We are proud to announce that this month, for the first time ever we have received over 1,000 grant applications worldwide in one month (1,018 to be precise). When the Awesome Foundation began in Boston, never could have we imagined during our first meetings that three years later we could have over a thousand applications per month from around the world, with dozens of chapters and hundreds of members all helping make the world a more awesome and beautiful place. Reviewing the grants is truly a wonderful experience as we get to see a small snapshot of how people around the world want to improve their communities, create amazing art, and make others smile through their awesome endeavors. Although we aren’t able to award grants to everyone, we know that many of the applicants find alternate methods of funding and go on to make great things happen with or without our assistance and nothing can stop their awesomeness. We are thankful to everyone who has applied and who will apply in the future. You are each awesome in your own way.
The members of Awesome Mongolia are extremely excited to tell you about the formation of our first chapter, Awesome Sukhbaatar! The idea has been really popular in our small town of Baruun-Urt, located in the Sukhbaatar province of Mongolia. Former Peace Corps Volunteer Travis Hellstrom and I started our group slowly with a couple of key local leaders who we knew would be interested and are always motivated to help the community. They expanded it quickly and we had our group of 10 in no time, not to mention the support of the local government, media, plus a few other interested members waiting for openings or even a second chapter! I will act as the co-dean for the next year with Aldarmaa, our province’s educational department foreign language specialist. To get our first project going, we decided to introduce the idea to the community through an essay contest hosted by the Education Department. The topic was “If I had 200,000 tugriks I would…” On Children’s Day, a major holiday on June 1st here in Mongolia, we will announce the winner and award the student with the prize (roughly $200 US) to make their awesome idea happen! Later, we’re also… read more →
A new Melbourne project, Poo Power!, which uses discarded dog waste from parks as a renewable energy source is the latest recipient of the Awesome Foundation, Melbourne Chapter. The grant was awarded to Duncan Chew who developed the project after watching people readily scoop their dog’s poo in plastic bags only to send it to landfill but wanting to find a more sustainable way. Duncan Chew discovered there is over 1,350 tonnes of dog waste to be disposed of every day in Australia – nearly half a million tonnes per year. Using this un-tapped resource, the project involves building a digester to convert the dog waste into a biogas. It will then be used in a Melbourne park in a public lighting installation as a community meeting place for use by dog owners and other visitors. “In researching the scope of the project we were intrigued by the strong sense of community amongst dog owners that congregate at these parks,” says Duncan Chew. “We want to nurture this relationship and build a biogas fueled ‘campfire’ where people can come together at this unique meeting space.” The $1000 grant will be used to contribute towards the cost of building the poo-powered… read more →
After a hiatus, Awesome NYC is springing back with our April grant to 596 Acres. Here they are in their own words: 596 Acres distributes information about publicly owned vacant land in Brooklyn by publishing print maps, creating and hosting an interactive map, holding land use visioning sessions, and providing advocacy and support for community-based groups all over Brooklyn as they negotiate with city agencies for permission to use currently vacant and fenced-off lots for community-determined projects. Since we tested our tactics in a pilot project in June 2011, three vacant and warehoused lots in Brooklyn have become official sites of community projects: 462 Halsey Street, Feedback Farms, and the Java Street Garden Collaborative; Myrtle Village Green and Patchen Community Square are nearly official, too. Twenty-seven other communities are organizing for control of different pieces of Brooklyn using our tools. The April 2012 Awesome Foundation grant will be used to fund a dramatic extension to our current project by adding the publicly owned vacant lots in the other four boroughs to our site. This will give the communities in the rest of the city an idea of which vacant lots are owned by the city. It’s extra Awesome that this part of… read more →
Little-known fact: five times a day, Awesome Foundation members from around the world face Boston (where it all began) and in a creepy, droning tone recite our mission statement in unison: Furthering the interest of awesome in the universe, $1,000 at a time. But sometimes an idea is so hilariously great that a little extra somethin somethin is in order. Enter AWESOME FOUNDATION – THE SHOW, where we give six times the $$$ and a kick in the pants to make your awesome idea happen ASAP. The pilot will be shot this spring and we’ll be awarding 3 mega-awesome grants to the awesomest of the awesome ideas. So, if you’re submitting an idea to your local chapter and you’re feeling ballsy, throw your hat in the ring for the show as well (apply here) – we may invite you to come pitch us in person in beautiful downtown Burbank! We’ve got three big unmarked bags full of cash just waiting to be blown on your awesome idea.