The Bullitt Foundation is a
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
established in 1952 by
Dorothy S. Bullitt, a prominent Seattle businesswoman and philanthropist who founded
King Broadcasting Company in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. Its assets as of the end of 2010 were in excess of US$100M.
After Dorothy Bullitt died in 1989, the foundation inherited 28% of the stock from King Broadcasting Company.
In 1992, the Bullitt Foundation hired
Denis Hayes
Denis Allen Hayes (born August 29, 1944) is an environmental advocate and an advocate for solar power. He rose to prominence in 1970 as the coordinator for the first Earth Day.
Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and expanded it to more than 18 ...
, national organizer of the first
Earth Day, as President. Soon thereafter, it began to broaden the Board beyond family members and decided to devote the Foundation exclusively to protecting and restoring the environment of the Pacific Northwest. In 2016 it further refined its focus on urban ecology in the “Emerald Corridor” extending from Vancouver, British Columbia to Portland, Oregon.
The Foundation's mission is "to safeguard the natural environment by promoting responsible human activities and sustainable communities in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
" by making grants to
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
s.
The Foundation also manages the Bullitt Environmental Prize, which provides $100,000 annually to an exceptional graduate student from a disadvantaged background who shows promise of evolving into a future environmental leader.
In 2009, the Foundation began developing the
Bullitt Center
The Bullitt Center is a commercial office building at the intersection of the Central District neighborhood, and Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. It was officially opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2013. , which has been called the "world's greenest office building". The building was completed in April 2013, and was certified as a "Living Building" under the ambitious
Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification ...
in 2015.
As of June 2019 the board consisted of: Rod Brown (Chair), Harriet Bullitt, Maud Daudon, Mark Edlen, Erim Gomez, Frank Greer, Lisa Graumlich, Denis Hayes, Martha Kongsgaard, Bill Ruckelshaus, and Jessie Woolley-Wilson.
References
External links
Bullitt FoundationBullitt Center website
(from the Puget Sound Business Journal May 19, 2000 print edition)
{{Authority control
Environmental organizations based in Washington (state)
Conservation and environmental foundations in the United States