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Organization:The Awesome Foundation

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Tim Hwang founded The Awesome Foundation in 2009, to address his frustration with the unavailability of small amounts of funding for small projects. So, he rallied 10 friends to begin this experiment in 'guerilla funding'. In their home-made Foundation, anyone could be eligible for the $1000 grant by submitting a simple 7 question application on their website.

~~What they~~ They found ~~was~~ that $1000 was a very sweet amount of money- it was small enough that the trustees did not worry about risk in what they were investing in, knowing another month would role around fast, but it was plenty of funding to legitimize the awesomeness of a person's idea and motivate them to GO BIG with it (like an activation energy!). The grants began to create great ripple effects in the community; festivals funded once would reoccur annually, people's inventions would receive media coverage and lead to more inventions, and they would find highly commendable applications at home and abroad. Casual tinkerers were becoming bonafide citizen problem solvers! Communities And it didn't take billionaires to get them started. 

<blockquote>''"We tap the really underestimated power of JOY- without joy the Awesome Foundation would be the Cheap and Efficient foundation, which is a lot less catchy."'' - Christina Xu, Trustee</blockquote>

In 2011, in the wake of the Haiti Earthquake foriegn aid scramble, the Foundation established '''The Institute on Higher Awesome Studies''' with the resounding cry for alternatives to traditional forms of aid, ''"Yo, I know this sounds cray-cray. But like, check this argument out..." . ''Mainstream aid is plagued with many inefficiencies in short sighted goals, rigidity and use of outsiders over indigenous resources and knowledge. AF recognized that their flexibility in being a sum of many decentralized small parts allowed them to adapt to tough aid crisises, chapter by chapter, month by month, and empowering taskforces native to the areas they are trying to help. These chapters are already cropping up in New Orleans and Detriot.

To start a chapter or join an exisiting chapter when a spot opens up, tell them about you on the [https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/awesomefoundation.org/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFJwaXhNTFp6VG40clU3cFVfWFk0bXc6MQ Join the Awesome Foundation Form]. To start a chapter, you will need to find 10 initial trustees who are willing to contribute $100 per month for an extended period of time, to sustain the new chapter. You can specify in the for if you are interested in being a Trustee or a Dean of Awesomness (time but no money contribution required). 

This [http://vimeo.com/59261997 presentation by the Seattle Awesome Chapter] has a lot of great details in what it takes to run a chapter (the first 15 minutes are the presentation, the rest is Q&A). On the 1st of each month they read idea applications and individually make a top picks list. On the 2nd they get together and decide collectively (i.e. talking it out till all the trustees agree, no voting). They award the money (as giant cardboard checks, money in sketchy paper bags, or even gold doubloons!?!) and appoint a 'storyteller'' (usually the trustee most excited about the idea) to be a mentor and liason for them, to help them think through their idea and check in to see what happens. ''

With questions, you can contact them at~~<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>~~[mailto:join@awesomefoundation.org join@awesomefoundation.org].

= Contact & Resources =

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