We’re throwing a party on March 23 and we want you there! Word on the street says it’s going to be AWESOME! The Awesome Foundation DC has been around for a few months now, we’ve funded a handful of spectacular projects, and have been overwhelmed with all the awesomely enthusiastic applications we have received from our community here. You guys are truly… well shucks… you know. So now it’s time to share that awesomeness with the rest of the District. We hope will join us to officially launch the Awesome Foundation DC and celebrate just how awesome you all are. Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011, 6 – 10 p.m DISTRICT, 2473 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 (in the heart of Adams Morgan) Get in and grab your ticket now: http://dcawesome.eventbrite.com/ Your $10 Ticket to Awesome includes: 1 drink and 3 Awesome Tokens to donate to a selection of people who will be demo’ing their awesome ideas! ($15 = 8 Awesome Tokens, $20 = 13 Awesome Tokens…) There will also be opportunities to share your very own awesome ideas, and of course, awesome DJ’s, drinks and dancing. Hope you can make it! Tell your friends. All welcome. It’s going to be…… read more →
Spring is in the air and we’re excited here in DC. In fact, we’re toe tapping, booty shaking, finger clicking excited. You could say we’re just totally jazzed to announce our February grant recipient. A huge Awesome Foundation DC congratulations to Tom Pipkin (who tries to be awesome, often), and his project, The Pentworth Jazz Festival – a monthly jazz performance in the local park for the residents and neighbors of Petworth to enjoy, and an excuse for people to meet and interact. The performances will take place about an hour before dusk on Saturdays, once a month over Spring and Summer. Tom told us that “I believe it will show folks how easy it is to bring arts and music to local communities. There is tons of talent in this city, and loads of people who are thirsty for it. Without this Awesome Grant, I wouldn’t be able to fund the project.” We were particularly impressed with Tom’s ability to describe how his skills and experience would make this a viable and achievable project. He was able to clearly explain how he would spend the grant money (to pay musicians and purchase some AV equipment), and he has already… read more →
A big welcome to our newest board member – the remarkable Mr Danny Harris. Danny is the founder of Peoples District, the blog where he collects the fascinating stories of strangers from around the District of Columbia. People’s District was my way of meeting the people I saw every day, but never stopped to introduce myself to: Carolyn, the crossing guard on my street; Cedric, who ran by my office most days, spinning in circles while yelling ‘HOOT, HOOT’; Dave, who rides his bike up and down my street in a finely tailored suit and fedora; and Josh, who checks my ID at the 9:30 Club. I saw these people more often than I saw my own family, yet I had never exchanged more than a ‘good morning’ or ‘thank you’ with them. During one of those proverbial wake-up moments in July 2009, I stopped my first person to ask, ‘So, what’s your story?’ Joe, my first interviewee, spoke passionately about growing up on U Street and his first experience of going downtown after the end of segregation. After Joe came Andrew, talking about overcoming homelessness, then Eric and Maddie, discussing the D.C. hardcore music scene. Each story shed light… read more →
We recently heard about a new project in Grand Rapids, MI called 5×5 night that sounds like the genius child between the Awesome Foundation and Ignite or Pecha Kucha: 5 ideas are presented for 5 minutes each with 5 slides, and 5 judges then decide which to give $5000 to. It sounds like a great time and we can’t wait to see what comes out of it. Another excellent project similar to us is the Sunday Soup network, which was actually founded in 2007 (2 years before the Awesome Foundation!) and has 25 groups throughout the United States and Europe. Sunday Soup’s model of microgrants is based around people coming together around an affordable communal meal, the proceeds of which go towards a creative project of the diners’ choosing. Basically, it’s like Awesome Foundation: the dinner party–and how could you possibly not love that? If you know of another micro-granting initiative out there (or want to start one!), please let us know so we can make a totally sweet webring. Awesomeness is a renewable resource, and as far as we’re concerned, the more the merrier!
Wow. What a beginning. At our first micro-trustee dinner at Huxable Restaurant , we were faced with a massive task ahead. Deciding which of the 32 AMAZING applicants we had to pick. After much deliberation and a fair bit of discussion around the table, we finally reached a verdict. We are really excited to announce that Melbourne City Rooftop Honey is the recipient of the first Awesome Foundation Melbourne $1000 grant You can read their application below: “My partner and I are hobbyist beekeepers who decided to set up this project as we saw a need to get involved in the worldwide effort to help save the honey bees. In many other cities around the world, the practice of rooftop beekeeping has been done for decades. With the collapse of honeybees in 2007 (Colony Collapse Disorder), a serious risk is taking place on our natural food supply since the honey bee is crucial in our environment. Since their existence helps with sustainability in food along with the responsibility of pollinating a large proportion of the food that we eat and if the honeybees are in trouble, we are in trouble as well. Paris, London, Toronto, San Francisco and New York… read more →