Morgan Creek Foundation

Morgan Creek Foundation is a small, founder-directed family foundation established in 2005 by the Yusko family, funded by a share of Morgan Creek Capital Management's annual profits. It runs an invitation-only, relationship-first grantmaking model rather than open RFPs. President Mark W. Yusko (founder/CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management) and VP/Director of Grants Stacey Yusko sit on a compact, largely unpaid board — Laura Fisher, the Director/Treasurer, is the sole compensated officer at $10,000/year. Because every current grantee was originally proposed either by a Morgan Creek Capital Management employee or by a sitting board member, then screened by the Grant Committee, the foundation functionally behaves as a closed funder: cold LOIs and unsolicited proposals go nowhere, and the foundation says so directly ('does not accept unsolicited requests for funds').

The favored organization profile is a small-to-midsize, direct-service 501(c)(3) delivering academically-anchored programming for disadvantaged children and youth — literacy councils, tutoring/mentoring nonprofits, pre-K providers, and youth-development groups. Of the 83 tracked grants worth $734,000, 70 (84%) went to North Carolina organizations, overwhelmingly in the Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh Triangle where Morgan Creek Capital is headquartered — confirming this is fundamentally a hometown/employee-network funder, not a national one, despite scattered one-off grants in Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Alabama that likely trace to individual board or staff ties.

Once inside the network, the relationship looks like sustained, multi-year support rather than a one-time gift: nearly every top grantee (Orange County Literacy Council, Triangle Literacy Council, Durham Partnership for Children, UNC-Chapel Hill's CSTEP program, Book Harvest, Boys and Girls Club of Wake County) shows 2-3 recorded grants, implying annual renewal once vetted. First-time prospects should treat this less as a proposal-writing exercise and more as a warm-introduction campaign: find a Morgan Creek Capital Management staffer or foundation board member with a genuine tie to your organization, secure their internal sponsorship, and only then expect Grant Committee review and a formal application. Because the foundation self-selects for education-outcome programming, groups blending in arts, athletics, or recreation should lead with the academic/skill-building component, since guidelines explicitly deprioritize pure athletics programs.

Morgan Creek Foundation's grantmaking is small-dollar and high-volume relative to its asset base. Its own reported typical grant size ranges from $2,000 to $18,000, with a median of $10,000 and an average of $8,444 across 27 recent awards — figures corroborated by the tracked grantee dataset, which shows 83 total grants worth $734,000 (average $8,843 per grant).

Total annual giving has ranged from roughly $223,000 to $441,000 across the observable IRS Form 990 history (2011-2023). Payout has trended down over time: $412,750 in grants paid in 2011 fell to $331,000 (2012), $278,000 (2021), and $223,350 in FY2023 (the most recent filed year), even as total assets grew from $3.08M (2015) to $3.38M (2023) and the current recorded asset base stands at $4.78M — implying the foundation is compounding investment gains faster than it distributes them. Net investment income rose from $79,478 (FY2022) to $101,382 (FY2023), a 27.6% jump, and the foundation appears to be settling into a steady-state payout near or slightly above the 5%-of-assets minimum it cites publicly.

Geographically, funding is concentrated hard around headquarters: of 83 tracked grants, 70 (84%) went to North Carolina nonprofits, with the balance scattered across Massachusetts (3), New York (3), Virginia (3), New Jersey (2), and Alabama (2) — almost certainly following individual trustee or employee ties rather than a deliberate multi-state strategy.

By program type, the largest identifiable cumulative totals are literacy- and early-childhood-focused: Orange County Literacy Council ($50,000 across 3 grants), Triangle Literacy Council ($45,000/3), Durham Partnership for Children ($45,000/3), and Book Harvest ($30,000/3) — alongside youth-development and mentoring groups like Boys and Girls Club of Wake County ($35,000/3), D3 Community Outreach ($37,500/3), and Volunteers for Youth ($28,000/3). A distinct secondary program funds $1,000-$2,000 individual scholarships to students affiliated with current or former grantee organizations, mostly attending UNC-system schools (UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, NC A&T, NC Central) with a few out-of-state exceptions (Brandeis, East Carolina, Samford, Hunter College); 12 such scholarships were awarded in 2024 per the foundation's own reporting.

All five peers sit within roughly $3,000 of Morgan Creek's $4.78M asset base and share its 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' NTEE classification, but none maintain a discoverable public website or published grant guidelines, according to the platform's own data. That gives Morgan Creek a real transparency edge within its immediate peer set despite still being invitation-only: it publishes eligibility criteria, funding restrictions, and an annual philanthropic-history archive, giving prospective grantees something concrete to align a pitch to rather than blind cold outreach. Family foundations at this $4.5-5M asset scale typically distribute in the low-to-mid six figures annually nationally, consistent with Morgan Creek's own historical band of $223,350-$440,722 per year.

No independent press coverage, leadership-change announcements, or program launches were identified for Morgan Creek Foundation in 2025-2026; it is a low-profile, non-media-seeking family foundation, and that absence is itself informative — there is no PR cycle for applicants to track, and outreach timing should follow the foundation's own fiscal calendar rather than news hooks.

The most concrete recent activity is administrative: the foundation added its 2024 grant-recipient list to its website's Philanthropic History archive in February 2025 (an archive running back to 2019), confirming it remains active and continues year-over-year disclosure of grantee names — a level of transparency not all small family foundations maintain. Per the foundation's own program descriptions, it assisted 18 organizations in 2024 (down from 25 in 2020 but within its typical range) and awarded 12 scholarships in 2024, up from four in 2020 — the clearest indicator of any priority shift, suggesting the individual-scholarship track has grown in relative emphasis in recent cycles.

Leadership has been stable. Mark W. Yusko continues as Director/President; he remains CEO/CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, the foundation's funding source, and is a well-known figure in hedge fund and digital-asset investing circles, though none of that public profile translates into foundation-specific press. Stacey Yusko continues as VP/Director of Grants. Board composition shows modest turnover between filings — Robin Butler's Secretary role in an earlier filing was succeeded by Will Bacon, and Andrea Szigethy and Michael P. Hennessy appear as newer board members — but none of these changes were publicly announced.

Understand this is a closed-door funder: the single most important fact for any grant seeker is that Morgan Creek Foundation 'does not accept unsolicited requests for funds' and only funds preselected organizations — there is no public application form or portal, so a cold LOI or web-form submission is wasted effort.

The real front door is a warm nomination. Proposals must be brought forward internally by either a Morgan Creek Capital Management LLC employee or a sitting foundation board member before the Grant Committee will even assess fit. Practically: (1) map your board, staff, and alumni network for ties to Morgan Creek Capital Management (headquartered in Chapel Hill, NC) or to foundation board members Mark Yusko, Stacey Yusko, Laura Fisher, Julie Thurman, Joshua Tilley, Will Bacon, Michael Hennessy, or Andrea Szigethy; (2) if none exist, seek a warm introduction through a current multi-year grantee such as Orange County Literacy Council, Triangle Literacy Council, Durham Partnership for Children, Book Harvest, or Boys and Girls Club of Wake County, who may be willing to make a connection.

Lead with academic outcomes, not activities. Guidelines explicitly require arts or performing-arts programming to carry 'a strong academic component' and treat purely athletic programs as outside the mission — pitch literacy gains, school-readiness metrics, or persistence/graduation outcomes as the headline, with any enrichment activity framed as the delivery mechanism, not the goal.

Ask for general operating support tied to a specific program, not capital — guidelines restrict funding to operating expenses 'unless specifically requested and approved' for capital needs.

Size the request realistically: the median award is $10,000 (range $2,000-$18,000). Given total annual giving of $223,350-$295,291 spread across roughly 18-25 organizations in recent years, requests far outside that band read as a mismatch.

Plan for a December cycle: the foundation states grants are 'usually awarded at the end of the fiscal year (December)' — align budgeting and program timelines to a Q4 decision rather than expecting mid-year awards.

The most common mistake to avoid is emailing info@morgancreekfoundation.org or mailing an unsolicited proposal expecting a reply — without an internal sponsor, there is no review pathway at all.