Inside Philanthropy

Go beyond 990s.

Bush Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The Bush Foundation supports community improvement, capacity building, human services, public benefit, arts and culture, education, environment, health, and media and communication in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

IP TAKE: The Bush Foundation is one of the Upper Midwest’s most important funders for community-led systems change, and it is more open than many large regional foundations. But grantseekers should not mistake that openness for a low bar. This is a funder looking for ideas that are rooted in community, advance equity, and have the potential to spread beyond one organization or locality.

Bush has “embraced a power-sharing model” where “community partners” take the lead in designing grant programs, evaluate applicants and regrant dollars. This strategy has led to increased transparency, something evidenced on the foundation’s website, where grantseekers can find detailed breakdowns of grants and opportunities and a searchable database of previous grantees that didn’t exist before. Deadlines and guidelines vary by program, so new grantseekers will want to read over their program’s description carefully before applying.

Notably, the foundation has declared its commitment to Native nations in the Upper Midwest and takes an equity approach to its grantmaking, so your work will need to align with this lens to get on this funder’s radar. Start a conversation before applying and bring a clear, concise concept that explains the community need, the proposed solution, who is leading it, and why the idea could influence broader systems or be useful to others in the region. Grantseekers should also pay close attention to timing: some Bush programs are always open or conversation-based, while others operate on multi-year cycles and may not be available every year.

PROFILE: Established in 1953, the Bush Foundation is a private foundation based in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is the foundation of Archibald and Edyth Bush, who passed on their $300 million estate to philanthropy. Archibald Bush served as a top executive at 3M. The foundation’s assets largely derive from 3M stock. The foundation aims to “inspire and support creative problem solving, within and across sectors, to make our region better for everyone.” It funds local efforts for community improvement, capacity building, human services, public benefit, arts and culture, education, environment, health, media and communication, and other community needs.

Grants for Racial Equity, Indigenous Justice, and Community Development

The Bush Foundation focuses its grantmaking around two main topics: community innovation and leadership. Overall, this foundation has an equity mission and looks to prioritize diversity and inclusion. Grants typically support projects that address community issues in a way that is inclusive, collaborative, and resourceful.

The foundation’s key grant programs seek to “develop, test and spread great ideas that will make the region better for everyone; and inspire, equip and connect people to more effectively lead change,” and they include:

  • Bush Prize is the foundation’s signature program, operated by four partner organizations. It awards 9 grants of $250,000 each: 2 in Minnesota, 3 for Native Nations, 2 in North Dakota and 2 in South Dakota.”
  • Community Innovation grants work to make a transformative impact on local communities. Grants often involve significant multi-year funding amounts with no upward limit. Applications are accepted anytime, but applicants should connect first.
  • The highly competitive Bush Fellowship provides up to $150,000 of support for a variable number of community leaders annually. Recently, there have been between 24 and 30 fellows.
  • Media Partnership Programs provides nonprofit media organizations with up to $150,000 total over three years, typically 25% of expenses up to $50,000 per year in operating support to “inspire and support creative community problem solving” in the region. Applications open every three years.
  • Ecosystem Grants provide up to $450,000 over three years in operating support to established organizations that are “recognized in their communities as helpful resources.”
  • Partnership Fund offers grants up to $150,000 to address unusual situations not covered by other programs, such as maximizing “efforts that help attract resources to the region” or responding “to important community needs.” It funds a very limited number of requests and explicitly does not fund projects that fit an open competitive program, budget shortfalls, or one-off needs shared by many organizations.
  • Giving Days supports selected operators in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Native communities with multi-year funding to strengthen online giving campaigns that mobilize donors for local nonprofits.
  • Memberships Program provides annual membership support to regional and national philanthropy, nonprofit-sector and collaborative organizations that advance shared infrastructure, learning, advocacy or field-building aligned with its regional goals.

In addition to these core programs, the foundation also provides several further grant opportunities that are operated and administered through partner organizations, a strategy that tries “to meet the partner where they are without imposing [the Bush Foundation’s] perspective.” These grants and opportunities include:

  • Beyond Idea Grants give between $5,000 to $100,000 to projects that “demonstrate meaningful investment and engagement in South Dakota communities.”
  • Creative Community Solutions supports North Dakota leaders with up to $300,000 over 6 years to put toward projects serving and solving problems for the local community.
  • Good Relatives Collaborative Grants provide Native-led or Native-serving organizations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota with flexible, responsive grants of $20,000 to $60,000. Grantees must have operating budgets under $500,000.
  • Minnesota Community IDEAS Program seeks organizations who seek to “design, test, and spread ideas that make our community better for everyone,” supporting grantees with $160,000 over three years.

The foundation has a $100 million Community Trust Fund that works to advance racial equity and address wealth disparity in Black and Native American communities across the region.

Bush also engages in impact investing and supports business and community development in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the 23 Native nations in the area. The foundation considers its investments as a way to complement its grantmaking and “to preserve and create jobs and build wealth in [the] region.”

Important Grant Details:

Grants typically range between about $1,000 and $4.2 million. However, grants tend to average about $150,000. It awards around $75 million to $80 million in grants annually.

  • Learn more about this funder’s local giving on the searchable Grants Database page of the funder’s website.
  • Bush is overwhelmingly a regional funder for Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations sharing that geography, though some national or out-of-region entities may appear when they serve the region, operate in philanthropy infrastructure, or partner on regional work.
  • This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits. Application deadlines vary by program and can range from year-round acceptance to deadlines of only a few weeks. The selection process involves an initial review and a finalist review phase.
  • Direct general questions to the staff at staff@bushfoundation.org or (651) 227-0891.

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

LINKS:

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