M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust
/OVERVIEW: The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust works in the areas of human services, education, arts and culture, health and scientific research. Grantmaking is limited Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
IP TAKE: Past recipients give this funder high ratings for being responsive, insightful, open-minded and culturally sensitive. It is worth noting that a significant portion of the foundation’s work, particularly human services, is funneled toward faith-based organizations. Overall, Murdock is an important source of funding for nonprofits in the five northwestern states where it works.
Murdock accepts letters of inquiry at any time and generally responds to these within two to three weeks of receipt. The trust offers detailed guidelines for its application processes on its website. This funder welcomes contact, so reach out with your questions and ideas, but note that the Trust has temporarily paused LOIs until 2024.
PROFILE: Based in Vancouver, Washington, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust was established in 1975 by the will of the late Melvin “Jack” Murdock, co-founder of Tektronix Inc., a manufacturer of electronic devices used in measurement and testing. Tektronix became a part of the Danaher Corporation in 2007.
The Murdock Charitable Trust works “to serve individuals, families and communities across the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, through grantmaking, enrichment programs and convenings that strengthen the region’s educational, social, spiritual, and cultural base in ways that are innovative and sustainable.” This funder’s areas of interest include arts and culture, education, health, human services and scientific research through largely two types of grantmaking programs, though not all grantmaking areas are supported through each type:
Strategic Project Grants are “[c]apacity-building awards for mission-focused projects and infrastructure investment” across each of the Trust’s areas of interest. Subcategories include the following:
Capital Grants provide a portion of funding for “construction, renovation, land purchase and other capital projects.”
Equipment and Technology Grants fund up to 50% of the cost of equipment or technology to support organizational best practices.
Program and Staff Grants help recipients launch new initiatives or expand successful existing programs. These grants typically support “start-up costs and/or related staff member additions” and provide declining support over a three-year period.
Initiative Grants support specific programs in education, scientific research and the Trust’s signature Vision and Call internship program.
Grants for Mental Health, Homelessness and Food Systems
Murdock’s Human Services giving area is its largest, with funding stemming mainly from the Strategic Project Grants program. Grantmaking takes a broad but contextual approach; the Trust acknowledges that “the needs of the communities that comprise the Pacific Northwest are incredibly diverse.” In recent years, mental health, housing and food systems have emerged as pressing needs, with a significant portion of funding supporting capacity development of organizations working in these areas.
One past grantee, Oregon’s Kairos Northwest, provides in- and outpatient mental health care to children and young adults. This grantee used funding to expand its work by building a new facility, the New Beginning Center in Coos Bay, Oregon. Other grantees working in overlapping areas of mental health, homeless and hunger include the United Human Services of Southeast Alaska, the Boise Rescue Mission, Northwest Harvest and the Montana Children’s Home.
It is worth noting that a portion of this funder’s human services grantmaking supports faith-based organizations. Grantees include the retreat center at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Idaho, Catholic Charities of Oregon and Congregations for the Homeless of Bellevue, Washington.
Grants for Opportunity, Community Development, Immigrants and Refugees
Murdock’s Human Services grantmaking area also names job training and support for immigrants and refugees as areas of grantmaking interest, although these are smaller areas of giving with the Trust’s human services umbrella. Grantees include Oregon’s Garten Services, which helps children and adults with disabilities learn career skills and obtain employment opportunities, and Washington’s Refugee Women’s Alliance, which received a grant to help purchase new equipment and technology.
A sub-initiative of Murdock’s Initiative grantmaking program is the Vision and Call internship program, which provides “faith-based internships” to young people between the ages of 20 and 25. In addition to providing work experience to young adults, this program aims to “increase the pool of talented emerging leaders entering the workforce” and “educate and empower a commitment to the development of young leaders on the part of Christian organizations.” A list of participating organizations is available at the program page.
Grants for K-12 Education
Murdock makes grants for K-12 education through both its Initiative and Strategic Project grantmaking programs.
Through the Initiative Grants program, the Trust runs its signature Partners in Science Program, which brings secondary school science teachers to “innovative research experiences in a university lab or other research institution,” thereby enhancing both teachers’ heir first-hand scientific knowledge and their ability to “effectively guide their students through the processes of science in creating new knowledge.” The program involves research experiences for teachers over two summers. Both secondary science teachers and researchers who “hold an appointment in a natural science department” are eligible to apply for participation in this program. Guidelines are provided at the Trust’s website.
Some Strategic Project grants have also supported K-12 initiatives and schools. Grantmaking here appears to prioritize out-of-school learning opportunities at cultural institutions and museums, as well as private schools with religious affiliations. Grantees include the Imagine Children’s Museum in Washington, the Children’s Museum of Idaho, Oregon’s Valley Catholic Middle and High School and the Seattle Nativity School.
Grants for STEM Higher Education and Science Research
STEM higher education and related science and medical research grants are sourced from both the Initiative and Strategic Project grantmaking programs.
Murdock’s Undergraduate Colleges and Universities Grants and Awards initiative runs several grantmaking programs for “for science research at four-year undergraduate institutions across the Pacific Northwest.”
Research Startup Grants for New Science Faculty augment start-up packages to new tenure track hires in natural science departments. Grants are often presented “as part of the offer to the candidate.” Any undergraduate school in the Trust’s five-state region of operation is eligible to apply. A requisite for funding is a “new faculty research mentoring plan.”
Murdock College Research Program for Natural Sciences grants support “research in the natural sciences in private, predominantly undergraduate colleges and universities” in the Trust’s five-state region. To be eligible, a department must be engaged or have plans to engage in original research in which undergraduate students will be actively involved. The program’s goal is to develop high quality science faculty while simultaneously offering authentic research experiences to students. Proposals are evaluated on scientific merit. Application guidelines are provided on the program page.
The Murdock College Science Research Program supports “colleges and universities with the capacity for developing division-wide faculty-student research programs that can be sustained with institutional resources and external funding.” This program accepts proposals by invitation only and involves participation in the annual Murdock College Science Research Conference.
RAISE (Research Across Institutions for Scientific Empowerment) supports research collaborations across public and private undergraduate schools with “research-active natural science faculty.” This program aims to enable “synergistic, cutting-edge projects at a higher level of sophistication and scope than each group would pursue on their own.” Eligibility for this program is mainly limited to schools participating in the Murdock College Science Research Conference and “few select research-active public predominantly undergraduate institutions.” Detailed guidelines and information are posted at the program page.
The annual Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award recognizes a “senior faculty exemplar with an established, productive and nationally recognized research program.” Similarly, the Lynwood W. Swanson Promise for Scientific Research Award goes to a “junior faculty who has demonstrated exceptional potential in establishing an exemplary, productive and sustainable research program.” Invitations to nominate candidates for these awards are sent to eligible schools in the spring of each year.
Some of Murdock’s Strategic Project grants have also gone to institutions of higher education. The University of Washington received funding to purchase a combined cryogenic and optical scanning microscope, and the University of Montana was awarded a grant to purchase a 3-D printer.
The Murdock Trust supports scientific research through its Initiative grant program’s Research Universities & Biomedical Institutes subprogram. Current opportunities include the following:
The Scientific Research Instrumentation Program supports “scientific research in the form of major scientific instrumentation” at “major” universities and research institutes in the Northwest. The University of Washington, for example, received funding to develop instruments to “enable optoelectronic characterization of quantum materials.” At the University of Montana, meanwhile, funding is used to develop instrumentation for live imaging of biological samples and cancer detection. Detailed guidelines and application instructions are linked to the program page.
The Commercialization Initiation Program funds programs that “help bring valuable discoveries […] to market.” The program supports the commercialization of “discoveries” in medicine, natural sciences and engineering and is limited to “a select group of major research universities and biomedical research institutes” in the Trust’s five-state region. An engineer at the University of Idaho received a grant to commercialize a “Clean Water Machine,” for example. Detailed application guidelines and instructions for this program are linked to its webpage.
Grants for Arts and Culture and Arts Education
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust is committed to supporting arts and culture organizations in the Pacific Northwest that “create joy for individuals and families through entertainment and inspiration while simultaneously helping preserve and share the history and heritage of communities and cultures both present and from our history.” Arts ad culture grants are currently awarded through the Trust’s Strategic Project program and frequently fund projects related to dance, music, theater, the visual arts, literature, the performing arts, art and culture centers, as well as arts supporting organizations.
Grantees include the Intermountain Opera Association of Bozeman, the Seattle Art Museum, the Oregon Symphony Association and the Pickford Film Center in Washington. A significant portion of funding supports organizations that serve communities with educational or participatory arts experiences. Grantees in these areas include the Alaska Children’s Institute for the Performing Arts, Pacific Ballroom Dance, Oregon’s Northwest Children’s Theater and School and the Tacoma Refugee Choir.
Grants for Public Health
Murdock’s grantmaking for health also stems from the Strategic Project program and broadly invests in “the health of individuals and families” throughout the Northwest. Areas of interest include free and/or affordable care, rural and regional hospitals, dental clinics and support for people with disabilities.
Grantees include Shodair Children’s Hospital in Montana, the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Washington, Idaho’s Cascade Medical Center and the Montana Health Research and Education Foundation.
Grants for the Environment, Marine and Freshwater Conservation, Animals, and Climate Change
The Murdock Trust makes grants for the environment through its Strategic Project program. Natural resource conservation and wildlife preservation are named as specific areas of interest of the Trust’s human services funding area.
Grantees include Alaska Pacific University, which received support for study estimating hydropower potential at the Dixon Glacier, as well as American Forests, the Nature Conservancy of Oregon and the Northern Great Plains chapter of the World Wildlife Fund.
Important Grant Details:
The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust’s grants mostly range from $5,000 to $1 million, but larger sums are sometimes awarded to organizations, universities and institutes with which the Trust maintains ongoing relationships. This is a supportive funder that offers aid beyond grants in the form of “enrichment programs and convenings that strengthen the region’s educational, social, spiritual, and cultural base in ways that are innovative and sustainable.” Interested parties can explore the Trust’s grant opportunities in depth on its site.
Human services is Murdock’s largest giving area, followed closely by education.
This funder gives to many faith-based organizations and schools.
For additional information about past grants, see the trust’s grants awarded page.
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry for its Strategic Project grantmaking program at any time. Only organizations operating in in the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington are eligible. Applicants are advised to familiarize themselves with the trust’s grantee roadmap before beginning the application process. Only a handful of national grantees are supported in a given year.
Application guidelines for the Trust’s Initiative grantmaking programs vary significantly by program, but detailed instructions are linked to each program page.
Murdock welcomes questions about its grantmaking and application process via telephone or at 360-694-8415 or email at info@murdocktrust.org
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