Bush Fellowship

Your Fellowship journey begins with a personal goal to become more effective in your leadership and a vision for what that could mean for your community. You define your vision, create a Fellowship plan and carry it out.

Your Fellowship funds can be used for a wide range and combination of experiences, including living expenses, tuition, conference registration, equipment, travel and childcare. No portion of the Fellowship can be directed to another person or organization, or used to fund a business or program.

Here are some of the ways Fellows use their Fellowships to develop their own leadership:

• Gain a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate degree.
• Attend conferences and conventions within or outside of their current expertise and network.
• Build a network of colleagues and thought partners. 
• Develop business acumen and credentials.
• Grow capacity to build and sustain coalitions.
• Study effective change strategies.
• Learn from successful organizations and initiatives.
• Take part in leadership programs.
• Seek and work with mentors.
• Develop specific skills, including professional coaching, conflict and change management, facilitation and communication skills.

The Fellowship can last anywhere between 12 and 24 months. During that time, Fellows submit monthly reflections on their experience. Every six months, they provide a public reflection on their leadership journey in the form of a Learning Log.

Fellows also come together once a year to meet one another and share the insights and experiences they have gained through the Fellowship.

IRS regulations restrict how certain government and elected officials can use their Fellowship. Download the Restrictions for Government Officials (PDF) for more information.

To be eligible for a Bush Fellowship you must be:

• At least 24 years old at the time of the application deadline.
• A resident who currently lives in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or one of the 23 Native nations within that same geography, and has lived there for one continuous year immediately before applying.
• You are ineligible if you have previously received a Bush Fellowship, Bush Artist Fellowship, Bush Leadership Fellowship, Bush Medical Fellowship or Enduring Vision Award.
• You cannot apply if you are a family member of an individual who is on the Bush Foundation staff or Board of Directors. That includes spouse, parent, grandparent, great grandparent, child, grandchild, great grandchild, and spouses of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

There are no specific citizenship requirements to be eligible for the Bush Fellowship. However, if a Fellow is not a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the Bush Foundation may be required to withhold income taxes on Fellowship payments and report such payments and withholdings to the Internal Revenue Service.

IRS regulations restrict how certain government and elected officials can use their Fellowship. Visit Restrictions for Government Officials for more information.

Bush Fellows come from all sectors, ages, backgrounds and walks of life. There are Fellows who are CEOs of major companies, and there are Fellows who are starting out in their careers. What makes them Fellows is their record of accomplishment, potential to do even more for their communities and commitment to lead inclusively. 

Fellows are committed to deepening their ability to drive equitable, large-scale change that makes our region more just. They are ready to dig deep, transforming their own leadership practice to get to the best version of themselves in service of their communities.

Up to 24 Bush Fellows are selected each year. Our criteria for selecting Fellows is based on the combination of an extraordinary track record of success, a Fellowship plan that reflects the ability to dream big about what is possible and the skills and potential to bring the plan to life.

Bush Fellowship applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

Your Track Record

• Record of success: You make the most of opportunities regardless of where you are in your career. You continuously find ways to have more impact inside your job and/or outside your job. You are persistent and resilient in the face of difficulty. 
• Outstanding character: You are admired and respected by others. You demonstrate integrity and generosity of spirit. 
• Active Learner: You recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. You seek and incorporate feedback. You have an inquiring mind, actively searching out new ideas and new experiences to broaden your perspective and increase your effectiveness.    

Your Potential

• You demonstrate the vision and the drive to be extraordinary in your leadership and the capacity to make a far greater impact in your community, affecting larger-scale changes than you are making now. You are committed to working to benefit people and communities in MN, ND, SD and the 23 Native nations that share the geography.

Your Plan

• You clearly articulate how the Fellowship will be transformative to changing or accelerating your trajectory in your career and life. You clearly articulate how you will be a stronger, more effective leader after the Fellowship than you are today.

2024 Bush Fellowship applications closed at noon Central on September 21, 2023. 

We encourage anyone interested in a Fellowship to watch our informational webinar and review the resources and information on this page. Take a look at the application questions to better understand if a Fellowship  is right for you.

As you consider applying for the Fellowship, think about things like: 

• What is your vision for making your community stronger? What is the impact you want to have?
• How do you need to change, grow and develop to make that happen? How will you build your skills to work inclusively with people of all different backgrounds?
• Remember, this is an opportunity to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Think big about the skills, connections, knowledge and experiences that would help you turn your vision into reality. 
• Talk to others about your ideas. Listen to their feedback and use it to strengthen your plan.

Steps to Apply

1. When you're ready to start your application, go to our online application. Start by answering the Eligibility questions and providing your Applicant Information. 
2. Answer the questions about Your Track Record and Your Potential. Pay attention to the character count limit - only the characters within the limit will be successfully submitted. You can save your application anytime to revisit and finish later. 
3. Upload your resume. Include your name in the file name and in the resume document itself. Please only send your resume - we are not able to review or consider other documents.
4. Submit your application! You will receive an email confirmation when your application is successfully submitted. The email will include a copy of your application responses.

We use an online application system. We understand this may present a barrier to some applicants, and we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate particular needs on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us as soon as possible, but no later than one week before the application deadline, to discuss your specific circumstances. We cannot make accommodations after that deadline.

Application Tips

The selection process is designed to benefit all applicants. Whether or not you receive a Fellowship, the process provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your accomplishments and create a plan to reach your goals.

The stages of the 2023 Bush Fellowship selection process:

1. A preliminary selection committee of Bush Fellow alumni will select roughly 150 quarterfinalists in early November, 2022. 
2. Quarterfinalists will be invited to have a one-on-one mentoring session in late November with a Bush Fellow alum who will help them think bigger about their Fellowship plan. Following the mentoring session, quarterfinalists are required to provide more information about their Fellowship plan through a second stage application due December 9 at noon Central. 
3. Foundation staff select up to 60 semifinalists by late January, 2023.
4. Semifinalists are required to provide more information about how they will use the Fellowship through phone interviews and reference checks in late January to early March. The Bush Foundation may conduct formal background and public records checks on applicants who are invited to move forward to the next phase of the application process.
5. A final selection committee of Foundation staff will select up to 36 finalists in early April.
6. Each finalist will be assigned a time for one-on-one phone interviews with five members of the Fellowship selection committee, a diverse group of community leaders and Bush Foundation board members from across the region. Interviews will take place on April 24, April 27 and May 1.
7. The Fellowship selection committee will select up to 24 Fellows, to be notified in early May and publicly announced in mid-June.
8. The 2023 Bush Fellowship launch retreat will take place in May, and the start date for the Fellowship is August 1.

Learn more about Bush Fellowship selection

It is important to us that our processes are transparent. If any of our selection committee members would financially benefit from an applicant being selected as a Bush Fellow, they will not be part of the selection decision for that applicant.