maggie Ingell
Ms. Angelica Jackson
Mr. Chuck Jirauch
Mrs. Lori W. Jones and Mr. David F. Jones
Ms. Susan Kaplan
Ms. Debra B. Kennard and Mr. Andrew C. Kennard
Mrs. Claire Knickmeyer and Mr. Kenton H. Knickmeyer
Mr. Howard Marshall Konicov
Mrs. Karen Kornell and Mr. Gary L. Kornell
Dr. Henry Warren Kunce
Ms. Stephanie N. Kurtzman and Mr. David Michael Levy
Mr. William C. Lane
Ms. Dorothy Ann Langley
Mrs. Carla C. Leffert and Dr. Jonathan D. Leffert
Prof. Miriam R. Levin
Dr. Grover J. Liese
Mr. John F. Linehan Jr.
Dr. Bruce A. Lund
Ms. Tedi Macias and Dr. Edward S. Macias
Dr. Paul R. Magee
Mr. Kenneth Mangum
Ms. Amanda Martinez and Mr. Frank Mario Martinez
Ms. Joyce S. Marvel
Ms. Cynthia Alice McCafferty
Mrs. Laura Lewis Meyer and Mr. John S. Meyer Jr.
Mrs. Ann L. Miller and Mr. William J. Miller
Ms. Ashley Mitchell
Ms. Kate Poss Morency and Mr. Rene Morency Jr.
Mrs. Louise Chopin Morris and Dr. R. William Morris
Dr. David M. Moss
Mr. Max Perry Mueller
Mrs. Denise Murray and Mr. Michael Murray
Dr. William B. Neaves

The Rev. Priscilla Wood Neaves and Dr. William Neaves (2004)

In the fall of 2012, William B. Neaves, an emeritus trustee at Washington University in St. Louis, established a professorship in the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics in honor of his wife Priscilla Wood Neaves. The Rev. Mrs. Neaves was a former Methodist minister with a personal interest in the role of gender in religion and politics. In addition to this generous gift to the Danforth Center, the couple donated Wood Neaves’s library containing books on gender and religion to Washington University’s Olin Library. We extend our deepest condolences to Dr. Neaves and his family on the death of The Rev. Mrs. Neaves in 2019.


Mr. Eric Andrew Nelson
Ms. Chana Novack
Mrs. Marie Prange Oetting
Ms. Lisa Ellen O’Rear-Lassen
Dr. Virginia Marks Paget
Mrs. Sheri Peña and Mr. Arturo Peña
Mrs. Alice Philips and Mr. George K. Philips
Dr. Susan Lecin Polinsky
Ms. Ann Pomphrey and Dr. Richard B. Pomphrey
Mrs. Gloria Yawitz Portnoy
Rabbi JoHanna Potts
Dr. Travis Wayne Proctor
Ms. Mary Grace Ramsey
Mrs. Amanda Ray and Mr. Brian Ray
Mrs. Toni Reel and Mr. Brad Reel
Dr. Gary R. Reeves
Ms. Dorothy F. Reichenbach
Mr. W. Wayne Ritchie
Mrs. June Deicke Rodgers
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Roghair and Mr. James E. Roghair
Mrs. Jane A. Roland and Mr. R. William Roland
Ms. Jessica Romer
Mrs. Nancy K. Rose and Mr. Albert S. Rose
Mrs. Jeanne Rosen and Mr. Jake Rosen
Ms. Libby Sorkin Routman
Dr. William A. Rubenstein
Mrs. Anne Ward Sabbert and Mr. Donald S. Sabbert
Ms. Kelly Sartorius
Ms. Liz Schappe and Mr. John Schappe
Ms. Elin R. Setiawan and Mr. Mamat R. Setiawan
Ms. Amanda L. Schoonmaker
Miss Cheryl Ann Schroeder
Miss Donna J. Setterberg
Mrs. June E. Shurtz
Mrs. Ellen Siegman and Dr. Ira Siegman
Ms. Connie K. Siffring
Mrs. Jessica Rasmussen Sims and Mr. David Patrick Sims
Mrs. Barbara Martin Smith
Mrs. Ashley King Snyder and Mr. Samuel Snyder
Mrs. Deborah R. Stine and Mr. Greg Stine
Mr. William S. Stoll
Mr. Charles G. Tarbell Jr.
Ms. Wendy Jo Terry
Mrs. Valerie Thomas and Mr. Daniel Gray Thomas
Mrs. Cherry To and Mr. Raymond To
Ms. Lauren Ann Triebenbach
Ms. Kallen E. Tsikalas and Mr. Scott Pasternak
Ms. Barbara Sue Turley and Mr. Stephen Turley
Ms. Laura M. Turner and Mr. Mike Turner
Ms. June Uhlman
Ms. Susanne Franza Valdez
Ms. Carrie Ellen Vibert
Mrs. Nancy Wagoner and Mr. Robert E. Wagoner
Mrs. Jing Wang and Mr. Xin Rao
Ms. Patricia A. Verrilli and Mr. Joseph Franklin Wayland
Mrs. Shirley Wehrenberg and Mr. Fredrick W. Wehrenberg
Mr. Mark Weinrich
Mrs. Ellen C. Weiss and Mr. Sanford W. Weiss
Mrs. Bonnie S. West and Mr. John L. West
Mrs. Virginia L. Wierschem and Mr. Robert A. Wierschem
Mrs. Carol K. Winston and Mr. Peter Winston
Miss Ann Kathryn Workman
Dr. Linda H. Youngstrom

Aleene S. Zawada Gift Fund
Benevity Community Impact Fund
Danforth Foundation

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics owes its existence to the tremendous generosity of the Danforth Foundation, founded in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. William H. Danforth. The Foundation’s commitment to funding St. Louis-based initiatives is well known, and in 2009 it announced a major gift of $30 million to Washington University to establish the Center. John C. Danforth, former Senator from Missouri and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was particularly engaged in the Center’s founding and remains a member of its national advisory board. This gift reflects Sen. Danforth’s specific interest in religion and politics, as well as his dedication to his city, state, and nation. Center Director Marie Griffith holds the John C. Danforth Distinguished University Professorship that was established as a part of this generous founding gift.


Equifax Inc.
IBM International Foundation
John R. & Eloise Mountain Wright Foundation
Johnson and Johnson Matching Gifts Program
Karl K. Hoagland III Family Charitable Fund
Network for Good
Pershing Charitable Trust
Sara and Fred Epstein Family Foundation
Scottrade Financial Services
Tableau Software Giving
The Hand Foundation, Inc.
United Way of the Bay Area
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