The St. Louis Zoo serves Anheuser-Busch products, but it's the elephants, penguins and hippopotamuses that really define the relationship between the city's two institutions.

The elephant program began in 1955 when the Busch family donated eight of the animals. A $3 million gift in 1996 became the Zoo's Hippo Harbor. The dapper birds at the popular Penguin and Puffin Coast came from Sea World, owned by Anheuser-Busch.

The Zoo, like perhaps no other institution, demonstrates the entrenched relationship between the beer behemoth and St. Louis. And it's those same deep-rooted ties that has arts and cultural leaders, nonprofit groups, hospital boards and others who rely on financial assistance from the brewery ill-at-ease.

They wonder if the sale of Anheuser-Busch to a Belgium brewer could mean an end to the giving from one of the region's most generous philanthropists.

"A-B has a hand in so many philanthropic things," said Bob Davidson, a spokesman for Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, which has a long history with the brewery. "To lose that would be crushing."

In 2007, Anheuser-Busch gave a total of $13 million to charitable causes in the St. Louis region alone. At least 70 local organizations benefited from the brewery's generosity last year.

Anheuser-Busch's contributions over the years have ranged from massive ($3 million to the Forest Park Forever endowment and $1 million to the St. Louis Art Museum expansion) to modest ($20,000 to the Lift for Life Academy charter school and similar-size gifts to Mentor St. Louis and Battle of the Badges of Metropolitan St. Louis).

"I don't think any outside corporation could have the historical ties, the commonality of interest, that the St. Louis Zoo has with the Busch family," said Zoo Director Jeffrey Bonner, whose office is in the August A. Busch Jr. Administration Building. "It's inconceivable to me that (it) could ever be replaced."

When the St. Louis Zoological Society was formed in 1910, August A. Busch was a charter member. Other family members have served on Zoo boards since then. The Living World auditorium was built with $1 million from the brewery. The donated elephants were named after Busch family members.

INBEV CHIEF'S PLEDGE

Carlos Brito, the chief executive officer of InBev, said last week that InBev "would maintain a St. Louis civic presence and support of certain institutions." Those accustomed to Anheuser-Busch's generosity want to know exactly what that means.

"InBev says they're aware of the important role A-B has played in philanthropy and seem to be saying they have an interest in continuing that," said Suzanne Fontaine, senior manager of corporate partnerships for St. Louis Children's Hospital Foundation. "We'll see what happens when the rubber meets the road."

The hospital has benefited from the brewery's giving for more than 30 years, including Children's expansion and its mobile health program.

In 2007, St. Louis Children's Hospital was one of 59 institutions in the country that received at least $100,000 from Anheuser-Busch. At least 20 of those are local.

Dan Buck, chief executive officer of St. Patrick Center, which provides services for the homeless, said Anheuser-Busch's generosity goes beyond corporate cash.

When St. Patrick Center was helping those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Anheuser-Busch sent three information technology workers over for a week to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to the $270,000 that St. Patrick Center got last year from A-B to run its largest fundraiser, a trivia event, the nonprofit got $130,000 worth of in-kind contributions.

Having Anheuser-Busch on board with an event immediately legitimizes it, Buck said. "You're taken seriously when you have the eagle behind you," he said of the beer company's logo.

No doubt, having the brewery on board makes fundraising easier, said Michael Uthoff, artistic and executive director of Dance St. Louis. "If Anheuser-Busch feels it merits attention, others are less reticent to say no," he said.

Even for the little guys, the brewery makes a big difference, said Marshall Cohen, executive director of Lift for Life Academy. The brewery's contributions support a meal program and various recreational outings — from apple picking to amusement parks.

"We'd hate to lose that relationship," Cohen said. "The impact that it is going to have on nonprofits could be devastating if they do a lot of cuts."

A-B AND THE MUNY

Anheuser-Busch is a ubiquitous company, using sponsorship to market itself at seemingly every event in the city.

"I don't know of any event you go to where you don't see Anheuser-Busch's name attached," said Dennis Reagan, president and CEO of the Muny theater in Forest Park.

Since 1985, the brewery has sponsored a production at the Muny. This year, it's "Fiddler on the Roof."

The brewery gave money to help the Muny get new seats, new concession stands, new bathrooms, and, most recently, a new rehearsal building.

"We certainly hope the support would continue," Reagan said.

Other mergers and buyouts in the metro area have not had a negative effect on philanthropic support of the outdoor theater, Reagan said, pointing to TWA's merger with American Airlines and Southwestern Bell's (now AT&T) move of its headquarters to San Antonio. But the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has felt the pain of buyouts and is concerned about Anheuser-Busch's future.

Before Macy's Inc. bought May Co., annual gifts "used to be in the high five figures. Now, they are in the low four figures," said Stephanie DeChambeau, the Symphony's director of institutional giving.

"Maybe the company who buys (Anheuser-Busch) will remain philanthropic, but maybe the arts is no longer a focus of theirs," DeChambeau said. Anheuser-Busch, a six-figure donor for about 15 years, also made a significant gift to buy a new heating and air conditioning system during the height of the Symphony's financial crisis made public in 2000.

Michael Nilsen, a spokesman for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, said filling the void left behind by a large philanthropist can take years, but it can be done. Other companies take a larger role, and nonprofits cast a wider net, including tapping individual contributors.

"Concerns are warranted," Nilsen said. "But it's not the sky is falling scenario, either."

Doug King, president of the St. Louis Science Center, said the city shouldn't wait to see what InBev does. Institutions have to be ready to stress to InBev the importance of community commitment if the sale of Anheuser-Busch goes through, he said.

"I don't think the defining factor is whether they are headquartered here, but whether InBev is the kind of company that wants to support the area and its employees," King said. "We have to convince them that they need to be good corporate citizens too."

At the St. Louis Science Center, Anheuser-Busch donated the money to build the Omnimax theater. The brewery also gave to the Science Center a piece of land, which is now Science Corner, a place for children to garden.

"They've continued to be supportive, with annual giving at the $10,000 or $25,000 level and when we needed them, at the major level," King said.

GIVERS COME AND GO

Erin Budde, president of the Gateway Center for Giving, which assists corporations in their philanthropic efforts, said the corporate landscape is ever changing. Mergers and acquisitions means givers come and go.

"Look at Express Scripts. World Wide Technology and Centene," Budde said. "Ten to 15 years ago, no one had heard of them."

Nonprofits have to constantly cultivate new relationships and keep their revenue stream diverse. The time to look for givers as possible replacements for Anheuser-Busch is now, Budde said.

Even with that knowledge, it's no less easy to think of the day Anheuser-Busch funds might evaporate like the head of a beer.

"I cringe to think about what the philanthropic world would be like without A-B," St. Patrick Center's Buck said.

dmoore@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8125