The Bullitt Foundation is sunsetting operations, handing off the award responsibility to an organization it trusts in conservation and environmental justice

Media contact: Zachary Pullin, WCA Communications Director (206) 639-3760

SEATTLE, WA–The Bullitt Foundation, which is set to end operations at the end of 2024, has officially handed off the Bullitt Prize (“the Prize”) to Washington Conservation Action Education Fund (formerly Washington Environmental Council), in perpetuity. Prize criteria will expand to include a focus on environmental justice, professional and grassroots leadership not just academics, eligibility for groups of leaders, and set an age limit of 35. The application will be made available in March 2024 at www.bullittprize.org

“Washington Conservation Action has led state-wide efforts to protect Washington’s environment for the last fifty-odd years,” said Denis Hayes, CEO of the Bullitt Foundation and national organizer of the first Earth Day. “No group is better equipped to identify the next generation of leaders for conservation and environmental justice. We’re proud to pass the Bullitt Prize to such a superb organization.”

Bullitt Foundation, a longtime philanthropic force supporting the Northwest’s environmental movement, has awarded the Bullitt Environmental Fellowship, a $100,000 prize dedicated to recognizing young people who have shown promise as environmental leaders. Since 2007, Bullitt has awarded the Prize annually to 17 inspiring leaders.

In 2019, The Bullitt Foundation announced that it will sunset its grantmaking in 2024, but wanted the Bullitt Prize to continue. Since Bullitt Foundation’s grant-giving will end this year, it sought a home for the Prize and chose Washington Conservation Action Education Fund to continue to award its annual prize for environmental leadership.

“When Washington Conservation Action was approached by the Bullitt Foundation to steward the Bullitt Prize into perpetuity, it’s because they trusted our environmental leadership in Washington. As a partner and grantee of Bullitt for many years, we understood that the responsibility to host and award the Bullitt Prize was an incredible opportunity to invest in emerging environmental justice leadership in the region,” said Alyssa Macy, CEO of Washington Conservation Action (and citizen of the Confederate Tribes of Warm Spring, Oregon). “We are grateful to their board for supporting us in expanding the Prize for future awardees to include people outside of academics, groups of leaders, and a focus on environmental justice.”   

The goal of the Bullitt Prize is to broaden, strengthen, and diversify the current and future leadership of the environmental movement by investing in emerging leaders advancing conservation and environmental justice efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Eligibility will continue to focus on the core components, and include those who:

• Are 35 years old or younger
• From working class and underrepresented backgrounds
• An individual or collaborative group
• From Washington State or the Pacific Northwest region if their work impacts Washington
• Demonstrated academic, professional, or grassroots leadership that advances the environmental movement

More information about the $100,000 prize, criteria and eligibility, and the application will be available soon at www.bullittprize.org.

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Washington Conservation Action has been the state’s leading policy and political voice for the environment and communities since the 1960s. For more than 50 years, Washington Conservation Action has organized and collaborated to drive progress on some of our state’s most complex environmental challenges to protect people and nature as one.