April Baer of OPB’s radio program State of Wonder recently featured philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer and the impact his family continues to have in the arts. This week, Portland State University announced that Schnitzer is giving $5 million to the fundraising campaign for the school’s new art museum.
Steve Moore, executive director of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, had this to say:
“We need to be thankful for the Schnitzer family,” Moore said. “They’ve invested in so many ways.”
He adds that Schnitzer is making a smart and deliberative choice in forging sustainable partnerships with the universities for underserved areas.
“I think one of the things you see happening is that a lot of foundations have shifted away from capacity building,” he said, “like infrastructure and capital, and maybe focusing on a set of goals they determined are more strategic at the current time. It’s a really important space, I think, for him to be investing.”
