News

The organizations who have received Community Innovation grants so far in 2020 are examples of the community problem solving happening to make our region better for everyone. They're working on solutions for homelessness, workforce inclusion, increasing home-ownership opportunities and issues related to COVID-19. 

The Bush Foundation has invested in leadership development as a program priority for decades. It is only in recent years that we have brought that same intention to our own staff.

One of our Bush Foundation values is to Spread Optimism. To us, that means thinking bigger and thinking differently about what is possible for people and communities. It does not mean pretending like things aren’t bad or difficult. Turning optimism into action requires being realistic and adjusting efforts to fit changing circumstances.
 

The Bush Foundation is adjusting to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the rest of our region, country and world. We’re thinking about how we can be most supportive and useful to our community as we also figure out how to manage ourselves and our work. We don’t yet know what the greatest needs will be or the best ways to support them. We do know that the economic hardship created by the COVID-19 pandemic will be challenging for many. Here’s what we’re doing right now to support our staff, partners and community...

We canceled the 2020 Bush Prize for Community Innovation. Read more.

The Bush Prize for Community Innovation celebrates organizations with a track record of successful community problem solving. Bush Prize winners are extraordinary not only in what they do, but how they do it. They work inclusively, in partnership with others, to make our region better for everyone. 

Vivian Chow recently joined the Bush Foundation as its communications director. In this role, she will advance the Foundation’s mission by providing strategic leadership for communications. 

The Bush Prize is about inspiration. We tell the stories of Bush Prize winners to inspire problem solvers across the region — and we do it to inspire others to apply for the Bush Prize. If you work with an organization with a track record of solving tough problems in your community, we want to hear from you. 

Our Community Innovation grant program is the Bush Foundation’s largest and most flexible grant program. Since the program was created in 2013, we've given out 202 grants totaling more than $32 million to organizations working on a wide range of issues in communities all around the region. (Plus, our state-level intermediary partners have made an additional 641 grants totaling over $6.2 million.)

The Bush Prize recognizes organizations that have a culture of innovation and a track record of creating innovative solutions to challenges in their communities. The first key to a culture of innovation is to think bigger about what’s possible. Bush Prize winners often pursue solutions that haven’t been tried before, because they think about root causes and the levers that are critical to shifting how things operate.

The Bush Foundation’s tagline is also our strategy: “Investing in great ideas and the people who power them.” This focus on people has been part of the Bush Foundation from its very beginning. It is not a typical foundation approach. In fact, programs like our Bush Fellowship require special approval from the IRS. (With good reason; the IRS wants to be very careful about how foundation dollars flow to individuals.)

While we’ve been known for our Bush Fellowship program for decades, in the past several years we have dramatically expanded the number of additional opportunities we offer to individuals.