By Sarah Walczyk
Looking back on the legacy of two founding Satterberg Board Members, two words rise to the top: learning and collaboration. With their endless curiosity and strong relational skills, Mary and Judy have done so much to build the ethos of the Satterberg Foundation. I am personally proud to consider them both mentors and friends. As we begin the intergenerational transfer of leadership at the foundation, it’s time to reflect on how we got here and to express our gratitude to these two groundbreaking women. They have not only helped build the Satterberg Foundation as an institution; they have shaped the way many of us understand what philanthropy can and should be.
“What’s a foundation?”
The Satterberg story began with their mother, Virginia (Ginny) Satterberg Pigott Helsell, who issued the challenge to her six children to start a foundation. “To which I replied,” says Mary, “sure, what’s a foundation?”
Mary rolled up her sleeves, plunged right in and spent much of the next decade answering that question. As she recollected in a letter about Satterberg’s early days:
The Board came together, in 1990, around the proverbial kitchen table to hammer out our initial mission, ‘to improve the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest community through focused, considered grantmaking’. Over the years we have held our meetings in a wide range of settings, law offices, bank offices, our offices, various hotel rooms and other non-profits’ board rooms. More recently we’ve come together virtually, although looking each other in the eye and the heart is still our preference. We’ve struggled with issues large and small, and resolved them thoughtfully, joyfully, sometimes painfully, knowing our most important work is to steward the funds in our care for the good of our communities, which we can scarcely begin to imagine in their breadth and reach. And our mission has evolved into what matters most to us in the 21st century.
Mary served not only as a founding Board Member but as the Executive Director and Foundation’s only in-office staff until 2013, a period in which grantmaking grew from just over $13,000 to more than $20 million. All along the way, she pushed back on philanthropy’s arrogant notion of “best practices,” making space for humility and an ethic of lifelong learning, both for Satterberg and grantees. Mary’s commitment to “learning by doing” helped embed lifelong learning as a core value of the Foundation, and she initiated strategies – including Capacity Building Grants, General Operating Multi-Year grants, and a Sabbatical program for grantees – always pushing for reflection and adaptation in grantmaking. Mary also helped lead the Foundation forward by exploring ways to align Satterberg’s assets with its values, launching our impact investing journey in 2016.
Board meeting minutes going back as early as 2001 reflect the commitment to lifelong learning, and that crucial value has informed our work to promote both a just society and a sustainable environment. That’s Mary’s living legacy. Mary should also be recognized as an advocate for curiosity, humility, and creativity in philanthropy as she strongly believes you can “Go further when you go together”. Her legacy will include a culture of transparency, discipline, and the courage to admit mistakes and keep relationships at the center.
I am thankful to Mary, for her extraordinary mentorship, guidance, and trust over these many years. Her unwavering support and belief in me when I stepped into the role of Executive Director in 2016 meant more than words can convey. It has been a once-in-a-lifetime privilege to partner with her and the Satterberg Foundation on this shared journey.
“We’ll Need Courage”
When we at the Satterberg Foundation speak of “being in relationship”, Judy is the living embodiment of that commitment. Since becoming a founding Board member, she has developed strong relationships with Board Members, staff and grantees. She has led the Foundation’s work around inclusion, to keep widening the circle. And she is a passionate believer in the power of collaboration to advance our mission. As she wrote in a blog for the Northwest Center on Creative Aging:
There’s not unlimited time remaining for us to have a vision, be bold, and challenge the status quo. We’ll need courage if we want a world in which all of those following us will thrive.
Hikers have a saying that the group can only really move forward to reach a destination at the pace of the slowest. If we’re all in this world together, then wouldn’t it make sense to see that all had a chance to succeed?!
Of course, we want this for grandchildren — ours or others — but, more broadly, for all the world’s children. After all, we are all one.
Always one to pitch in, Judy took on the work for many years of being the Foundation’s secretary – a stickler for grammar, and a lover of page numbers. She has helped us build a bridge to the future by engaging the next generation of the family in the Board and also enlisted her grandchildren to present Family Awards. Her humor and warmth have helped to draw more of us closer to the mission and the work of the Foundation, and she has never been afraid to ask critical questions. She is always open to learning and admitting mistakes.
Judy’s vision for Satterberg has always been rooted in deep, authentic relationship, and it shows in the way she has steadily woven together grantees, staff, board, and family members to create this beautiful community of shared purpose. From the beginning, Judy invited us into more collaborative work, more discernment, and more courage, anticipating the trust-based, equity-centered philanthropy that now defines Satterberg’s approach. Judy shows us how to be a human centered partner to non profit organizations and a community-builder who centers equity, shares power, moves transparently, and stays accountable.
The Satterberg Way, Continued…
Together, Mary and Judy have done so much to define what we call the Satterberg Way – a style of philanthropy based in trust and relationship, that is open to change, questions, and trying new things. Increasingly, they trust the next generation of the Board and our talented staff to find the way forward in 2026 and beyond.
Satterberg is in a spend down period of very intentionally moving resources into the community to advance a just society and a sustainable environment. Everything that we are able to do for our grantees is born of the personal commitment, grit and endurance of Mary and Judy’s work over the decades. We’ll continue to learn, ask tough questions, understand we can’t do everything, and keep our egos in check, just like they have.
I consider myself very lucky to know these two women as colleagues, mentors and friends. We have been on a learning journey together, and as they step off the Board, they have our warm thanks for everything they do and everything they are.