Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust

Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust

Mary Stewart and Helen Stewart Devore established the Trust in 1948 through their wills, honoring their parents Alexander Stewart — a lumber magnate who represented Wisconsin in Congress — and Margaret Gray. The original corpus derived from timberland and associated industrial wealth accumulated in the upper Midwest. Today the Trust pays out roughly $5–7 million annually to Washington, DC-area organizations focused on pediatric care and cancer treatment, as well as national cancer research scholars, representing one of the capital's quieter but persistent institutional funders. The Trust blends traditional grant-making with a diversified investment strategy spanning venture capital, buyout, growth equity, secondaries, and timber. Confirmed fund relationships include allocations to venture and private equity vehicles, often accessed through fund-of-funds structures including a historical stake in TIFF Investment Program in Charlottesville, Virginia. The timber allocation reflects the family's original wealth source and provides an inflation-hedging real-asset sleeve. On the grant-making side, the Trust partners with the Pew Charitable Trusts to co-sponsor the Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research program, which funds early-career scientists at leading US research institutions. Geographic focus remains concentrated on Washington, DC for pediatric and cancer care grants, while the scholars program operates nationally. Governance rests with a small board of trustees — currently including William J. Bierbower and George E. Hamilton IV — who oversee both the grant-making and investment functions. The Trust's office occupies the Brawner Building at 888 17th Street NW in Washington. It also retains a residential asset, the historic Alexander Stewart House on Massachusetts Avenue. The Trust participates in the Foundation Financial Officers Group, a professional network for senior financial officers of large private foundations. In May 2024, the Trust continued its annual grant cycle, distributing funding to several Washington-area pediatric health programs (per the Trust's public filings, May 2024). Unlike many family foundations that tighten grant-making to preserve corpus, the Stewart Trust maintains a structural commitment to private-market allocations — including venture and secondaries — that introduces equity-like return profiles to its portfolio. This hybrid model, coupling a perpetual endowment with an active venture-funded grant operation, positions the Trust between a traditional foundation and an institutional allocator. The dual-pronged research partnership with Pew further distinguishes it from local-only funders, giving it a national scientific footprint without expanding its physical presence beyond a single office in Northwest DC.