Since our founding in 1975, Trust assets have grown steadily helping to fund more than $1.4 billion of investments into nonprofits that serve the common good.

Our Investment and Finance teams, employ a long-term, somewhat unusual, approach to investment management, guided by three Trustees with a proven record of thinking innovatively.

While we consider all types of investment opportunities, what is most important to us are the people who manage the products (our investment managers). The Murdock Trust is fortunate to have many long-term relationships with best-in-class investment managers, and we strive to be our managers’ best client. Our commitment to long-term planning and partnerships has served us well in the past — and we believe it will continue to do so in the future.

Administration

The Trust is governed by a board of three Trustees, appointed for life. They make all major investment decisions based upon recommendations from and discussions with Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Elmer Huh, who has principal responsibility for developing investment recommendations. The Trust does not retain an outside investment consultant.

All investment assets of the Trust are managed by outside investment managers. We greatly value our relationships with these professionals and thus select our investment managers very carefully. Mandates given to managers are based on a thorough discussion of the Trust’s investment objectives. 

Objectives

The Murdock Trust divides all potential investments into one of three “buckets” based on their risk/reward and liquidity profiles and will consider most types of investment products for all three categories. Our investment objectives follow directly from this “three-bucket” allocation strategy.

Selecting Managers

At the Murdock Trust, we place great importance on the people who manage our investments — even more than the individual products. We must trust them. They must understand our values, care about our mission, and we must feel good about the possibility of a long-term relationship. Accordingly, it can take a long time for the Trust to feel comfortable with a new investment manager. When the Trust seeks new outside investment managers, we generally consider those who:

• Are well known to and have interacted with the Trust over a long period of time
• Are a good strategic fit within the Trust’s overall asset allocation structure
• Have consistent, long-term experience, including having been market and economic cycle tested
• Have an established institutional client base
• Have future performance and risk expectations within acceptable limits

Prior to hiring a new manager, we carefully consider the niche to be filled and the performance, quality and risk characteristics. Once the Trust enters into an investment relationship, the manager shall make investments with the care, skill, prudence and diligence we would expect of every other investment manager acting on our behalf in accordance with their stated strategy and approach. Investments shall be diversified, with the goals of minimizing the risk of loss and maximizing the rate of return, unless circumstances dictate a different approach.

The Murdock Trust is not currently seeking new investment managers. For additional questions on this, please email info@murdocktrust.org with “Investments” in the subject line (no phone calls please).