Please note that this is high-level thinking meant to illustrate our vision and intention. We see the work of the steward organizations falling into the phases below.
We expect the selected steward organizations to continue to deeply involve their communities as they design, develop, launch and administer the trust fund grant programs. This group included Black and Native American leaders and elders, as well as leaders in philanthropy, and their input was invaluable in shaping our approach. The Bush Foundation’s $100 million investment is dedicated for individuals in our region of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share that geography. While our funding is focused on this region, we would welcome interest from potential steward organizations who would like to grow the trust funds and expand the concept beyond our region.Īs part of our background work, we spoke with a cross-section of community members to refine our vision.
We are also open to expressions of interest from collaboratives of organizations. We anticipate that each trust fund will have its own steward organization, although there may be one organization that could effectively manage both trust funds. Because the focus on Black and Native American communities is so central to this vision, we are seeking steward organizations with deep connections and experience in these communities. To serve the unique needs of the Black and Native American communities in our region, we anticipate splitting our $100 million investment into two separate trust funds - one focused on each community. We have designed this process to provide adequate time and funding for all aspects of program design, development and implementation. Our intention is to give the selected steward organizations broad responsibility for managing the community trust funds, including asset management and designing and administering the grant programs. We are seeking one or two organizations to steward these funds on behalf of the community. The Bush Foundation is committing $100 million to seed two community trust funds to address wealth disparities caused by historic racial injustice. We are taking action that focuses on some of us, in order to make the region better for all of us. When individuals and families thrive, they help their communities flourish. Through these community trust funds, we hope to help individuals and families build a foundation for future opportunities. The Bush Foundation’s purpose is to make our region better for everyone - and we believe that addressing racial wealth gaps is one of the most important things we can do for our region. These trust funds are intended to be a community resource to build that kind of opportunity. Current racial wealth gaps both reflect the accumulated historic injustice of race-based policies (intentional and unintentional) and predict present and future opportunity and wellbeing. If your family has resources to support you through college, help with a down payment on a house or provide start-up money for a business, it makes a big difference in your ability to build wealth. Racial wealth gaps are deeply tied to virtually all other social and economic inequities.
That is why we are establishing community trust funds to directly support individuals in the communities most impacted by historic racial injustice. If we want to truly account for the ongoing impact of race-based policies of the past, we need reparative and restorative action now. It is the responsibility of those of us with individual and institutional wealth to consider how we can repair, rather than perpetuate, these deep inequities.
When it comes to racial disparities, the wrongs of the past are starkly apparent in the challenges of today. There are direct through lines from broken treaties to unemployment rates, from Indian boarding schools to high school dropout rates, from slavery to incarceration rates, and from redlining to homeownership rates. At the same time, we know that historical injustices have had enormous, lasting impacts on large groups of people. Every family and every person has their own story and unique experience. Social and economic inequality is complicated.