Masonic Charity Foundation Retirement Income Plan

Masonic Charity Foundation Retirement Income Plan

The plan was established in 1976 to provide retirement benefits for employees of the Masonic Charity Foundation of New Jersey. Governed by a Board of Trustees under Chairman J. Eugene Margroff and President Joseph K. Barbara, its assets are directly tied to the non-profit's operations, most notably the Masonic Village at Burlington, a continuing care retirement community run by Executive Director Anda Durso. The foundation, created by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey Free and Accepted Masons, channels its charitable mission partly through this employee benefit structure. Investment strategy blends direct real estate exposure with fund commitments across venture capital, natural resources, and fixed income. The plan holds the Masonic Village at Burlington campus at 902 Jacksonville Road as a core mixed-use asset, while diversifying externally into vehicles like the Clarion Lion Properties Fund and the Hatteras Core Alternatives TEI Institutional Fund. Public equity allocations include corporate stock investments and fixed-income mutual funds. Sourcing is hybrid, spanning buyout, early-stage, seed, and late-stage venture, often lacking the dedicated internal teams of larger institutional pools. Total assets are estimated at $149 million, managed without a disclosed internal investment team size. The plan's structure is lean and mission-aligned, with Sister organizations like Acacia Hospice/Homecare and partnerships with entities like NJM Insurance Group and Fountain Property LLC extending the foundation's reach but not necessarily its investment firepower. The foundation also stewards eclectic non-typical assets, including an antique and classic car collection tied to the Antique Automobile Club of America's Ankokas Region. The plan's structural differentiator is its extreme locality and mission-locked capital. It exists not to maximize returns for a principal or a broad beneficiary base but to secure modest retirement benefits for employees of a single senior-living community. This untethers it from the competitive fundraising cycles and co-investment postures of traditional private-sector pension plans.