The Oregon Historical Society lands $2.5 million donation

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 29, 2022

The Oregon Historical Societyrecently received two donations recently totaling $2.5 million.

In the first gift, Columbia Sportswear’s Tim Boyle, Mary Boyle, and Sally Bany announced they will endow the institution’s top position, providing long-term stable funding for this key staff role, as well as expand its educational outreach efforts. The Boyles’ gift will establish and permanently endow The Boyle Family Executive Director Fund. The current ED’s annual salary is $260,533, according to 2020 tax returns.

Interest from the money will stabilize funding for the role. This should make it more attractive for applicants seeking a position at the highest level in museum management in Oregon.

A second gift, from the Roundhouse Foundation for $500,000, will match the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust’s matching challenge to fund an Ethnic Studies educator position as well as help OHS expand educational outreach efforts in rural Oregon.

The Ethnic Studies educator will connect teachers to OHS resources such as The Oregon Encyclopedia, create new lesson plans, and offer professional development workshops, providing support to teach to the new state social sciences standards integrated with ethnic studies. Although it is Portland-based, across the South Park Blocks from the Portland Art Museum, OHS is charged with covering all Oregon history, not just Portland History.

Tim Boyle’s mother, the Columbia Sportswear dynamo Gert Boyle, was a trailblazer in business, philanthropy, and advertising. Boyle was made an official Oregon History Maker, along with Michael Powell and Dr. Brian Druker, as part of the Oregon Historical Society’s first class of Oregon in 2009.

“The Boyle name is synonymous with Oregon, and that the leader of the Oregon Historical Society will bear the title of ‘Boyle Family Executive Director’ is more than an honor — it’s a charge,” said Kerry Tymchuk, OHS’s current ED. “It is such a privilege to be the first Boyle Family Executive Director … I can imagine Gert standing over my shoulder now, peering over her glasses, seeing the work we are doing at OHS and saying, ‘It’s perfect. Now make it better.'”