Buffalo, NY
Local Artist Sticker Machine
By Emma Brittain December 2023
Community wall
By Veronica Gay August 2023
Badass HERstory Exhibit and Community Art Project
By Michelle Perkins June 2023
Community Educational Garden
By Talea Barnes April 2023
Community Art Project & Paint Day at the NFFT
By Saira Siddiqui February 2023
#LiveLoveAndBe Campaign
By Zhanna Reed December 2022
Signing As Art
By Kamil Gerald October 2022
Present State and Future Potential
By Thomas Stankowski August 2022
Rooted in Love community collective
By Rooted in Love May 2022
Too Damn Cold and Funky Musical Bike Tour
By Marc Moscato April 2022
Story Sit-In
By Lorna MacDonald Czarnota February 2022
Buffalo Women of Environment Learning & Leadership
By Helen Toledo December 2021
Care Closet
By Joe'l Staples October 2021
Create Your Flavor
By Bianca L. McGraw August 2021
RAWtools Buffalo
By Steve Johnson June 2021
Sit and Think Chairs
By Lindsey Taylor April 2021Free Little Sled Library
By Darren Cotton February 2021
Colored Girls Bike Too
By Jalonda Hill December 2020
BLM Project
By Melissa Mjoen October 2020
Community Vision Quest
By Laura Kelly August 2020That Brown Bag
By Shantelle Lynette Patton June 2020
Faces of Buffalo
By Dana Saylor May 2020
Granola for Good, from Good Neighbors
By Awesome Buffalo 2020 Trustees + Perfect Granola's Michele Liddle March 2020
Rust Belt Harvest
By Theresa Church February 2020
Awesome December
By Awesome Buffalo December 2019Birthday Buddies
By M. Erin Grady November 2019The Bus Stop Project
By Kerianne Socker August 2019
Blessing Bags
By Carrie A. Smith June 2019
Cutting the Cord Workshops
By John O'Brien April 2019
A Different View to Buffalo
By Nandor Pinter March 2019
Trash Can Be Beautiful Project
By Candace Moppins September 2018
Feed Buffalo Little Pantries
By Drea dNur July 2018Sweet Buffalo Rocks at Oishei Children's Hospital
By Kimberly LaRussa May 2018
Solar Sprouts
By Andrea Oaks March 2018
Awesome Weekend
By Awesome Buffalo December 2017Please DO Touch the Art
By Jessica Widmer September 2017Open Storefront Makeover Program
By Joseph Kurtz June 2017
Rainbows on Allen
By Seth Amman March 2017
About Us
Awesome Buffalo is a giving circle that awards $1000 cash to weird, wonderful, and timely projects that make Buffalo more awesome.
Currently, we are resting. Please check out a Worldwide Chapter for funding opportunities.
Historically, we've been entirely volunteer-run and self-funded. We don’t distribute grants, and we’re not organized as a nonprofit. We simply give no-strings-attached cash to one awesome project every other month.
If you’ve ever enjoyed the rainbow crosswalk at Elmwood & Allen, like Elton John did, you’re welcome.
Deadlines
Please submit your project ideas by 6pm on the following dates:
►► TBA
What makes a project Awesome?
We use the following loose criteria to select projects. Consider addressing these areas in your application:
►►Is it awesome?: Is it unique? A new idea? Something that may be unfundable through traditional means? We’re looking for your Silly Walks and your bus stop jazz clubs.
►► Will $1000 make an actual impact? : We try to support individuals and small groups, rather than organizations who’re already well-funded. We’re looking for the small, but mighty projects for which $1000 will make a huge difference. Be as specific as possible; tell us exactly how the cash will be spent, so we can best understand your idea.
►►How will the project help the Buffalo area?: It’s important to us to fund projects that directly support and impact our neighbors in the Buffalo-Niagara community. We’ll consider projects outside city limits, but maybe not all the way in Rochester. Pssst… they have a chapter too!
We don’t typically fund:
►► Personal use: We think you’re really awesome, but we can't give you $1000 for personal salary/a car/vacation/rent payment/home reno/pony.
►► Charities, foundations, organizations: We’re primarily interested in new ventures and not the continuation of an existing organization. But existing organizations with a specific, creative $1000 project can apply!
►► Promotion: We want to hear all about your awesome idea and how we can help fund its happening, not just its posters.
Participate
Interested in joining our circle as a donating member? Drop us a form to join the waitlist here!
Media Coverage
- Buffalo Business First: Got an awesome project? This group of Buffalonians wants to fund it.
- Buffalo Business First: Everyone has crazy ideas. Why not bring them to us?
- Buffalo Rising: Awesome Buffalo
- Buffalo Rising: RAWTools Buffalo | Guns to Garden Tools
- Buffalo Rising: The Little Free Sled Library
- Buffalo Spree: Awesome Buffalo Funds More Projects
- Latitude - The 43North Podcast: Making Buffalo Awesome
- News 4, WIVB-TV featuring Colored Girls Bike Too
- News 4, WIVB-TV featuring Feed Buffalo
- Niagara Frontier Publications
- WBFO coverage of Be Awesome Day
- WBFO featuring Rainbows on Allen