The SF micro-trustees recently discussed what it means to be Awesome, and the types of projects we want to fund. We have received some truly AWESOME project proposals so far. We realize, however it would be helpful to articulate some guidelines to help future applicants write the best proposal possible.
It’s difficult to reach an easy opinion on what awesomeness means, and we didn’t agree on everything—which is probably a good thing. But we did come up with the following suggestions:

1. You could be the most awesome person in the universe, and have the most awesome idea, but if you don’t tell us how $1,000 will be used or why it will make a big difference, we won’t fund you.
2. A project that requires millions of dollars, or even several tens of thousands right now, is not a strong candidate for a $1k micro grant. Even if it’s a great project, it won’t get funded if we don’t think the grant will move your project forward in a significant way. We would much rather fund a project where $1,000 is the difference between yes and no. (That being said, we like people who think big, so if a $1,000 is an early catalyst toward something huge and that is awesome, and we’ll consider it)
3. We lean towards local projects (SF Bay Area-based). There are Awesome Foundation chapters in many parts of the world, and more are forming each month. A local chapter is more likely to understand a local project.
4. We’ll probably choose a project with a community focus over one with an individual focus. The project should affect people somehow. Tell us how. It doesn’t have to change the world, but it should make people do one of the following: laugh, cry, talk to one another, start a conversation, inspire a revelation, look at the world differently somehow, make someone say “That’s Awesome!”

None of these are hard and fast rules, but are work in process guidelines. We hope to find exceptions to everything, and if you or your project really is Just That Awesome, we’ll probably fund it! 

Tell us at right at the beginning of your proposal what your project is, why it is awesome, what you plan to do with the cash.

And good luck! We want to hear from you!

— Kevin Adler, Rachel McConnell, Jesse Taggert and the rest of the Awesome Foundation San Francisco Board.