The DG Murray Trust Founders
DGMT is a South African foundation built on endowments from Douglas George Murray and his wife, Eleanor. Murray was the son of, and successor to John Murray, the founder of the Cape-based construction company, Murray and Stewart which was established in 1902. This company merged in 1967 with Roberts Construction to become Murray & Roberts, with the parent Trusts as the main shareholders. In 1979, the Trusts combined to form the DG Murray Trust, which currently distributes about R90 million per year.
History in more detail
It was in 1944 and again in 1950 that D G Murray and his wife Eleanor McChesney Murray established and endowed from their own resources, two trusts to promote charitable, educational, philanthropic and artistic purposes within South Africa. The activities of these two trusts included the provision of assistance to South Africans who needed a helping hand to ‘lift themselves up by their own boot straps’ as well as the less advantaged and destitute members of our society. This assistance was rendered directly by the two trusts themselves or indirectly through other organizations delivering relevant social services
After D G Murray’s death, Eleanor Murray continued to play a leading role in extending the developmental and educational activities of the two trusts. On 23rdOctober 1979 she established The D G Murray Trust (DGMT) through the two earlier trusts becoming the sole donors and giving their entire assets to it. DGMT was approved by SARS as a Public Benefit Organisation in terms of the Income Tax Act. All receipts and accruals are exempt from tax. It was also approved for purposes of Section 18 A of the Act and all donations to it are tax deductible in the hands of any South African donor (for individuals, up to a limit of 10% of annual taxable income) and all bequests or accruals from estates of deceased persons are tax deductible and free from Estate duty
In December 1990 Eleanor Murray was party to the decision to make education the major focus of DGMT’s own activities and its grant making distributions. In 2007 after extensive research and planning the Board of Trustees approved far-reaching changes to DGMT’s modus operandi to embrace a more focused and pro-active programmatic approach to its grant making. The essence of the new approach is captured in the mission statement. The ultimate goal remains true to the intent of our founders and re-emphasises the values that we hold dear and which infuse DGMT’s ethos and the way it goes about its work.
In 2010, the Board approved a focused programme mandate for 2011-2015, which is the outline for the content of this website.