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Staff Learnings

Everything we do is to advance our organizational purpose: to inspire and support creative problem solving — within and across sectors — to make our region better for everyone. We also aspire to be radically open as an organization, and part of that means sharing our own learnings.

In this section, you will find a mix of learning papers authored by our staff members, past and present, and other types of staff reflections over the years.

If you would like to stay in the know when we publish any staff learning papers or reflections, make sure you are added to our email list to stay in our active network.

Note from Jen: Sharing progress and spreading optimism

For those of us who are focused on addressing social issues and trying to get others to care, it is almost irresistible to paint the bleakest possible picture. We share our stories and our data in a way that suggests things are horrible and getting worse. To do great things, we need to believe great things are possible. We need optimism.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: The opportunity in Native-focused philanthropy

A new report from First Nations Development Institute lists us as the 7th biggest foundation funder of Native issues in the U.S. On one hand, it is exciting to be recognized as one of the top funders of Native American organizations and causes. On the other hand, we are really small compared to most of the other foundations on the list. I believe a lot of funders are missing a great opportunity for impact.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: Working backward from impact

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.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: Philanthropy that's better for everyone

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.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: bushCONNECT + How change happens

This year at bushCONNECT, I shared some thoughts on how change happens. I’ve done a lot of research the past couple of years on successful examples of social change. There are examples all around us all the time. We often don’t even notice them, much less learn from them.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: Venturing out from our bases

The Bush Foundation is nonpartisan. We do our work, however, in a partisan world. We recognize this in our focus on community problem solving. We recognize that solving problems in our communities requires working across political difference. And like working across any kind of difference, this requires truly understanding what we believe and why.

Published 2018

Note from Jen: Doing more good

One of our values is More good. Every year. As an organization, we do things that we believe are clearly good. And even as we try to do good, we know we also do things that cause or contribute to negative outcomes in the world. We do both every day, sometimes simultaneously.

Published 2019