M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Awards Grant of $262,000 for Expansion of Lemonade Day National Youth Entrepreneurship Program in Pacific Northwest Region of the U.S.

BY STEVEN GORDON, LEMONADE DAY NATIONAL PRESIDENT

Murdock Charitable Trust

I am extremely proud and very excited to report that the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has awarded our Lemonade Day national youth entrepreneurship program a grant valued at $262,000 to expand in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  Thanks to the Murdock Trust, we will be able to quickly achieve 25 percent of our goal of adding 20 more communities to our Lemonade Day program in 2020, which would bring us to 100 communities within 13 years of our program’s inception. When we Lemonade Day proponents reach this milestone, you can be certain that we will be celebrating!

Established in 1975, the Murdock Trust is a private foundation that provides grants to non-profits in the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington in four primary areas: scientific research, education, arts and culture, and health and human services.

I am thankful that the Murdock Trust views our program as a great match for its vision, mission and values. The mission of the Murdock Trust, as stated in its Facebook profile, is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants and enrichment programs to organizations seeking to strengthen the region's educational, spiritual, and cultural bases in creative and sustainable ways.

I want to share a few key points regarding this award:

  • Our Lemonade Day national team will apply this grant to launching 5 Lemonade Day communities) in the Northwest with a focus on the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Debbie Nazarian, Lemonade Day’s National Director of Cities, and I are already in the process of evaluating communities in these states that can be a great match for hosting Lemonade Day programs in 2020.
  • We have been invited to apply again for another grant after we have successfully launched these 5 new communities. 
Lemonade Day 2019 Stands

Special thanks to Lemonade Day National Board Chair Charlie Hamilton for encouraging our national team to pursue this grant. Special thanks to Lemonade Day National Board members Jennifer Baur and Doug Erwin for joining me in an in-person meeting in Houston with Dana Miller, the Murdock Trust’s Senior Program Director.  I am grateful for the enthusiastic team effort that our national staff and Glenda Mathis, City Director of Lubbock) provided. Also deserving a well-earned shout-out is Meghan Kelleher, Lemonade Day National Development Manager, for her dedication and commitment to the grant submission process.  She was extremely resourceful in recruiting volunteers, performed valuable research, revised the grant application and supporting documents, and communicated regularly with Dana and the Lemonade Day team with enthusiasm and professionalism.

“We love to partner with organizations that find unique ways to engage children and teens through hands-on learning,” said Dana Miller, senior program director for grants, Murdock Trust. “Lemonade Day has an innovative approach to educate and inspire children through entrepreneurship and business education, and we are proud to support their efforts.”

This is a big win on many fronts for our Lemonade Day programs -- here, there and everywhere! The Murdock Trust is most definitely a major catalyst for helping us to engage thousands more young people in the powerful experience of starting their own lemonade business and tasting sweet success!

I invite you to learn more about the Murdock Trust here and at https://murdocktrust.org/:

The Murdock Trust was established by the last will and testament of the late Melvin Jack Murdock, co-founder of Tektronix. Mr. Murdock was a lifelong resident of the Northwest and a dedicated philanthropist.  Since it was founded in 1975, the Murdock Trust has provided nearly than more than $975 million in grants and support to more than 3,000 organizations. You can see a small sample of these organizations and the impact they have on local communities in this video.

The Murdock Trust supports a wide variety of organizations representing the diverse collection of urban, suburban, and rural communities that comprise the Pacific Northwest. A small sampling of the groups the trust supports includes Adelante Mujeres, I Have a Dream Foundation, Days for Girls International, Nature Conservancy of Washington, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, International Justice Mission, Union Gospel Mission, Reed College, Linfield College, Ruby Valley Hospital, Boys and Girls Club, Grays Harbor Community Hospital, NAMI of Southwest Washington, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Glendive Medical Center, and Washington STEM Center.

               (Source: www.murdocktrust.org)

Please share this blog post with your fans and followers via email and your social media platforms of choice. Please use the tags @lemonadeday and #lemonadeday as well as @murdocktrust and  #murdocktrust. Please also stay connected with us and the Murdock Trust on a regular basis on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email me any time at Steven@LemonadeDay.org.

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