Bush Foundation

The Bush Foundation has selected 41 organizations to receive Ecosystem grants, which provide general operating support to help sustain organizations that create unique and significant value for our grantees, Fellows and other organizations.

One of the challenges of making institutions and systems work better for everyone, is that the people who rise to leadership tend to be people who thrive in those environments. When an institution worked well for you, it is harder to see the ways it may not work for others. It is harder to see what needs to change to make it work well for everyone.

We talk a lot at the Bush Foundation about how you don’t have to have a “leadership role” to be a leader. You can lead from anywhere. It is a bit more awkward to talk about the corollary truth, which is that just because you have the “leadership role” doesn’t mean you are leading.

A new report from First Nations Development Institute lists us as the 7th biggest foundation funder of Native issues in the US.  

Each of the new Bush Fellows will receive up to $100,000 to invest in their own leadership development. That is amazing and will support them to dream big about their growth as leaders. At the same time, when I think back about the experiences that made the biggest difference in my own leadership development, most of them were free.

One of the most fun parts of my job is meeting Bush Fellowship finalists when they come to our office to interview. Always an impressive and inspiring group, this year I was struck to see that more than a third of the finalists were immigrants or refugees to the U.S.

More than 30 organizations will partner with the Bush Foundation to produce bushCONNECT 2018, an event that will bring together more than 1,100 people to build and strengthen connections among leaders and leadership networks across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geography.