2023Annual
Report

Living Into the New Normal

Over the last few years we’ve all heard a lot about living into “the new normal.” It’s a term that reflects a new era, incorporating something that was once unfamiliar or atypical into our daily lives. Researchers suggest that the term dates back to 2008 as a way to talk about life after the financial collapse that preceded the Great Recession. It has been applied in various settings since then, from adapting to a world where social media drives our discourse to urging communities to anticipate more severe wildfire seasons every summer.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic gained a new level of permanence as our “new normal” in 2023 when global health agencies declared the public health emergency period of the pandemic over alongside the broad deployment of vaccinations and treatments for the virus. Companies that at one time declared they would be remote “forever” began ushering employees back into the office. Travel restrictions, social distancing, supply chain issues – all hallmarks of our shared pandemic experience – seemed to officially (and hopefully) be behind us. In many ways, life resumed its natural rhythms but now with the understanding that the virus was not going away; it would be part of our everyday lives.

It’s easy to consider the idea of the new normal in a negative light. So often when we think of a new normal it is because a tragedy has forced us to reconsider common practices, be it a global pandemic, an economic earthquake, or an increase in deadly fires. But it’s also possible to consider ways in which a new normal can be a positive or a reason for hope. For example, advances in human rights have led to a brighter, more optimistic future for countless communities through the years. Technological innovations have ushered in bright new periods of improved quality of life and prosperity. Medical discoveries like penicillin and the polio vaccine have removed great threats from daily life. And despite so much work ahead of us to alleviate poverty, we have made progress.

A common theme for me throughout this year has been the concept of renewal. This idea has extended itself to our work at the Trust. The concept centers around taking a tested foundation and finding ways to improve upon it. After decades of service to our region, we continue to look for ways to improve service to our grantees. We designed and implemented a new sectoral strategy to significantly increase the impact our investments can have in the areas we serve and drive greater clarity for those seeking funding from the Trust. We adopted new technologies that increase efficiency in how we work, creating a better experience for those we support. We sought to reset our baseline, which has meant revisiting and updating how we define impact and how we will use both metrics and data to help define success for our future. Finally, we considered the future of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector to better define our generative framework, strategy, and engagement models.

I am proud of this team and the work we have done together. I am also grateful for our broader philanthropic community. Our work was not done in a vacuum. Collaboration, insight, and engagement with fellow funders, nonprofits, and business and community leaders have all helped shape our thinking and our strategy. The historic events of the last few years have set off reflection and change across the philanthropic community. They have pushed all of us in the social sector to understand how we can harness the new tools and emerging technologies coming to market that will help us better serve the common good. We are excited to be part of this conversation and the movement to progress together so that every individual, family, and community has an opportunity to flourish and thrive. It is a bright day with a brighter tomorrow ahead.

We often reflect that, at the Murdock Trust, the fruit of our labor grows on the trees of others. In this report, you will see a small snapshot of this concept come to life: hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals working to uplift and serve the diverse needs of our region, many of whom are doing so in ways adapted to address the new normal. It is a beautiful garden of goodness. I want to thank those who have partnered with us leading up to and throughout 2023 and those we will walk alongside moving forward. We are excited to see what the new normal has in store for our work and for what we can accomplish together.

In gratitude,