Bush Prize

The Bush Prize celebrates organizations that are highly valued within their communities and have a track record of successful community problem solving.

The Bush Prize celebrates organizations that are highly valued within their communities and have a track record of successful community problem solving.

Bush Prize grants are flexible and can be used to build reserves, test a big idea or for anything else that would best support the organization’s ongoing good work. Each year, a total of 9 grants of $250,000 each are awarded.

We offer this program in partnership with 4 community grant partners that are also known and valued in their communities. Each one operates the Bush Prize using similar criteria and has the flexibility to ensure that the program is guided by community members with equity at the center. The grant partners (with Bush in an advisory role) select and announce the Bush Prize winners, as well as provide any support along the way. 

Contact the community grant partner directly to learn more about the Bush Prize.

Bush Prize: Minnesota

Operated by:
Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation

2 grants of $250,000 each

Bush Prize: Native Nations

Operated by:
Good Relatives Collaborative

3 grants of $250,000 each

Bush Prize: North Dakota

Operated by:
Strengthen ND

2 grants of $250,000 each

Bush Prize: South Dakota

Operated by:
South Dakota Community Foundation

2 grants of $250,000 each

2025 Bush Prize Winners

Bush Prize: Minnesota

Learn more about Bush Prize: Minnesota and the honorees at Saint Paul and Minnesota Community Foundation

Foster Advocates is the only organization in Minnesota that advocates for state and county legislative, policy, and practice reform to improve experiences and outcomes with Minnesota Fosters (those no longer in foster care but have that experience). Foster Advocates works collectively with the experts on the foster care system — Fosters — centering the Fosters community when it comes to creating the conditions where all Fosters are provided safety, opportunities to grow, agency over their futures, and access to the same outcomes and opportunities as their peers Their work has resulted in key legislative wins and reforms that are improving opportunities with and for Fosters.

Dakota Wicohan is a Native-led nonprofit based in the Dakota homelands of Cansayapi, dedicated to preserving Dakota as a living language, and through it, transmitting Dakota life ways to future generations. Founded in 2022, the organization offers intergenerational cultural, language, and leadership programming that strengthens identity, well-being, and community resilience. Through this work, Dakota Wicohan empowers youth, adults, elders, and families to carry Dakota values forward as culture bearers and community leaders.

Bush Prize: Native Nations

Learn more about Bush Prize: Native Nations and the honorees at Good Relatives Collaborative

The Minneapolis American Indian Center provides essential services and a central gathering space for the Twin Cities urban Native community. The center serves about 10,000 people a year through its education, employment, health, social service, fitness, cultural, youth, and elder programs, which are provided at no cost to participants. In 2024, the building reopened after undergoing a historic $32.5 million renovation and expansion that added and improved spaces and provided needed maintenance to ensure it will continue serving the community for years to come. The building is open to all and provides connections to Native culture through its rentable meeting and event spaces, Gatherings Café, Two Rivers Gallery, and Woodland Indian Craft Gifts shop.

Makoce Agriculture Development is a Lakota-led, community-driven nonprofit situated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Makoce’s mission is to develop Indigenous Agriculture and Food Systems designed to regenerate equitable, healthy communities, economies, and our environment. Their vision is the development of a multifaceted local food system that provides healthy foods locally to distribute to both local community members and regionally. Through five initiatives, including the Food Systems Institute, Food Hub, Hemp Production, Regenerative Production Farm, and Oceti Sakowin Food Systems Alliance, they are building a resilient future rooted in a local food system. Their contributions aim to achieve self-determination using long-term systems-change approaches to ensure that youth and families in our community have access to healthy, affordable foods, healthier ways of living, and economic opportunities. Makoce leverages land, people, traditional philosophy and systems to restore the community’s vitality as a thriving Oglala Lakota Oyate.

Turtle Mountain IMPACT: Empowerment Self Defense is a grassroots violence prevention education initiative located on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. As the first Indigenous-led IMPACT chapter operating on sovereign tribal land, the organization serves approximately 7,000 enrolled tribal members. Turtle Mountain IMPACT teaches empowerment self-defense, assertive communication, and safety skills to women, girls, two-spirit individuals, and other community members experiencing epidemic levels of violence. The staff consists primarily of enrolled Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa tribal members, and the organization operates through strong collaborative relationships with tribal programs, schools, and community organizations.

Bush Prize: North Dakota

Learn more about Bush Prize: North Dakota and the honorees at Strengthen ND

TNT Kid’s Fitness creates inclusive spaces where children and adults with physical disabilities as well as those who are neurodiverse can thrive alongside their peers. Their curriculum has transformed physical education in more than 30 North Dakota schools, integrating adaptive fitness and sensory learning into classrooms statewide. Their partnerships with universities are shaping the next generation of occupational therapists and educators. The organization also helped launch North Dakota’s first “Level D” school for students with emotional and behavioral challenges and is pioneering the use of new technologies like AI to help schools design affordable, customized adaptive PE programs. Through its innovative use of movement to regulate emotion, build inclusion, and reframe ability, TNT Kids Fitness is not only changing lives but reshaping how communities think about potential, inclusion, and health for all.

Hip Hop & Hope engages youth and adults affected by incarceration, addiction, and homelessness through mentorship, music, and community outreach. Guided by the belief that “everyone has a purpose,” the organization builds a bridge from hopelessness to hope by walking with people through every stage of transformation — from jails and prisons to sober living and reentry. Its core programs use hip hop, physical fitness, and teamwork to strengthen self-discipline, connection, and recovery. Hip Hop & Hope’s model of continuous care has led to measurable improvements in behavior and recidivism while inspiring similar efforts across the region. Nationally recognized by the National Sheriffs’ Association, the organization’s creative blend of music, mentorship, and movement is redefining how hope and rehabilitation take root in North Dakota.

Bush Prize: South Dakota

Learn more about Bush Prize: South Dakota and the honorees at South Dakota Community Foundation

Since 1939, Abbott House Foundation (Abbott House) has been providing safety and shelter for children with nowhere else to go. Today, Abbott House serves more than 200 children and young adults each year in Mitchell, Sioux Falls, and Rapid City by providing long-term, trauma informed support that includes therapy, education, life skills training, and consistent relationships they need to thrive. By building a comprehensive trauma treatment model within their treatment facility, Abbott House provides customized treatment for each child they serve. They offer a wide range of evidence-based interventions, as well as a unique solution to foster care. Their work has proven that by creating a path forward children find stability, compassion, and a clear next step when there previously was none.

Youth & Family Services, Inc (YFS) began in 1965 as a Girls Club of Rapid City. Today, YFS offers a wide range of evidence-informed, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive programs that span education, prevention, and recreation, health-care services, case management, trauma-informed counseling, mentoring, healthy relationships education, nutritious meals, training and technical assistances, and other support services. Up to 80% of families supported by YFS live in poverty; 60% are people of color; and at least 65% are from single-parent households, live with a relative, or are in foster care. YFS works to achieve positive outcomes, despite challenges children and families face.

2024 Bush Prize winners

Green Card Voices (GCV) uses multimedia storytelling to build inclusive and integrated communities between immigrants and their neighbors. Their use of video narratives, books, bilingual graphic memoirs, touring exhibits, and the conversational card game, Story Stitch, aims to help people see immigrants in our communities as individuals through authentic, first-person stories. GCV’s track record of successful community problem solving taps into the power of storytelling with a trauma-informed process that centers the storyteller while engaging a broad audience and building empathy critical to cross-cultural awareness.

Minnesota Education Equity Partnership (MnEEP) transforms systems, structures, and public narratives to advance race equity and excellence in education. Working alongside students, parents, educators, and community members, they aim to change institutional policies and practices to build a racially just education system. MnEEP has a strong track record of innovation, using a unique framework designed to equip educators and school district leaders with evidence-informed solutions to enhance outcomes for POCI students. They have partnered with education leaders and race equity advocates to inform, shape, and advocate for core policies that support the success of Minnesota’s students of color, English Learners, and Indigenous students through legislation, research, advocacy and leadership services.

Mni Sota Fund is a Native CDFI committed to building Indigenous wealth and supporting the economic self-determination of Indigenous peoples in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). They provide financial tools and resources to strengthen small business development, commercial and consumer lending, and financial wellness within Native communities. Their track record of innovation addresses community needs through equitable and sustainable approaches like Mni Sota Mortgage Company, a groundbreaking initiative that provides culturally relevant and accessible mortgage solutions, and the Ozhigin Fellowship, which helps Native artists and entrepreneurs with the support and resources needed to succeed in their businesses. The success of its holistic wealth-building approach serves as a model, not just for other CDFIs, but for a more equitable and supportive lending economy overall.

Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) has been a strong advocate for change working to end sexual violence and sex trafficking across Minnesota’s 11 federally recognized Tribal Nations, urban Native bases, and Tribal communities across the country. They utilize a Native-focused curriculum, developed in partnership with survivors, to train advocates and community members on topics related to sexual assault advocacy and they are a leader in engaging Native men and boys in sexual violence prevention. They focus on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, sex trafficking prevention, improving Black and Indigenous solidarity, and launching national resource centers to address sexual violence. MIWSAC’s work is far reaching, but they always center the needs and experiences of Native survivors of sexual violence by keeping their voices at the forefront.

The Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI) convenes the largest multi-sport youth empowerment tournaments in South Dakota, connecting Native youth across a broad spectrum of athletic, academic, and cultural events centered on respect, accountability, and inclusivity. Each year, 20,000 people from across the state, as well as North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wyoming come together to watch over 2,500 young athletes from 30 different states compete in Rapid City, SD. LNI serves as a point of pride for Native youth and their respective Nations as they share their histories and culture with other non-Native players and attendees in a safe space. Their unique events foster the next generation of leaders by empowering youth, allowing their ideas to shape future planning and growth. 

North Dakota Native Vote (NDNV) addresses the unique challenges faced by Native communities throughout the state to ensure Native people have access to and participate in the democratic process. Their efforts to overcome barriers and strengthen civic engagement among Native populations includes navigating the state’s voter ID laws, which require voters show a physical address — a huge challenge for many Tribal citizens living on reservations. NDNV’s work to overcome barriers like this is one of the many ways they have turned obstacles into opportunities. Through innovative approaches and a deep commitment to their communities, they have a strong pattern of problem solving to ensure Native voices are heard and counted. 

North Dakota Assistive aims to “discover what’s possible” for people living with disabilities and older adults across North Dakota. Whether seeking solutions to live independently, pursue their hobbies, connect with their loved ones or excel in school, individuals who work with North Dakota Assistive receive access to the latest innovative assistive technologies to break barriers and create personalized solutions for their needs. The organization’s innovative approaches include providing low-interest loans to meet the diverse needs of the people they work with to purchase products that will strengthen independence and improve quality of life or identifying simple yet transformative modifications to physical spaces that support individual identities. North Dakota Assistive is committed to connecting individuals to whatever tools they need so they can live, learn, work, play and thrive. 

Call to Freedom (CTF) helps lead efforts in South Dakota to address and stop human trafficking. Their innovative and collaborative efforts include supporting survivors and raising awareness. One of their cornerstone initiatives, Marissa’s House, provides a safe and welcoming shelter for survivors, allowing families to stay together while they work toward healing and self-sufficiency. This safe house has set a national standard for survivor-centered care. CTF also goes beyond direct services by partnering with law enforcement, schools, health systems, and community stakeholders to ensure better identification and support for trafficking victims. Their outreach efforts include multilingual communication efforts within public spaces across the state and utilizing data and resources to track trends in trafficking. 

Bush Prize through the years

View all Bush Prize winners

Previously known as the Bush Prize for Community Innovation, the Bush Prize was introduced in 2012 to invest in extraordinary organizations that have demonstrated achievement and have amazing capacity to do more for our region.

When we upped our commitment to share more power in our grantmaking, we adapted the Bush Prize to share the design and operations of the program with community-based partners across the region. 

One of our early community grant partners, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, led implementation of the 2023 Bush Prize: Minnesota. That Minnesota program has transitioned to the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.  

Today, the heart of the program remains the same and reflects our belief in working beyond ourselves.