We work with many service providers, contractors, creatives and other types of vendors to help us in our work and contribute to making the region better for everyone.
We want to have impact through our spending, just as we do through our grantmaking. We recognize that who we choose to provide us with services also can affect individuals and communities. Data tells us that some segments of business owners encounter additional barriers that challenge their start-up and sustainability, such as access to capital and networking opportunities.
We want to be thoughtful about how our own spending can help address these barriers and make the region better for everyone.
We make vendor opportunities available through our open process and share them here.
Current opportunities
We regularly do open calls for proposals (RFP) or qualifications (RFQ) to find partners who will help us do our work.
Request for proposals: Custom tile work or mosaics for new offices
We are seeking a Bush Fellow artist to develop custom tile work or mosaics for our new offices in The 428 Building in downtown St. Paul, MN. This opportunity is open to current or past Bush Fellows.
We expect to work closely with the artist on concepts and revisions to get to the final design. This includes a small core group of Bush staff leading artwork decisions for the new space.
Download the RFP (PDF) for more information and how to submit a proposal. Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
Request for information: Custom artwork for new offices
We are seeking Bush Fellow artists to develop custom artwork for our new offices in The 428 Building in downtown St. Paul, MN. This opportunity is open to current or past Bush Fellows.
We expect to work with the artist on concepts and revisions to get to the final designed artwork.
Download the RFI (PDF) for more information and how to submit your information. Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
Request for information: Custom logos for new offices
We are seeking youth artists to develop custom logo graphics for our new offices in The 428 Building in downtown St. Paul, MN. This opportunity is open to past or current Bush grantees who work with youth in our grantmaking region.
The project involves developing creative interpretations of our logos, past and present. To do this work, we would like to partner with one or two nonprofit organizations that work with young artists. The organization(s) would promote this opportunity to young artists, gather high-resolution digital images of the artists’ designs and submit them to us. We will accept as many images as the young artists want to submit. We then will purchase the right to use the selected designs in creative ways throughout our space and in future Bush visual communications.
Download the RFI (PDF) for more information and how to submit your information. Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
Request for proposals: Develop a disability and inclusion plan and practice
The Bush Foundation seeks a partner to help us continue to integrate accessibility, particularly for disability and inclusion, as a fundamental practice across our foundation’s operations, physical spaces and interactions.
We are seeking proposals to support a two-year initiative to develop and implement a disability and inclusion plan and practice that informs our core decision-making processes, operational workflows and grantmaking program designs.
This project builds on previous work and is an organizational priority for 2025 and 2026. The first year will emphasize discovery and learning and reviewing current practices. The second year will focus on training and implementation to establish disability and inclusion practices across the organization.
Download the RFP (PDF) for more information and how to submit a proposal. Submissions are due by noon Central on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact Farhiya at the email address above.
Request for qualifications: Bush Fellowship retreat facilitator
The Bush Fellowship program is a self-designed leadership program that gives individuals the flexibility they need to develop their own capacity to lead effectively. Each year, we host a retreat for new Fellows and for Fellows that are at the halfway point in their journey.
We’re creating a pool of speakers and presenters to help with future Bush Fellowship workshop retreat needs. We would expect these consultants to work with our staff to curate presentation content and supporting materials that would complement the goal of the retreat and the Fellows. Our goal is to create a pool of consultants who may be able to present on a variety of topics.
This opportunity is open to Bush Fellowship alumni only.
Download the RFP (PDF) for more information and how to submit your qualifications. We are collecting submissions through April 2026 and considering them on a rolling basis.
If you have questions, please contact Adora Land, grantmaking director, at aland@bushfoundation.org.
Request for qualifications: Communications vendors
We maintain a list of qualified, potential communications vendors to provide communications expertise and support for a variety of discrete projects and needs with specific timelines. We refer to this list when work arises and use it to identify partners that are well-suited to a project so that we can have more specific conversations about capacity, timing and contract terms.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information and instructions if you wish to be added to our list.
We will add potential vendors to the list as they are submitted.
Request for information: Search and recruitment partner
We maintain a list of potential search and recruitment partners.
Our goal is to expand our network and offer potential partners the chance to understand our priorities and goals ahead of a specific request for a proposal. Because the need for a specific search usually occurs unexpectedly and with some urgency, we hope that doing some pre-work will help us build a broader network of search partners with diverse expertise and interests.
We plan to go to this list when a vacancy occurs and identify partners who are well suited to the specific search so that we can have more specific conversations about capacity, timing and contract terms.
Responses can be sent to talent@bushfoundation.org or to Attn: Talent Development, Bush Foundation, 101 Fifth Street East, Suite 2400, Saint Paul, MN 55101.
We will add partners to this list as they come in.
Tell us more about your organization
To help us understand our impact, we encourage anyone interested in a specific opportunity with us to complete our vendor demographic form. We use that information as one of many considerations in our vendor decisions.
The Bush Foundation is seeking a partner to help produce and publish an annual mailer which serves as a type of annual report, bringing awareness about our grantmaking and opportunities in the region.
We are seeking a partner with experience in creative and graphic design and strong project management skills. Work will include designing, editing, proofing, printing and mailing the annual mailer. It may also include consultation on photography and other art direction. We expect to keep the current specs but there is room to update the design and layout, as well as distribution. If you do not have in-house print and mail distribution, you may work with an external vendor. This contract will be for the 2025 mailer with the potential for work on future mailers.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information. Submissions closed on April 10, 2025.
Bush is deeply committed to “doing more good every year,” which is one of our operating values. This value drives our work and our ongoing efforts to place equity at the core of our work. Since 2013, our organization has been deeply focused on intentional equity work, integrating equity into our policies, practices and culture with the goal of becoming a more inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist workplace.
Building upon our previous work, we want to engage a consultant who will co-create a plan for the next phase in our equity and organizational culture work. We’re seeking an experienced partner to collaborate with us on building our understanding and practices, to center psychological safety in our work culture building upon the equity foundation already present in our work.
Download the RFP (PDF) for more information. Submissions closed on April 10.
We are seeking an experienced event planning coordinator to help support a variety of gatherings for staff, grantees and community members in partnership with our staff. Our goal is to create welcoming, well-organized events that are designed to connect, equip and inspire people. The selected consultant will help ensure seamless logistics, thoughtful details and an overall experience that aligns with our operating values.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information and how to submit your information. Submissions closed on Thursday, March 13.
We are embarking upon a journey to learn more about the origins of wealth as an organization. We want to better understand how the money that was donated to establish the Bush Foundation was made. We are seeking a partner to research and document key findings that will help us learn more about our origin story.
Download the RFP (PDF) for more information and how to submit a proposal. Proposals closed on February 20.
We are looking for a full-service law firm to serve as our primary partner regarding all legal questions and concerns. We are generally pleased with the service we have received from our current legal partner, but we believe it is good practice to periodically review services and cost, and to consider all options.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information. The response period closed on December 20, 2024.
The Bush Foundation seeks a qualified Salesforce consultant to provide general support and maintenance for its Salesforce CRM platform.
We use Salesforce as a central hub for managing community relationships, grantmaking activities and program evaluation.
The response period closed on Thursday, October 31, 2024.
The Bush Foundation seeks proposals for quality tier 1 through tier 3 IT support and network administration services.
We are seeking a qualified IT provider to deliver comprehensive IT services, including infrastructure management, cybersecurity, data analytics and application development.
The response period closed on Thursday, October 31, 2024.
The Bush Foundation is planning to publish a book about philanthropy. Our president, Jen Ford Reedy, is the author.
The book is intended to be most useful to new board and staff members of foundations, and to serve as an orientation to the field and philanthropic strategy.
We need help figuring out the best choices for how to publish and distribute the book and how to get it in the hands of people we think could benefit from it.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information and how to share your information with us if you wish to be added to our list.
The response period closed on Monday, October 14, 2024.
We are looking for a consulting partner who can help us get smarter about the existing infrastructure in North Dakota related to impact investing, economic development, lending in underserved markets and the broader movement of capital. This likely includes learning about the roles of community and economic development organizations, local governments, housing or agriculture-focused organizations, banks, Tribes and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), among others.
The Bush Foundation has approximately 50 works of art in our Saint Paul, Minnesota, office, most of which are relatively recent works by Bush Fellows. We would like to document their current value for our own records as well as for insurance purposes. Our collection of artwork includes photography, sculpture, paintings, mixed media and other forms of art. We are not looking to add to or remove any pieces from our collection.
The submission period closed on Friday, August 16, 2024.
The Bush Foundation is developing a list of qualified, potential architect / design firms for a potential office space design project.
Our office lease expires in September 2025. NEOO Partners is acting as the Foundation’s broker/buyer’s representative in an RFP process for an office location. At this time, the Foundation is willing to consider moving into an existing building or being part of the construction of a new building. Depending on the proposals we receive, we may or may not need a test fit plan. We also may need an architect to assist with the office space design in an existing or newly constructed building.
To prepare for the possible scenarios, we are creating a short list of architect / design firms for future consideration.
Download the RFQ (PDF) for more information. Submissions closed on Friday, May 17, 2024.
The Bush Foundation is issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for developers, property owners and brokers to lease or co-develop office space for the Foundation’s use around September 2025.
NEOO Partners is working with the Foundation to manage different phases of the work. They now are conducting the next phase, which includes acting as the Foundation’s broker/buyer’s representative to lead the Foundation through the RFP process, the leasing/purchase process and to ensure that the design and build out of any new space is completed in alignment with the expected timeline.
Download the updated RFP (PDF) for more information about the project and the selection process. We added a Q&A section to address common questions we are hearing about this opportunity.
Proposals closed on Thursday, April 25, 2024. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Herndon at chris@neoopartners.com.
The Bush Foundation is seeking information from travel agents to assist us with periodic travel arrangements for our various board, staff and community members.
Download the RFI (PDF) for more details and how to submit your information.