The Bullitt Foundation to Sunset its Grantmaking in 2024
On June 11th, 2019, The Bullitt Foundation announced that it will
sunset its grantmaking in 2024. The Foundation also announced that
the Bullitt Center will serve as a gift to the Pacific Northwest
environmental community. The Foundation will provide office space in
perpetuity at significantly below market rates to regional
environmental groups.
“When we endowed the Foundation in 1991, we intended to completely spend
it down in 10 years,” said Harriet Bullitt, Foundation trustee.
“But we invested wisely and have been able to greatly extend its life
despite our very generous grant-making programs.”
Over the
past 25 years, the Bullitt Foundation has paid out an average of 9 percent
of its endowment annually, significantly exceeding the
5 percent requirement set by the Internal Revenue Service. This
payout was on top of administrative, investment management, legal, tax
accounting, and other expenses. The Foundation does not anticipate
any changes in its program areas or geography ahead of the sunset of its
grantmaking.
Since 1992, the Foundation has granted more than $200 million, developed
the Bullitt Center, permanently protected $100 million
in ecologically valuable lands through a revolving loan fund, funded
the preparatory work to protect nearly 300,000 acres in national
monuments, invested in emerging leaders, and endowed several
professorships. It has played a leadership role in emphasizing JEDI
(justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) elements in green
grantmaking.
More
details about the Foundation’s work can be found in a story published by the Seattle Times, and
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also published a brief history of
the Foundation.
“We are proud to have played a role, quietly and in the background, to
help shape three of the greenest cities in the world,” said Denis
Hayes, CEO of the Foundation. “We’ve worked hard to establish a model
of deeply sustainable development in this region, and we are now
approaching the point when we must pass the torch to the next generation
of environmental philanthropists,” he added.
Called the “greenest office building in the world” by World
Architect magazine, the Bullitt Center will transition its tenants to
organizations committed to building a sustainable future. The
building has operated in the black for six years as a commercial office
building. After 2024, the Bullitt Foundation will limit its focus on managing
the Bullitt Center and will continue to administer the annual Bullitt
Environmental Prize to emerging environmental leaders.
The Foundation’s program team will be working with current grantees
to plan for the sunset.