2019 Annual Report
Acknowledging the Impact of COVID-19
The Murdock Trust Annual Report is designed to provide a snapshot of our work, twelve months at a time. Like most foundations, it takes a bit of time after a year draws to a close to finalize and compile relevant data related to our grantmaking and investments. It has become tradition for us to release our Annual Report in the summer following the year it is meant to capture.
There is much excitement and joy to share from our 2019 year, including inspiring stories from our grantees and major milestones for the Trust. However, as this report is compiled in spring of 2020, our region and world face an unprecedented challenge brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our 2020 Annual Report will include a detailed account of the Trust’s work in response to this crisis, but we did want to take a brief moment now to acknowledge the challenges our community is currently facing and share our gratitude for the myriad nonprofits who work tirelessly to serve the common good of our region. As we will see in this and future reports, it has been the thoughtful preparation and nimble reaction of these nonprofits that has helped individuals, families and communities across the Pacific Northwest face and navigate the heartbreaking impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To all who give their time, expertise, resources and hard work to serve the common good, we say, “Thank You.”
A Look
Back at
2019
292
$67m
$5.8m
$10.2m
$33.9m
$7.3m
$9.7m
Our Grantees at Work
We are fortunate to partner with nonprofits all across the Pacific Northwest who are working toward the common good. Here are just a handful of our 2019 grantees and a snapshot of the incredible work they are doing in their communities.
The work of the Murdock Trust is primarily focused on the future. We seek to help build the capacity of individuals and nonprofits so that they can continue to serve the diverse needs of their community for years and generations to come.
But, occasionally, we have an opportunity to reflect on the past. 2019 brought to life shining examples of both points in our timeline – the hard work of the past and the great promise of the future.
2019 marked a pair of significant milestones for the Trust. In the first half of our year, we crossed the mark of $1 billion in cumulative grants awarded since opening our doors in 1975. We were fortunate to have this opportunity to look back and reflect on the thousands of organizations we have had the opportunity to partner with and consider their immeasurable impact on individuals, families and communities across the Pacific Northwest.
In the second half of the year, the future once again loomed large on the horizon. We were fortunate to see our Trustees approve $66.3 million in grants to nonprofits throughout the year, the largest single-year of grantmaking by the Trust in our history. This record-breaking year holds great promise as the nonprofits we serve and support embark on ambitious new programs and projects to help serve the diverse needs of our region in innovative and sustainable ways.
This report includes a small handful of examples of the nonprofits and partner groups we are fortunate to collaborate with and support as they serve the common good of the Pacific Northwest. We remain grateful to these groups and the countless more who are helping ensure every individual, family and community has the opportunity to flourish and thrive.
Executive Director
From the Executive Director
Changing Faces in 2019
Enrichment
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
Hamilton The Musical
And I’m not throwing away my shot!
Once a year, Trust staff have the opportunity to travel to one of the communities we serve and meet with grantees in person. For our team, it is a valuable opportunity to see the impact of our investments over time, while also helping build relationships with the organizations we support and showing the work that remains to be done.
In 2019, our organization was fortunate to visit Washington D.C. to meet with some of the national groups we support in their work that focuses on the Pacific Northwest, as well as some of our local elected leaders. Throughout the run up to this trip and our days in our Nation’s Capital, we had the opportunity to reflect on the foundations of our government and our country. The leaders over generations, like Alexander Hamilton as detailed in the hit musical Hamilton, but also George Washington, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others, have rarely been born into the spotlight. In their time, they were born into circumstance to which many of us can relate, yet their desire to serve led them to greatness and helped them create immeasurable impact.
Throughout our Enrichment programs, we often have the opportunity to meet dozens of leaders who have the ability to deliver the type of generational change as we have seen from a Hamilton or an Anthony or even our own benefactor, Jack Murdock. Individuals who are helping nurture and grow a nonprofit that may help break the cycle of poverty for vulnerable families. Educators helping inspire the next generation of STEM researchers. We cannot even begin to guess about the limits of their potential.
Across the eight Murdock Trust enrichment programs, we urge our participants to not waste their shot at creating lasting, long-term change to help serve and support the common good.
Terry Stokesbary
Thank you, Terry
2019 marked a bittersweet moment for the entire Trust family. Following more than two decades of service to the Pacific Northwest, Terry Stokesbary stepped down from his role as Senior Program Director for Enrichment Initiatives.
Few people better embody the spirit of Jack Murdock and the Mission of the Trust as Terry who met with thousands of organizations and supported tens-of-thousands of individuals through his work overseeing grant applications and Enrichment programming. His boundless energy, enthusiasm and passion for serving others brought an electricity to our offices that will be greatly missed.
Our undying thanks and gratitude go to Terry and his family for their commitment to serving the common good and the immeasurable positive impact they have had on communities across our region.
Thank you Terry!
“I have yet to meet a more supportive, encouraging person than Terry Stokesberry. When I became President at All God’s Children International, he was so intentional in his support and dedication to helping me succeed. Terry exudes positivity and love for all those around him and I am beyond grateful to call him a friend.”
– Hollen Frazier, All God’s Children
“Terry is the epitome of a true servant leader. Terry’s vast knowledge about nonprofits, finances, business planning and his knack for choosing the right music video to illustrate his point made him a true legend in Idaho among our nonprofit friends. Terry is one of the kindest, most caring people and an exceptional communicator.”
– Amy Little, Idaho Nonprofit Center
“As a life-long friend of Terry’s, it has been a privilege to observe his unwavering commitment to the Trust, its principles, and mission. During his many years of service, Stokes was an exemplary servant-leader, while showing great vision, creativity, and determination; the results of which will continue to have far-reaching impact for years to come.”
– Brad Jackson, UW (retired)
“Terry has this unique combination of incredibly youthful energy and a significant life experience. His best days are still ahead of him and I am excited to see what it is he chooses to say ‘yes’ to.”
– John Priddy, Windrider
“Some of my favorite stories with Terry are real serious, one-on-one conversations where we are trying to think of the very best way to get at an issue. Almost always, Terry will have a face or a name in mind that helps frame that issue. All of us have very funny memories of Terry. He’s a very funny guy. But the reality is, what’s behind that humor is a deep desire to see life and to see life-giving things happening.”
– Steve Moore, Murdock Trust
2019 Milestones
$1 Billion Granted
The Spring 2019 Murdock Trust Grants Meeting will forever carry a special place in our history as Trustees approved our one billionth dollar granted since opening in 1975. Throughout the summer, we had the opportunity to connect with and celebrate the thousands of nonprofit partners whose work made this possible and allowed us to reflect on what the future and “the next billion” has in store.
Record Year of Giving
In our 2017 Annual Report, Trust Staff had the opportunity to reflect on a significant milestone as we celebrated our single largest year of grantmaking to date. Just two years later, and we are grateful to say that this record has already fallen. Thanks to the outstanding work of nonprofits across the Pacific Northwest, the Trust was able to award a new record in giving, approving more than $66 million in capacity building grants.
New Look
In an effort to continue refining our approach to grantmaking and improve the experience for our applicants, the Trust embarked on a careful process to update our website. Our goal was to streamline our online presence to make it easier for organizations to find helpful resources as well as more easily share stories of the amazing work of our grantees. Supported by our outstanding partner, Serenity Studios, the new look of the Murdock Trust debuted just before the year came to a close.
From the Chief Investment Officer
2019 by all accounts was a successful year amidst continued transition and preparations for what we had anticipated as a coming recession. Like 2018, the Trust’s portfolio experienced positive performance due to several factors. First, amidst a challenging political and capital market environment, growth was attributed to capital markets hitting on all cylinders despite an increasing awareness of potential economic pain to come. Both credit and equity asset class strategies provided rare positive return performances simultaneously, seemingly as a response to the meltdown in the fourth quarter of 2018. Second, the Trust’s portfolio also owed its positive performance to the long-term perspective undertaken with alternative investments. Alongside the equity and credit asset classes, our alternative strategies turned in rewarding performances despite the decision to invest in them occurring long before the beginning of the year. Deploying capital in alternatives takes a considerable amount of time and effort before any expected potential realization. Last year’s realizations were a function (and a result) of some of those historical decisions.
We also owe credit to our investment managers. We take solace in our trusted relationship with these partners, and through the years, we have benefitted from their discipline to stick to their strategies, be highly selective in their selections, and be patient with respect to protecting our assets over the long term. We have not only been able to grow our assets (secondary objective) and grantmaking capacity, but also preserve the real value of our original assets (our primary objective). We are grateful for each of our investment managers and their positive and significant impact on our grantee partners.
Amidst a healthy 2019, we began the process of assessing what the Trust’s portfolio would look like if it went through a market decline. Fourth quarter of 2018 was, in our a view, a warning shot across the bow to prepare for the coming blizzard (to take a term from one of our grantee partners) and how to sustain through the potential ice age that subsequently comes with it. While our portfolio is geared with a long-term horizon and a belief that we are built to withstand the cycles of the financial markets, we still examined areas where we were exposed, opportunities for further risk mitigation, and opportunities for growth. We are excited to pivot the portfolio toward a more defensive posture.
As a result, our decisions made in conjunction with our Trustees continue to reinforce the Trust’s portfolio construction and provide affirmation for the portfolio’s ability to weather turbulent periods.
Elmer Huh
Chief Investment Officer
Risk Allocation
Target Allocation
Actual Allocation
Risk Bucket
low Risk
Investments
- Cash & Alternative Cash
- Fixed Income Relative Value
- Long U.S. Treasuries
Risk Bucket
medium Risk
Investments
- Public Equity
- Private Debt & Mezzanine
- Real Estate & Infrastructure
Risk Bucket
high Risk
Investments
- Private Equity
- Distressed Debt
- Venture Capital
Meet Jack Murdock
Our benefactor, Melvin J. “Jack” Murdock, was an avid learner, innovator and entrepreneur with business interests throughout the Pacific Northwest. At a young age, he established his own business selling and servicing radios and electrical appliances, and there he began working with Howard Vollum, with whom he developed the oscilloscope and co-founded Tektronix, including operating a Piper Aircraft distributorship for the Pacific Northwest, based in Vancouver, Washington.
He also established his own foundation, the Millicent Foundation (named for his mother), which was his personal vehicle of giving in the region. His practice of philanthropy lives on today in the form of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, established from his estate in 1975, and we’re proud to carry on the spirit of Jack’s life well-lived through the work of the Trust that bears his name.
Our Mission
To serve individuals, families and communities across the Pacific Northwest by providing grants and enrichment programs to organizations that strengthen the region’s educational, social, spiritual and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.
