A Propos

Next grant deadline: Sunday, October 18

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 deadlines: December 6, January 17.)

Want to get in on the Awesome and join us?

Awesome Foundation DC is also currently looking to fill a few open trustee spots! Fill this out to attend a meeting and see what we're about and learn more about the different roles and responsibilities here.

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!), 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:

Have a project that meets those 4 criteria? Apply now! We award grants every month!

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!