Butch Trusty

Butch Trusty is a partner in Bridgespan’s New York office, where he focuses on supporting scale-ready innovators and co-leads the firm’s education area of expertise. Since joining Bridgespan in 2008 and rejoining in 2018, he has advised nonprofit and philanthropic clients working across educational equity, economic mobility, advocacy, and place-based change.

Butch has led engagements with organizations including NAF, the Jeremiah Program, and Youth Guidance. He supported NAF in developing strategies to double its network while deepening community impact, helped the Jeremiah Program expand its influence beyond direct service into public policy, and advised Youth Guidance on updating its strategy and operating model to accelerate the scaling of its BAM/WOW programs. His philanthropy clients have included donor collaboratives and platforms investing in new school creation and academic acceleration. In addition, he has worked with communities to develop citywide and neighborhood strategies that aggregate philanthropic capital to improve economic mobility and educational outcomes.

Butch has also served as a coach in Bridgespan’s Leading for Impact® program, supporting the capacity-building efforts of nonprofit executive teams. He is coauthor of the publication, “What Are Intended Impact and Theory of Change and How Can Nonprofits Use Them?” (Bridgespan.org, 2020).

Between 2014 and 2018, Butch was a managing partner at Education Cities, formerly a national network of local education venture philanthropy organizations. Earlier in his career, he served as education program director at the Joyce Foundation and held roles at the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute as an Education Pioneers Fellow, and Edison Schools (now EdisonLearning).

Butch serves on the boards of the National AIDS Memorial, where he is vice chair, the Equity Lab, and brightbeam. He is also a member of the CASE Advisory Council at Duke University. He holds MBA and MPP degrees from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.