Bush Foundation grants $1.8 million to Granite Falls community

Granite Falls Area Community Foundation to receive $1.2 million for community’s benefit

GRANITE FALLS, Minn.—  The Bush Foundation is awarding the Granite Falls community $1.8 million in honor of its native son Archibald (Archie) Bush. The announcement was made Nov. 7 at the annual grant awards ceremony and donor appreciation event for the Granite Falls Area Community Foundation (GFACF), which will direct the majority of the gift.

“We are humbled and grateful beyond words,” said Granite Falls Mayor Dave Smiglewski. “This will truly be a game changer for the Granite Falls Area Community Foundation and will enable their good work to go further and reach more of our community’s needs.”

Of the total $1.8 million, Wallin Education Partners will receive $600,000 to fund scholarships for Granite Falls area students pursuing post-secondary education. The remaining $1.2 million is designated to GFACF, an affiliate partner of Southwest Initiative Fund. One million dollars will seed The Archibald Bush Endowment Fund, serving as a permanent resource for the community. And $200,000 will establish the Archibald Bush Project Fund to address significant issues affecting the Granite Falls community in the near term, with projects to be completed by December 2020.

“There are so many superlatives — wonderful, amazing, exciting, awesome — to describe this gift to Granite Falls from the Bush Foundation,” said Peggy Heglund, GFACF Board Chair. “My goal is to promote public education so everyone knows who Archie is and what he previously accomplished for this community, in addition to this current and future impact. Our board is eager to begin moving forward with both the considerable enhancement to the endowment fund and the project fund.”

“We’re excited to see the possibilities as people in Granite Falls work to create their own positive change,” said SWIF Community Philanthropy Officer Jeff Vetsch, who has helped the local advisory committee work through the grant process. “We see time and again how our community partners are the spark that ignites local philanthropy and community involvement.”

Currently, the GFACF endowment holds about $220,000. Last year, its board awarded grants totaling $7,075 to projects including an oven at the Granite Falls Senior Center, new robotics equipment for Yellow Medicine East School District and support services to women to reduce the cesarean rate and increase the rate of breastfeeding.

“By significantly expanding the endowment fund, the Bush Foundation hopes that many more needs are met over the long term to make Granite Falls a great place to work and live,” said Anita Patel,

Leadership Programs Director for the Bush Foundation, who grew up in the Granite Falls area. “It’s our hope that this grant will keep Bush Foundation staff close to Archie’s Granite Falls legacy.”

This major investment honors Archie Bush’s love for his hometown. Born and raised in Granite Falls, Bush dropped out of school in eighth grade to work on the family farm. In 1909, he joined Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) as a bookkeeper for a salary of $11.55 per week. Together with William McKnight, Archie helped transform that little company into one of the largest and most innovative companies in the world: 3M.

Bush rose up to become the company’s executive chairman. In 1953, he and his wife, Edyth, took $300 million worth of company stock accumulated during his career and established the Bush Foundation. The Bush Foundation invests in great ideas and the people who power them, encouraging the region to think bigger and think differently about what is possible in their communities. Inspired by the Bushes’ desire to build their community and encourage innovation, the foundation has invested nearly one billion dollars in grants to thousands of organizations and individuals.