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Why It Matters

The Better World Campaign was not MWMurray's largest client, but it was among its most durable. Over 31 disclosed filings spanning 2019 through early 2026, the organization paid the firm a consistent $9,000 to $10,000 per quarter — totaling an estimated $266,000 or more over the course of the relationship.

The United Nations has been in the Trump Administration's cross hairs from day one.

In the first quarter of 2026, MWMurray reported four active clients. American Councils for International Education topped the roster at $26,500, followed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance at $21,000 and Kiwanis International at $15,000. The Better World Campaign, at $9,000, represented roughly 11 percent of the firm's $80,500 in disclosed evenue — the smallest single client by reported amount, but one that had been on the books longer than any other.

The firm's client mix — a global vaccine alliance, an international education exchange organization, a civic service organization, and a UN advocacy campaign — reflects a practice oriented around mission-driven and internationally focused work. Losing the Better World Campaign does not upend the firm's book of business, but it removes a client that had been a consistent part of it for the better part of a decade.
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Broader Context

The policy environment has shifted dramatically. The Better World Campaign's lobbying work — as documented across all 31 filings — was narrowly and consistently focused on securing congressional appropriations for U.S. contributions to the United Nations. Every quarterly disclosure cited the same two issue areas: Foreign Relations and Budget/Appropriations. The specific issues lobbied referenced the annual State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, with language centered on funding for Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities, Contributions to International Organizations, and Peacekeeping Operations accounts.

That approach made sense when the fight was being waged in the Appropriations Committees. It is a harder fit for the current moment.

The Trump administration has moved aggressively to defund and disengage from the United Nations. The administration's proposed budget would eliminate funding for Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities entirely — despite Congress appropriating approximately $1.2 billion for that account in Fiscal Year 2026, according to the Better World Campaign's own budget analysis. The administration has also withdrawn the U.S. from dozens of international organizations and allowed outstanding UN dues to reach a reported record of $1.568 billion. The primary threat to UN funding has moved from line-item battles in the Appropriations Committees to executive branch directives — a fundamentally different arena.

What the Legislation Record Shows

The bills MWMurray lobbied on for the Better World Campaign had a mixed record. Of the legislation identified in the disclosures:

  • H.R. 4373, the FY2022 State/Foreign Operations bill, was enacted as Public Law — though in its final form it functioned as a Continuing Resolution rather than a full-year appropriations bill.
  • H.R. 4665, the FY2024 State/Foreign Operations bill, passed the House but did not independently become law; its contents were folded into a broader consolidated appropriations package.
  • H.R. 4420, the United States Commitment to Peacekeeping Act of 2021 — which would have repealed the 25 percent statutory cap on U.S. funding for UN peacekeeping operations — never advanced beyond introduction in the 117th Congress. The cap remained in place throughout the entire lobbying engagement.

No Recent Congressional Hearing Mentions

Available data shows no congressional hearings mentioning the Better World Campaign within the past year. The most recent hearing appearance on record was in March 2021, when Senior Director Jordie Hannum testified before a congressional panel on U.S. standing in international organizations, addressing China's growing influence in UN specialized agencies and the importance of U.S. diplomatic staffing.

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The Bottom Line

Lobbyist Mark Murray, who handled all disclosed work for the Better World Campaign throughout the seven-year engagement, has a congressional background rooted in the House Appropriations Committee, where he served as a Staff Assistant on the Minority side during the 109th Congress. He holds an MPA from Syracuse University's Maxwell School. That profile — appropriations committee experience, institutional knowledge of the State/Foreign Operations funding process — was well-matched to the work the Better World Campaign needed done when it hired MWMurray in 2019.

The LDA filing that terminated the relationship reflects a lobbying disclosure termination at a moment when the Better World Campaign's core issue has become less of an appropriations question and more of an executive branch confrontation. The Better World Campaign has continued publishing advocacy content into 2026, including a piece highlighting that $2.13 billion in UN contracts went to U.S. businesses in 2024 — an argument designed to reframe UN funding as a domestic economic benefit rather than a foreign policy commitment.

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