About Us

An Inch Wide, A Mile Deep

We chose the giving principle of “an inch wide, a mile deep” because it explains exactly the way we want to effect change. We want to know that our grants are reaching not only a school or a theater program, but that each child who is part of that school or program is benefiting individually.

When we add a wing to a hospital so that more children can be treated, it’s not just a structure. It is a place that helps each child heal and eventually go home to their families and know that they are a valued, functioning member of society.

Supporting after-school programs and adding educational centers are not just “things that we do.” We know that a valuable after-school arts program is taking at-risk youth off the streets, giving them a safe place to be, lowering their stress, empowering them – maybe even encouraging greatness that translates to a chance at going to college or getting a lucrative STEM job right after high school.

We’ve discovered that by changing one life, you can change the lives of those around that child, young adult, or veteran, which eventually changes entire communities and brings people together. Help us change lives today by giving to your favorite cause or reaching out to the organizations we support to see how you can help.

It Takes A Team

From experience, we now know that the financial scale on which the Berges Family Foundation gives is part art and part science. To ensure that our scope of giving matched our desire to see our funds reach children and individuals on a personal level, as well as contributing to a much bigger outcome for communities, we give much of the credit to our team and the St. Louis Community Foundation. With their help and management, the Berges Family Foundation is fulfilling our mission in a manner that befits what we had envisioned for our philanthropy and for St. Louis.

Committed to the Citizens of St. Louis

Our family is committed to making grants in a measurable, impactful way, and encouraging others to give to these vitally important institutions that will influence future generations and the future of St. Louis.

As a family foundation, we are not soliciting donations – we simply want to encourage giving. Our concentration on cultural arts, children, and heroes exists because, without external support for these underfunded programs, it will be difficult for St. Louis to sustain growth, strength, and community.

Ways You Can Help

If you want to see a child smile from learning something that excites her; if you want to know that you helped a police officer get home safely to his family; if you are moved by a theater production that transcends time and place, won’t you give to the organizations that help these things happen every day?

There is no greater feeling than seeing someone in need who is touched by your help. Offering a hand up gives them the strength to help themselves and lifts those up around them. Donating or raising funds, volunteering your time, telling others, sharing your favorite cause with your social circle, and helping someone you know are all ways in which to give back.

You never know how much even a small offering can change a life. We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. Won’t you give today?