Bush Foundation Supports Arts, Health, Higher Education

The Bush Foundation, St. Paul, supported the arts, higher education and health in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota as part of its March 2 grant awards. The grants varied widely in size and scope, from $20,000 to the Domestic Abuse Project in Minneapolis for a fathers' parent education project to $650,000 to the Minnesota Opera Company for development of the organization's fundraising systems and a matching challenge grant to build its base of donor support.

In the area of arts and humanities, four mid-sized Twin Cities arts organizations received grants through the Bush Foundation's Regional Arts Development Program, which provides unrestricted operating support over a substantial period of time to foster overall organizational development. Recipients of this long-term funding were Illusion Theater and School, Inc.; Loft, Inc.; Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Society and, for the first time, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

The foundation also provided funding to several smaller arts organizations, including Zenon Dance Company and School, Inc. and Heart of the Beast Theater, Inc. in the Twin Cities; New York Mills Arts Retreat in New York Mills, Minn. and North Valley Arts Council of Grand Forks, N.D.

In the area of higher education, Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. received a $425,000 matching capital grant from Bush to support construction of the George and Eleanor McGovern Library and Center for Public Service. The foundation also awarded grants for faculty development to Fort Berthold Community College, New Town, N.D.; Macalester College, St. Paul; and the Historically Black College and University Faculty Development Network through Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss. The United Negro College Fund also received a grant of $350,000 for support of its 39 member colleges and universities.

In the area of ecological health, the foundation supported the efforts of several organizations working to prevent water pollution, including grants of $150,000 to the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and $125,000 to the Minnesota Land Trust. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources received $140,000 to identify fragile natural areas so that community planners can protect these areas during development.

About half of the foundation's recent grant awards - nearly $3 million - went to health and human services organizations in the three-state region. The foundation supported building projects in the Twin Cities area for Chicanos Latinos Unidos En Servicio, Inc.; People, Incorporated and the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. A building project for Duluth-based Life House, Incorporated also received funding. Grants to organizations focused on the effects of domestic violence on children included $270,000 to the Tubman Family Alliance, Minneapolis and $121,854 to Wiconi Wawokiya, Inc., Fort Thompson, S.D.

In total, the Bush Foundation board of directors awarded grants of $6.9 million to 48 nonprofit organizations on March 2, 2004. For a complete lists of grants, visit the foundation's Web site. 

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