Community Innovation grants & PRIs

The Community Innovation program invests in great ideas and the people who power them across our region.

Community Innovation grants and program-related investments (PRIs) fund ideas that have the potential to make our region better for everyone. The idea can be related to any issue that a community believes is important. Through this program, we aim to:

• Develop, test and spread great ideas. Community Innovation grants support efforts to develop and test ideas to solve problems and create opportunities, then spread the best ideas across communities.
• Inspire, equip and connect leaders. Great ideas spread through people. Community Innovation grants invest in efforts to inspire, equip and connect leaders to more effectively lead change.

The potential for ideas to spread is a key aspect of this program. If an idea works, we want to understand if that idea could spread to other organizations or communities or issues. And if it doesn’t work as hoped, we want to know if there are lessons learned that can help others doing similar work. We also provide funds to help you understand and evaluate those lessons learned.

This is our largest grant program and most flexible—and we make only a small number of grants each year. In 2024, grant amounts ranged from $472,000 to $8.2 million for term lengths that spanned 3 to 8 years.

What we fund

We are open to ideas on any issue that aligns with our values and purpose. We believe great ideas can come from all corners of a community and address an array of issues. We look for the potential and momentum of an idea. We will consider any idea applicants share with us, and we also engage with communities to seek out and encourage promising proposals.

We will consider organizations of all sizes and ideas at all stages of development. We are looking for big transformation, but know big ideas can start small. We will consider ideas at all stages of development—the idea just needs to be defined enough that we can consider its potential impact. We award grants to organizations of all sizes.

We are flexible in when and how we invest. Applications are welcome at any time throughout the year, and we are flexible in how we fund an idea. We offer grants and program-related investments (PRIs, which are non-grant investments like loans and guarantees), and do not place caps on the amount or duration of these funds. What matters is matching the funding to what best supports an idea.

Given the flexibility of the program, we ask anyone interested in submitting their ideas to contact us first. We really want to hear your ideas and help answer questions so that you don’t spend time on an application that isn’t a fit.

Everything you need to know to apply

Key dates

• Online applications are open year-round.
• Talk to us before you apply. This is a highly competitive program, and it will save you time to contact us first. We can help clarify questions about our criteria so you know if your idea is a fit or not.

Eligibility, application questions and criteria

We encourage you to review all the eligibility, application and criteria information provided here:

Our selection process

We review applications on a rolling basis. Our board and staff are part of the decision-making process, and a team makes final decisions.

For applications that advance, the decision process can take as long as 6 months. Larger grant amounts also require board approval, and our board meets quarterly.

• If your application is not a fit, we will notify you by email within 2 to 4 weeks from the application date.
• If your application is being considered, we will notify you by email within 6 to 8 weeks to set up a 30-minute call with you.
• If your application advances further, we will schedule a more in-depth interview with you.
• We offer all applicants an opportunity to receive feedback from our staff. This is optional, and our intent is to help you with future or other applications.

In 2024, the average time for a successful application was between 2 and 12 months, with the average being 7 months.

Community Innovation through the years

We have invested over $172 million since this work began in the 2013. The program details have changed through the years but the spirit of it remains the same: We invest in great ideas and the people that power them.

We hope you take some time to get to know the innovative organizations and people we’ve supported through our Community Innovation grants. We think they’ll inspire you to think bigger and think differently.

We publish all of our grants in our online grants database. It’s a great resource to learn about the different types of current and past grantees, which include brief grant descriptions.

We also share stories and news about grantees. Check out this story to see how this organization used their grant to revitalize small-town grocery access.

Be sure to get on our email list to receive all the Bush news.

Working with us as a grantee

We’re so excited to support your work along the way! Our intent in working with Community Innovation grantees is to build a supportive and reciprocal relationship.

We partner with you to create the grant agreement based on your proposal, including an agreed-upon timeline for the work and how the funds will be used.

We will ask you to share your reflections (successes as well as challenges) during our meetings and as part of your interim and final grant reports.

We’re supporting really big ideas, and as with any innovative work, sometimes things don’t work out as hoped. We expect there will be challenges and even failures along the way. Learning from these moments is an important part of creating new community solutions.

Bush jargon and definitions

Jargon is tricky. The words themselves aren’t necessarily bad. The problem is when we assume that we all interpret them the same way. Sometimes, jargon can be useful and familiar.

When we use jargon, we provide the context and definition for what we mean.