Governance

We provide an annual allowance for our board members and board committee members to recommend a grant to nonprofit organizations in our region that align with our mission. These grants are given anonymously through a donor advised fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. The annual allowance for these grants ranges from $5,000-20,000, depending on a variety of factors related to each member’s role and responsibilities. We don’t have an open application or solicitation process for these recommendations; our board members make these decisions proactively based on their work in and knowledge of the community.

The Bush Foundation’s governance structure is defined in its articles and bylaws filed with the State of Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

We use a charter and work plan for each committee of the board that defines the roles, responsibilities and meeting agendas for each.

We also use an enterprise risk framework to help identify, prioritize and assign risk responsibilities to management and the board.

The Bush Foundation has a conflict of interest/code of conduct policy (PDF) that applies to our board, staff, key partners and vendors in the communities we serve.

Our goal is to avoid situations where our relationships impair our ability, in fact or appearance, to be independent in our decision making.

To that end, the conflict of interest/code of conduct policy is used with all contracts and grant approvals, and we collect annual statements from staff and board identifying relationships that could potentially impair the independence of our decision-making. We work diligently to manage such conflicts carefully with strong board oversight.

Finances

Financial information for the Bush Foundation is reported each year through audited financial statements and tax returns. 

Investment Policies

The Bush Foundation’s long-term investment objective is to generate an inflation-adjusted return in excess of the IRS minimum 5.0% payout.

Our investment efforts are coordinated by an Investment Committee of the board comprised of board members and outside experts, an internal investment staff that includes a chief investment officer and an outside investment advisory firm. The Investment Committee meets at least quarterly with a focus on asset allocation, risk management, performance review and investment manager selection. The committee reviews its written investment policy each year and recommends changes to the board. The committee provides quarterly risk and performance reports to the board.

Impact Investing

The Bush Foundation is a grantmaking organization, and we seek to have the most possible impact with the resources we grant to the communities we serve. One of the most significant ways we have impact in the world is in the investment of our endowment assets. We have two intentional objectives we consider as part of our commitment to investing for impact: advancing equity in capital markets, and supporting business development in our region. Learn more about our impact investing approach and recent investments. 

Copyrights

Copyright of the text materials contained in the website is owned by the Bush Foundation. Text materials may be used, downloaded, reproduced, publicly displayed or reprinted for personal or noncommercial purposes provided the following attribution appears in all copies: "Reproduced with permission of the Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota." Permission to reproduce materials for commercial use (e.g., book publishing) must be obtained in writing. Text materials included in this site may not be modified in any way. The site may also offer software, graphic images, data, and other non-text-based materials. All rights to these materials are reserved to the Foundation and/or the copyright owners who license such materials to us.

Privacy

The Bush Foundation uses web software to track visitor information in our website. The data is then analyzed internally for trends, which helps us provide more useful information to visitors. No personal information is collected during this tracking process. In a few instances, we ask visitors to submit personal information, such as email or postal addresses, in order to deliver requested information or materials. We do not share, sell or otherwise willfully disclose this personal information to any third party.

Links

For informational purposes only, this site contains links to websites created, maintained and controlled by other organizations and individuals. The Bush Foundation has no responsibility for the content of any website to which a link is provided. These links are provided for your convenience and are not intended as an endorsement by the Foundation of the organizations or individuals operating these sites, a solicitation to contribute to these organizations or individuals, nor as a warranty of the information the sites contain. The Bush Foundation does not have responsibility for the content of sites that link to its site and reserves the right to request that links to its site be removed.

Photographer/Artist Credits

All images are royalty-free and/or use by the Bush Foundation has been permitted courtesy of the copyright holder. All images are used with permission, and may not be reproduced in any form without express written consent of the owner. 

Sharing Knowledge

The Bush Foundation is a learning organization and we work to be smarter and more effective every year. We never lose sight of the reason we exist: to do the most possible good with the resources left to the community by Archibald G. Bush. We share the lessons we learn through our efforts, as well as insights from grantees and Bush Fellows. Explore what we're learning.

Whistleblower Procedures

The Bush Foundation is committed to lawful and ethical behavior in all of its activities and requires that our board of directors, non-board member committee members, employees and consultants conduct themselves in a manner that complies with all applicable laws and Foundation policies.

To support this commitment, we have a whistleblower policy that is shared with the board annually, is included in our employee handbook and is monitored quarterly by the Audit Committee of the board of directors. The policy provides a communication process for any involved party who wishes to raise concerns about wrongful acts at the Foundation. Wrongful acts encompass conduct that is fraudulent, dishonest or illegal, or which violates the Foundation's Articles and Bylaws, Conflicts of Interest/Code of Conduct Policy, Investment Policy, Confidential Information Policy, grantmaking policies, employee handbook policies or any other Foundation policy.

Compensation Process

The Foundation utilizes market benchmarking to help set board and staff compensation. We also utilize a formal performance review and feedback system as inputs to compensation and to create development and learning plans for board and staff.
 
The board reviews and approves board compensation approximately every three years. The board reviews and approves senior management compensation each year. The president reviews and approves all staff compensation, including that of senior management, each year.

Our Values

Learn more about our values and our work to be more equitable.