Bush Foundation

🏆 Congrats to Bush Foundation, winners of the “Smashing Silos” Award for Intersectional Grantmaking.  From trust-based philanthropy to participatory grantmaking, Bush Foundation is leading with racial, gender, and economic justice.    Jen Ford Reedy, President, Bush Foundation: “We are honored to be recognized with an NCRP IMPACT Award. The list of funders that NCRP has celebrated through the years is impressive and it is exciting and humbling to be in their company.”    🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gYNa2vSJ 

Dr. Charles Drew is called “the father of the blood bank.” He was a leader in figuring out the science to process, store and distribute blood. And then he was a leader in figuring out how to actually do it on a large scale. He joined the Red Cross to develop blood banks early in World War II and many of his methods and innovations are still in use today — including the bloodmobile. His work has saved countless lives all around the world. Clearly, he was a brilliant man. And his accomplishments are all the more remarkable given the discrimination he faced as a Black man in medical science in the first half of the 20th century in America. A fellowship from The Rockefeller Foundation helped. In 1938, he received support from the Rockefeller Foundation for graduate research at Columbia University, which led to his foundational work on blood preservation and the creation an experimental blood bank. Of course, the Rockefeller Foundation can't claim credit for the impact Drew had in his life. Just as the Bush Foundation can’t claim credit for the achievements of Bush Fellows. (Although whenever August Wilson comes up in conversation you can be sure I will tell everyone within earshot that he wrote “Fences” while on his Bush Fellowship!) Drew’s achievements were his own. But it is helpful to understand the role the foundation played, to see the way charitable giving can boost the talents of others. Money given at the right moment, in the right form, in the right spirit, can support people to do great things – transcending (at least some) of their constraints. In 1942, Drew resigned from his position with the Red Cross in protest of the policy of segregating blood donations by race. He knew there was no scientific basis for this and refused to be part of a racist practice. He returned to his roles as a surgeon and educator at Howard University and Freedman's Hospital until he died in 1950. Dr. Charles Drew was a man of science, a man of imagination, and a man of principle, who used his talents for great good. Today, millions of us benefit each year from his innovations. We can all be grateful to Dr. Charles Drew – and appreciate the Rockefeller Foundation’s role in helping him bring his big ideas to life. #FreedomToGive #GivingIsHereForGood

As a national membership association with 1000+ members, there’s not much on which we can all agree. However, we are united in this: Funding political violence is illegal and certainly not charitable. We hope and expect that any organization breaking the law will face consequences. And yet we must be clear: Those that work within the bounds of the law must be allowed to operate freely and without intimidation. The First Amendment protects the right to give in line with our individual values as a form of speech, even if the causes we support differ from the priorities of political leaders. That is not a flaw in the system — that is a free and fair society working as it should.  Council on Foundations