Washington, DC
Tulipalooza REDUX
Por Jim Guckert October 2024
Trinidad History & Future Festival
Por Trinidad Neighbor Volunteers September 2024
Local Authors Book Vending Machine
Por Lauren Woods July 2024
Cultivate DC Youth Changemakers
Por Rachael Buck June 2024
Small & Strange - A Lil House Art Show
Por Tom Kim May 2024
Museum Square Blooms
Por Nhi Nguyen April 2024
Melanie the Violinist’s Black Musician Academy
Por Melanie Bates March 2024
DC Black Liberation School
Por Jen Jenkins February 2024
Labor of Fire
Por Benedetta Castrioto January 2024
Baldwin House Cooperative Association
Por Baldwin House January 2024DAPSN Volunteers are Awesome!
Por Meriwether Beatty January 2024
Capitol Archaeology Sticker Activity Book
Por Beth Pruitt December 2023
Treehouse DC
Por Qaree Dreher October 2023
SW (Bellevue) Halloween Haunted House
Por Marquis Haskel September 2023
Introducing: the mobile law library!
Por Rebecca Katz August 2023
Blind DC Residents and Friends Paddle the Potomac
Por Qudsiya Naqui June 2023
Many Extra Only More
Por Sarah Beth Oppenheim May 2023
ASL Interpretation at Constellation Theatre Co.
Por Anne Marie Wells April 2023
1st Annual CFA Youth Improv Slam
Por Canady Foundation for the Arts / Marjuan Canady March 2023
Our Climate, Our Action
Por Savanna Neb February 2023
DC Culinary Circle
Por Christina Perrin January 2023
Lady Bugs Literacy Love and Language Lounge
Por Chenise Pugh December 2022
Fresh Energy Wellness
Por Lakesha Miller October 2022
Bricks4Brooks
Por Luke Voss September 2022
Festivals & Regalia Project (TPE)
Por Walker Donnelly August 2022
Nash Street Gardens
Por Ayesha Johnson June 2022
Jazz4Justice Juneteenth Festival
Por Shannon Gunn May 2022
The Newtons VEX Worlds Fund
Por Pierce Lilly April 2022
The Mobile Music Project
Por Patrise Holden, PhD March 2022
STEM for Girls: Math Speaks Weekend Academy
Por Shaundranetta Wood February 2022
Get Off The Ground Project
Por Tim Howard January 2022
EMTomorrow
Por Cornelia Williams December 2021
Catching the Chain: Voices of the Incarcerated
Por Dr. Britany Gatewood December 2021
"Focus On Me" - Foster Youth Digital Stories
Por Zoe Couacaud October 2021
A is for Awareness
Por Alicia Pinkett September 2021Dancing On The Air: The Teenarama Story
Por Beverly Lindsay-Johnson July 2021LOC DOC
Por Ryan Thomas June 2021
DC Summer Youth 1988 Mural Restoration
Por Jim Guckert May 2021Rise Above
Por Jewel J Stroman April 2021
Black Women & Mental Health
Por Roddia J. Paul March 2021
DC Queer Scifi Zine!
Por dave ring February 2021
Black Women in Opera
Por Renee Ombaba January 2021
PrimeAbility Biking Program
Por Alex Clark December 2020
Girlz by Design
Por Katie Loos, Sam Carpenter and Katie Sigety December 2020
Metro Secret Santa: Twenty magical gifts for 2020
Por Secret Santa December 2020
WeFitDC
Por Ayanna Wells October 2020
Keep DC Rolling!
Por Leah Fantle October 2020
Young Men of Promise: The Power of Purple Week
Por Marc Williams September 2020
SWIM UP DC
Por Mary Bergstrom August 2020
#BikeMatchDC
Por Rachel Maisler July 2020
Constellations Gift of Music Initiative
Por Ellen Hwangbo July 2020
The Future Foundation's Community Care Collectives
Por Aiyi'nah D.Ford June 2020
The Block Print Bike
Por Allie Tripp May 2020
Victory Hanging Garden Urbanized
Por "Quest" Chelsea Skinner May 2020
DC Shop Small
Por Mallory Shelter May 2020
Street Revitialization
Por Lorraine Stanislaus May 2020
Theatre For Shut-ins
Por Andrew L Baughman April 2020
Mask Making for Ward 8 Citizens
Por Alli Mofor April 2020
Artist support in the age of COVID-19
Por Starsha Valentine March 2020
LEARNING THROUGH THE ROPES
Por Joy Jones February 2020
"Country Road" Urban Pollinator Project
Por Jim Guckert January 2020
District Impact Skating Club
Por Eric Karlins December 2019
The Good Listening Project
Por Frankie Abralind December 2019
Terra pretta machine
Por Matt McEntee December 2019
The Lottery
Por Xena Ni October 2019
“What’s in a Wag?: Decoding Dog Talk in DC”
Por Courtney Sexton September 2019
Bridge Spot Graffiti and Paint Jam
Por Alex Goldstein August 2019
The Ruby Bridges Literacy Program
Por Tera Proby July 2019
Very Sad Lab
Por Naoko Wowsugi June 2019B.E.N. with E.L.I.
Por Shenita-Ann Grymes June 2019
One Night One BUILD
Por Will Leitch May 2019
33 | DC'S Game
Por Lloyd Foster April 2019
FUNLAND
Por Charlie Visconage March 2019
The Wash & Learn Initiative
Por Allister Chang February 2019
Eat Your Hart Out: A Fat Burlesque Revue
Por Ophelia Zayna Hart January 2019
DC Puzzle Swap
Por Crystal Sanchez December 2018
Sex Worker-Led Harm Reduction Pilot in DC
Por M Strickland December 2018
Night of 1,000 Fridas
Por Theodore Carter October 2018
This Could Go Boom!
Por Erin Frisby October 2018
Concerto on the River
Por Chad Cunha September 2018
Limestone of Lost Legends
Por Lauryn Renford August 2018
Museum of Bureaucracy
Por Jason Haserodt June 2018
TINY CAT - Dark Music Festival/Benefit for Charity
Por Stephen Petix June 2018
The Shape Up: The Barbershop Talk Series
Por Charlyn Anderson May 2018
Gourmet Symphony’s Taste Your Music Project
Por Dr. John Devlin April 2018
Good In Our Neighborhood Film Festival
Por Yolanda R. Whitted March 2018
The Genesis Intergenerational Program
Por Elizabeth Miranda February 2018Plants and Blooms ReImagined
Por Kaifa Anderson-Hall February 2018
LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT
Por Nyjia July December 2017
Awesome Weekend
Por Awesome Foundation DC November 2017
All One City Meetups
Por Justin Rood October 2017
Prescription Ey
Por Nick Farano October 2017dc1968 project
Por Marya McQuirter September 2017
The Protégé Project
Por Clementina Maduforo September 2017
DC hosts the AweSummit
Por Awesome DC July 2017
Mindful Mama Support Circle Scholarship
Por Katy Cribbs June 2017
PrintShop at New Community ArtSpace
Por Rachel Dickerson May 2017
Literature & Laundry
Por Donna Lewis Johnson April 2017
Elementary School Vertical Gardening
Por Dee Dacey Emory April 2017Tightshift Laboring Cooperative
Por Juan Reid March 2017
Women in Horror Month- D.C.
Por Caroline Carr Gould January 2017
Children of Promise
Por Sandra Bears December 2016
Beat & Beans
Por Carl Walker November 2016Community Bus Stop
Por Umair Ahsan November 2016
Theatre Prometheus presents CYMBELINE
Por Natalie Thielen Helper (Managing & Development Director, Theatre Prometheus) October 2016
NHDA Youth and Young Adult Hand Dance Symposium
Por Beverly Lindsay-Johnson August 2016
Anti-Bullying Movement
Por Tyler McClendon July 2016
Teen Food Action
Por Rebecca Davis July 2016
Tour De Bike Lane
Por David Confer June 2016
Punk Shot
Por Naoko Wowsugi June 2016
SOULAR SUNDAY in Marvin Gaye Park
Por Christine A. Rhone May 2016
DC Youth to Flint
Por Samantha Davis April 2016
Black Broadway on U: A Transmedia Project
Por Shellée M. Haynesworth March 2016
District Displaced
Por Mark Thomas February 2016
Design.District: Identity Lounge
Por Somos Thompson January 2016
Up Top Acres
Por Jeffrey Prost-Greene December 2015
CODE + YOGA
Por Alexis Irias November 2015
Rebuilding Re-entry Hackathon - DC
Por Laurin Hodge October 2015
COMEDY HACK DAY DC
Por Kelli Herod September 2015
The DC Wheels -Summer Santa-
Por Jimmy Pelletier - The DC Wheels August 2015
ATTIC DC
Por Tarek Anandan July 2015
Lead the Way Expedition
Por Bonnie Johnson June 2015
RightRides DC
Por Zosia Sztykowski May 2015
Day of Archaeology Festival
Por Alexandra Jones April 2015
Ward 8 Farmers Market
Por Nathan Harrington February 2015
Just Be
Por Shannon Quinn January 2015
Lincoln Road Looks
Por Tia Thompson December 2014
The Day of Learning
Por Danny Harris September 2014
STEAMfwd ™Creating socially responsible innovators
Por Christine Johnson (DiversiTech) July 2014
Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden
Por Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden June 2014
Peace Camp Scholarships for Refugee Kids
Por Mary Liepold March 2014
Funk Parade
Por Justin Rood March 2014
Floor Charts
Por William Gray November 2013
Fair Trade Music DC
Por Chris Naoum September 2013
Radio CPR Transmitter Repair
Por Radio CPR August 2013
More Sound Bike
Por Rafi Bortnick July 2013
THE MOBILE LANGUAGE MUSEUM
Por JOHN-JOSEPH SMITH, PRESIDENT May 2013
The DC Neighborhood Portal
Por Jim Webb April 2013
myDeanwood Polaroid Project
Por seshat Walker January 2013
The EarPhone Project
Por Malauna Steele October 2012
Wangari Gardens
Por Michael Durante September 2012
Connecting Communities Through Wireless Networks
Por Ann Millspaugh August 2012
Outfit Our Kitchen Classroom
Por Frances Evangelista July 2012
Make a low income farmers market awesome
Por Michael Segal July 2012
CodeNow
Por Ryan Seashore December 2011
Bluebrain's 'The Living House'
Por Ryan Holladay December 2011
DC Sound Garden
Por Jocelyn Frank December 2011
Audio Warhol
Por CounterPoint December 2011
Awesome Students Reinvent the World
Por Katie Kindle December 2011
Arts Mentoring: Spring 2012
Por Katrieia Snipes August 2011
Indiana Jones and the Alley of Doom
Por Laurenellen McCann August 2011
One Night Stand
Por Randall Scott July 2011
GirlTrek
Por Vanessa Garrison May 2011
Petworth Jazz Project
Por Thomas Pipkin March 2011
DC Diaper Bank - Nonprofit Fees & Website Launch
Por Corinne Cannon January 2011
Fab Lab DC
Por P. D. Klein December 2010
Acerca de Nosotros
Next grant deadline: Sunday, January 19th
Have an idea to make DC more awesome? Watch this grant applicant guide, read our example grant guide, and apply for a $1,000 grant!
(Fysa, upcoming future monthly grant deadline: February 16, 2025.)
What is Awesome Foundation DC?
We are a giving circle collective of DC residents who help fund a wide spectrum of amazing arts, culture, and community experiences, ranging from the founding Funk Parade to the Indiana Jones and The Alley of Doom to seed-bombing Capitol Hill to DC Bike Party's Sound Bike to Hand-Dancing, a DC-originated style of Swing dancing to skateboarding Santa Clauses to recycled flower arrangements for senior centers, community groups and low-income housing to community hackathons to youth literacy programs at local laundromats to community gardens to human-dog communication training workshops to Floor Charts tracking Congressional charts (so DC!).
Our group and grant winners have been featured in The New York Times, The BBC, NPR, WAMU, 730DC, The Hill Rag, Fox 5, Brightest Young Things, PBS Newshour, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, DCist, Washington City Paper, ABC 7, Brightest Young Things (again!), DCist (again!), Capitol Hill Rag, CBS WUSA 9, Washingtonian, Washington City Paper (again!), Advancing Philanthropy Magazine, DC Inno, Brightest Young Things, Petworth News, East of the River News, Washington Post (again!), Congress Heights on the Rise, and at Creative Mornings DC.
We are entirely volunteer-run and self-funded from Trustees and use the following four evaluation criteria for funding projects that help the city of Washington DC be more awesome. Any grant applicant should answer and address these four areas:
- #1 - Is it awesome? (Is it unique? Interesting? Impactful? There's all sorts of types of awesome.)
- #2 - Does it directly benefit the city of Washington DC? (We put heavy weight on supporting our tiny city/state and the awesomeness within. Fyi, there are Awesome North Virginia and Baltimore chapters, so if your project is focused on those regions you might consider applying there.)
- #3 - Will $1,000 make an actual impact? (Some organizations are super-well funded so we focus on helping individuals and small groups to fund new, small but mighty projects that $1,000 will actually make a difference.)
- #4 - Is it immediately actionable? (Similar to the actual impact, we heavily prefer projects that are a month or two away, so that the money can create immediate awesome impact in the community. If your project is a year away, wait to apply for a better chance at getting the grant.)
We also created quick video guide to help you apply for a grant:
Background Information, Grant & Trustee Guides and Frequently Asked Questions:
- Awesome DC Grant Applicant Guide, Pro Tips & FAQ
- Awesome DC Trustee Guide & FAQ
- Tax Deductible Donation Guide & FAQ
- Awesome Foundation DC Press Information
- Have a question or is something missing in these guides? Email DC [at] awesomefoundation.org
Love what we are doing and want to support the group?
We are an entirely volunteer-driven organization and completely self-funded by trustees' own money. In previous years, we've run audit of all of our finances and grants and found that our operating expenses are a mere 3.3% overhead (mainly spent on bank fees, our domain name and a batch of stickers we ordered to promote the group). That means 96.7% of all money that comes into the Awesome Foundation DC goes directly to funding grants in the community. This is pretty much unheard of in the nonprofit world. Want to help us fund more grants? There are many ways you can participate:
- Interested in becoming a trustee and/or funding a trustee spot? Read more!
- Buy some Awesome DC gear:From t-shirts to hot leggings to cornhole sets!
- Donations: We can take anonymous donations to help fund our projects if you'd prefer that: Check or tax-deductible donations: Contact DC [at] awesomefoundation.org for details
- Venmo: Send funds to AwesomeFoundationDC
- Paypal: Send funds to paypal.me/awesomefoundationdc
- Spread the word about us! Tell your friends, post on social media, encourage people to apply and evangelize the grants we give and Grantees we select!
Connect with us on social media to learn more about grant deadlines, awards & Awesome projects in DC:
- Twitter.com/Awesome_DC
- Facebook.com/AwesomeFoundationDC
- Instagram.com/AwesomeFoundationDC
- Linkedin.com/company/awesome-foundation-dc
- Or via our monthly email newsletter...
Background info on The Awesome Foundation & the DC chapter:
The Awesome Foundation is an international organization with nearly one hundred chapters around the world helping fund community, culture and arts projects that make the world more awesome and unique. Awesome Foundation chapters are entirely volunteer-run and self-funded through trustee donations. The 90+ independent chapters around the world that have have funded more than $5 million in grants globally. The Awesome Foundation holds the semi-annual Awesome Summit, in which all our autonomous chapters share best practices and bond with others Awesome folks from around the world. We hosted the Summit in 2017.
The DC Chapter of the Awesome Foundation was founded in 2010 and has given more than $100,000 to the local community for awesome projects. We pick our monthly grant winners usually at the end of each month and notify all applicants after the selection has been made. Here's a map of where our grants have been awarded in DC:
Learn more about the Awesome Foundation DC, from the Founding Dean, Bonnie Shaw (who is now spreading Awesomeness in Australia):
Founded first in Boston in 2009, each Awesome Foundation local chapter distributes monthly $1,000 microgrants, no strings attached, to projects and creators. At each fully autonomous and local chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing, volunteer “Trustees” and given in cash to the grant winner each month.
Learn more about the Awesome Foundation vision from the New York trustees on CCTV:
Diversity & Inclusion:
The trustees of the Awesome Foundation DC are committed to supporting and embracing the diversity of the vibrant DC community. We acknowledge we are not as diverse as we should be to represent DC at the moment. While we cap the number of trustees at any given time to make sure the group is manageable, when we have openings for Full Time Trustees, we actively seek out diverse individuals who can commit and contribute to the group. If you or someone you know is interested, please read more about the Trustee experience and different roles in the Trustee FAQ and contact us at DC [at] awesomefoundation.org. Even if no openings are currently available please reach out, we value new, diverse voices in the room and would love to have you as a guest and keep you in the loop when openings are available. We also seek to fund diverse grant proposals and try to fund different projects that will affect large groups from different communities and spread awesome experiences to the diverse populous of Washington D.C. We try to not fund too many of any of the same type of event (for instance, community gardens or several book proposals, etc.) and are working to seek out and identify new grant opportunities in all of DC’s wards. For more grant applicant advice, please see our written guide and watch our video tutorial.
Stupendous Sponsors:
- Sascha Meinrath, former Full Trustee, Trustee of the Awesome Foundation State College chapter, Founder of the Open Tech Institute, and whose Acorn Active Media Foundation is our fiscal sponsor allowing for tax-deductible donations.
- Shana Glickfield is a former Awesome Foundation DC Dean and founding Full Trustee, who sponsors one of our
Full Trustee positions to help us better represent the diversity of the DC community.
Steve Ressler is a DC-based entrepreneur and investor who fervently believes in supporting all things "awesome."
Are you interested in helping support Awesome DC as a Behind the Scenes Trustee? Learn more in the Trustee guide or contact us at DC [at] awesomefoundation.org.
DC Chapter Shout Outs:
We'd like to send out a special thank you to Bonnie Shaw, our chapter founder and founding Dean, and Shana Glickfield, Alex Dickinson, and Will Sullivan our longest-lived Deans, each serving more than half a decade, who helped shape AFDC to be the successful, model chapter it is in the Awesome Foundation network and DC philanthropy scene. Also, thanks go to recent past trustees and contributors for their awesome service! We continue to fund and celebrate awesomeness following their example:
- Charlyn Andersen
- Martin Austermuhle
- Alex Barth
- Sam Bishop
- Steph Bloch Newman
- Rob Bole
- Brad Bosserman
- Todd Bowers
- Corinne Cannon
- Austin Clemens
- Claire Corbett
- Peter Corbett
- Joel Daly
- Alex Dickinson
- Mark Drapeau
- Johann Ducharme
- Nick Farina
- Whitney Fisler
- Melissa Flagg
- Vanessa French
- Abigail Friedman
- Erin Frisby
- Dan Gordon
- Kate Gorman
- Garlin Gilchrist
- Shana Glickfield
- Bill Gray
- Danny Harris
- Joanna Hoffschneider
- Ryan Holladay
- Julie Hord
- Max Horwitz
- Alex Howard
- Philippa Hughes
- Shee Shee Jin
- Gene Keselman
- Elizabeth LaBerge
- Jon Long
- Miriam Magdieli
- Adam Martin
- Caroline Martin
- Laurenellen McCann
- Sean McDonald
- Sascha Meinrath
- Chris Mihm
- Sarah Miller
- Erik Moe
- Amy Morse
- Ellen Miller
- Eric Mill
- Barbara Mullinex
- Yantee Neufville
- Caitie Ofiesh
- Akiba Perry
- Ari Pollak
- Karolle Rabarison
- Marty Ringlein
- Todd Rudolph
- Wesley Sapp
- Miriam Schwedt
- Will Sullivan
- Jessica Teachey
- Kristin Tracz
- Krystal Thomas
- Frank Tobia
- Sarah Wald
- Kali Wasenko
- Kevin Webb
- Erica Williams
- Catharine Young