Our response to COVID-19

Updated 12/11/2020

Supporting our community

The Bush Foundation continues to adjust and respond to the realities and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our region. We are seeking ways to be most supportive and useful to our community in this time of need.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we took immediate steps to address the unfolding crisis. We pulled from our endowment and reserves to provide an additional $8 million toward relief, and are looking at more. We reprioritized spending across the organization, including canceling the 2020 and 2021 Bush Prize and bushCONNECT, to fund community needs. We also adapted our programs to be more responsive, equitable and safe.

EXPEDITED COMMUNITY INNOVATION GRANTS

One of our first actions was to adapt our Community Innovation grant program to be responsive to needs and opportunities related to COVID-19. Applications related to COVID-19 are given expedited consideration. This includes immediate response efforts and longer-term rebuilding efforts.

See the most recent Community Innovation grantees

COVID-19 GRANTS AND FUNDING

We made several large grants to response efforts assisting communities during this time of need:

The creative community has been hit especially hard by event cancelations. With the money repurposed from bushCONNECT we provided $250,000 to support artists and culture bearers through relief funds across our region:

We also joined with other funders in several collaborative response efforts:

COVID-19 Resources in our Region

Since we know that our resources can't support every need, we compiled a list of resources to connect our communities to other funding available for individuals, artists, nonprofits and businesses in our region. We retired this page in March 2021.

BUSH FOUNDATION PROGRAM CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Beyond funding, we have also made programmatic changes to redirect our resources and focus toward COVID-19 and also to modify events for safety.

We canceled the 2020 and 2021 Bush Prize program to redirect funds toward relief, and are considering its future. The Bush Prize is an important program to us and to the organizations that receive it, and it is an extraordinary step for us to cancel it. 

This year’s annual education learning event was held virtually. The theme of Student Centered Learning for Equity: From a Moment to a Movement, was brought to life through an impactful kick-off and powerful breakout sessions, all online.

We canceled bushCONNECT and our Event Sponsorship program. We feel proud of the work we have done with and through partners on these programs. We will focus our energy and resources to serve the most critical needs in our region.

GRANT FLEXIBILITY

Our grantees are balancing a lot right now, and we want to support them to focus where they need to by offering flexibility around their grants. We are working with grantees to adapt grant terms as needed.

ADJUSTMENTS TO OUR OPERATIONS 

We have transitioned to remote work until further notice. Individual staff members can still be reached by email or phone as usual.

This is a region of caring and resilient people and we know people will find creative and kind ways to respond to this unprecedented time. We want to be as helpful as we can. And we want to support efforts to make the region stronger and more equitable than before the pandemic. Please contact us with any questions or suggestions for how we can be most supportive and useful.