CAPTION: The Dickinson family: Paul Holewinski, Amy Holewinski, Lina Dickinson and Dan Dickinson. Standing: Robyn Dickinson, Burt Dickinson, Ann Dickinson, Mike Kress and Jane Kress.

Photo by Isaac Alongi

Today, Ann Dickinson and her family can walk past just about every civic and cultural institution – and quite a few human service agencies – in downtown Kansas City knowing they’ve had a hand in their success. While the Dickinsons are passionate about downtown, their charitable giving began in the smaller community in Chillicothe, where Ann and her late husband, Gary, raised four children and lived for 30 years.

Next week, Ann and her family will be honored as the Philanthropists of the Year by Nonprofit Connect: Network. Learn. Grow., an organization in Kansas City which celebrates and raises funds for its cause by honoring individuals at a special event. The Dickinson family was nominated for the honor by the University of Missouri — Kansas City. Dickinson Financial Corp., owner of Bank Midwest and other banks, is the largest family-owned financial institution based in Kansas City.

When Gary Dickinson died in a tragic car accident in 1997 while community from his home in Chillicothe to Kansas City, Ann Dickinson could have said sell the company. She didn’t. She and her children could have depended completely on others to run it. They didn’t. And, they could have found ways other than philanthropy to spend the money Gary Dickinson left when he died. They didn’t do that either, and a quick swing through Kansas City – especially downtown – is all one needs to see the impact.

Although Ann spent most of her married life in Chillicothe, she has emerged as a tireless advocate for downtown Kansas City. Her children – Amy and Paul Holewinski, Lina and Dan Dickinson, Jane and Mike Kress and Robyn and Burt Dickinson – are following in her footsteps in addition to the leadership positions each of them hold with the company. Ann helped raise funds to build the YMCA, which continues to be very successful, with three building additions and a large membership. “The Y hadn’t built a new facility in a small town in years,” she says, “but after we built ours, all kinds of small towns did, and they’ve all been successful.” Additionally, fundraising efforts for a performing arts center helped ensure that the new Chillicothe High School built in 1999 had a wonderful performance space for the school and community.

These small-town projects helped ignite the Dickinson family’s passion for capital projects as they witnessed how new spaces can create enthusiasm and pride within a community and bring people together.