# Trustees of Donations to the Protestant Episcopal Church Trustees of Donations to the Protestant Episcopal Church is an Endowment / Foundation based in Boston, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Boston, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Boston, MA, United States - **Founded:** 1810 - **Assets under management:** Approximately $330 million (Altss estimate) - **Website:** www.trusteesofdonations.org - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/trustees-of-donations-to-the-protestant-episcopal-church ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Trustees of Donations to the Protestant Episcopal Church was established in 1810 as a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, making it one of the oldest continuously operating endowment structures in the United States. Its founding mission centered on stewarding financial gifts and bequests for Episcopal churches, primarily within the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. President Elizabeth M. Westvold, a managing director at the Los Angeles-based fixed-income manager Payden & Rygel, brings institutional portfolio-construction discipline to the trusteeship — a pattern of hiring working investment professionals as fiduciaries rather than retired clergy. The core investment vehicle is the Diocesan Investment Trust, a commingled fund that consolidates endowments and trust assets from member parishes, diocesan entities, and affiliated Episcopal organizations. Asset-class exposure spans global public equities accessed through manager relationships, private credit, real estate, and hedge fund strategies — deliberately avoiding the high-volatility, illiquid venture capital allocations common among university endowments. The investment coordinator, Bill Boyce, also serves as a trustee for the Church Pension Group, creating a direct governance link to a much larger $47 billion Episcopal retirement fund. Confirmed co-investment relationships include shared board memberships between TOD and CPG that facilitate manager due diligence. The organization's activist investment posture traces to its membership in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, where it participates in shareholder advocacy alongside other faith-based institutional investors. In September 2023, the Trustees deepened their commitment to binding ESG screens by joining the Investor Alliance for Human Rights. The board includes Thatcher L. Gearhart, retired from Bain Capital, reflecting a recruitment pattern of private-equity-operating talent for volunteer oversight. Structurally, TOD operates as a hybrid fiduciary entity — not a single-family office, not a foundation, and not a commercial OCIO. It is a Massachusetts non-profit corporation governed by a board of unpaid trustees who are all active or retired investment professionals. This governance model means every allocation decision passes through a working investor lens rather than a charitable or clerical one, a structural edge that shapes manager selection, fee negotiation, and liquidity management across the $330 million portfolio. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Private Credit - Hedge Funds - Energy Transition & Renewables ## People - Elizabeth M. Westvold — President - Thatcher L. Gearhart — Treasurer - Bill Boyce — Investment Coordinator ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the Trustees of Donations? Investment decisions are overseen by a board of trustees composed of working and retired investment professionals. President Elizabeth M. Westvold is a managing director at Payden & Rygel, and Treasurer Thatcher L. Gearhart retired from Bain Capital. Bill Boyce serves as Investment Coordinator while also holding a trustee role at the Church Pension Group, linking TOD to a much larger pool of institutional investment knowledge. ### Is the Trustees of Donations structured as a foundation or an endowment? It is a Massachusetts non-profit corporation that behaves like a pooled endowment manager. It is not a private foundation — it does not have a 5% payout requirement tied to a single donor's tax deduction — and it is not an OCIO selling services to third parties. It exists solely to manage assets for Episcopal entities within and beyond the Diocese of Massachusetts. ### How is the Trustees of Donations related to the Church Pension Group? Bill Boyce serves as a trustee for both TOD and the Church Pension Group, a $47 billion fund that manages retirement assets for Episcopal clergy and lay employees. This overlapping governance creates a direct channel for manager due diligence sharing, co-investment evaluation, and alignment on ESG and shareholder-advocacy initiatives. ### What is TOD's posture on ESG and shareholder advocacy? TOD is an active participant in faith-based shareholder advocacy. It is a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and joined the Investor Alliance for Human Rights in September 2023. The organization also participates as a CDP signatory investor, pressing portfolio companies on climate-disclosure standards. ## Related profiles - [University of Tasmania Endowment Fund](https://altss.com/profile/university-of-tasmania-endowment-fund) - [Pension Plan of the Welfare & Pension Fund Mid-Jersey Trucking](https://altss.com/profile/pension-plan-of-the-welfare-pension-fund-mid-jersey-trucking) --- Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/trustees-of-donations-to-the-protestant-episcopal-church Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology