Washington, DC
Shake Off Seasonal Sadness: A Hip-Hop Dance Party
Par ANNASTAZIA MARIE UNCE December 2024Tulipalooza REDUX
Par Jim Guckert October 2024Trinidad History & Future Festival
Par Trinidad Neighbor Volunteers September 2024Local Authors Book Vending Machine
Par Lauren Woods July 2024Cultivate DC Youth Changemakers
Par Rachael Buck June 2024Small & Strange - A Lil House Art Show
Par Tom Kim May 2024Museum Square Blooms
Par Nhi Nguyen April 2024Melanie the Violinist’s Black Musician Academy
Par Melanie Bates March 2024DC Black Liberation School
Par Jen Jenkins February 2024Labor of Fire
Par Benedetta Castrioto January 2024Baldwin House Cooperative Association
Par Baldwin House January 2024DAPSN Volunteers are Awesome!
Par Meriwether Beatty January 2024Capitol Archaeology Sticker Activity Book
Par Beth Pruitt December 2023Treehouse DC
Par Qaree Dreher October 2023SW (Bellevue) Halloween Haunted House
Par Marquis Haskel September 2023Introducing: the mobile law library!
Par Rebecca Katz August 2023Blind DC Residents and Friends Paddle the Potomac
Par Qudsiya Naqui June 2023Many Extra Only More
Par Sarah Beth Oppenheim May 2023ASL Interpretation at Constellation Theatre Co.
Par Anne Marie Wells April 20231st Annual CFA Youth Improv Slam
Par Canady Foundation for the Arts / Marjuan Canady March 2023Our Climate, Our Action
Par Savanna Neb February 2023DC Culinary Circle
Par Christina Perrin January 2023Lady Bugs Literacy Love and Language Lounge
Par Chenise Pugh December 2022Fresh Energy Wellness
Par Lakesha Miller October 2022Bricks4Brooks
Par Luke Voss September 2022Festivals & Regalia Project (TPE)
Par Walker Donnelly August 2022Nash Street Gardens
Par Ayesha Johnson June 2022Jazz4Justice Juneteenth Festival
Par Shannon Gunn May 2022The Newtons VEX Worlds Fund
Par Pierce Lilly April 2022The Mobile Music Project
Par Patrise Holden, PhD March 2022STEM for Girls: Math Speaks Weekend Academy
Par Shaundranetta Wood February 2022Get Off The Ground Project
Par Tim Howard January 2022EMTomorrow
Par Cornelia Williams December 2021Catching the Chain: Voices of the Incarcerated
Par Dr. Britany Gatewood December 2021"Focus On Me" - Foster Youth Digital Stories
Par Zoe Couacaud October 2021A is for Awareness
Par Alicia Pinkett September 2021Dancing On The Air: The Teenarama Story
Par Beverly Lindsay-Johnson July 2021LOC DOC
Par Ryan Thomas June 2021DC Summer Youth 1988 Mural Restoration
Par Jim Guckert May 2021Rise Above
Par Jewel J Stroman April 2021Black Women & Mental Health
Par Roddia J. Paul March 2021DC Queer Scifi Zine!
Par dave ring February 2021Black Women in Opera
Par Renee Ombaba January 2021PrimeAbility Biking Program
Par Alex Clark December 2020Girlz by Design
Par Katie Loos, Sam Carpenter and Katie Sigety December 2020Metro Secret Santa: Twenty magical gifts for 2020
Par Secret Santa December 2020WeFitDC
Par Ayanna Wells October 2020Keep DC Rolling!
Par Leah Fantle October 2020Young Men of Promise: The Power of Purple Week
Par Marc Williams September 2020SWIM UP DC
Par Mary Bergstrom August 2020#BikeMatchDC
Par Rachel Maisler July 2020Constellations Gift of Music Initiative
Par Ellen Hwangbo July 2020The Future Foundation's Community Care Collectives
Par Aiyi'nah D.Ford June 2020The Block Print Bike
Par Allie Tripp May 2020Victory Hanging Garden Urbanized
Par "Quest" Chelsea Skinner May 2020DC Shop Small
Par Mallory Shelter May 2020Street Revitialization
Par Lorraine Stanislaus May 2020Theatre For Shut-ins
Par Andrew L Baughman April 2020Mask Making for Ward 8 Citizens
Par Alli Mofor April 2020Artist support in the age of COVID-19
Par Starsha Valentine March 2020LEARNING THROUGH THE ROPES
Par Joy Jones February 2020"Country Road" Urban Pollinator Project
Par Jim Guckert January 2020District Impact Skating Club
Par Eric Karlins December 2019The Good Listening Project
Par Frankie Abralind December 2019Terra pretta machine
Par Matt McEntee December 2019The Lottery
Par Xena Ni October 2019“What’s in a Wag?: Decoding Dog Talk in DC”
Par Courtney Sexton September 2019Bridge Spot Graffiti and Paint Jam
Par Alex Goldstein August 2019The Ruby Bridges Literacy Program
Par Tera Proby July 2019Very Sad Lab
Par Naoko Wowsugi June 2019B.E.N. with E.L.I.
Par Shenita-Ann Grymes June 2019One Night One BUILD
Par Will Leitch May 201933 | DC'S Game
Par Lloyd Foster April 2019FUNLAND
Par Charlie Visconage March 2019The Wash & Learn Initiative
Par Allister Chang February 2019Eat Your Hart Out: A Fat Burlesque Revue
Par Ophelia Zayna Hart January 2019DC Puzzle Swap
Par Crystal Sanchez December 2018Sex Worker-Led Harm Reduction Pilot in DC
Par M Strickland December 2018Night of 1,000 Fridas
Par Theodore Carter October 2018This Could Go Boom!
Par Erin Frisby October 2018Concerto on the River
Par Chad Cunha September 2018Limestone of Lost Legends
Par Lauryn Renford August 2018Museum of Bureaucracy
Par Jason Haserodt June 2018TINY CAT - Dark Music Festival/Benefit for Charity
Par Stephen Petix June 2018The Shape Up: The Barbershop Talk Series
Par Charlyn Anderson May 2018Gourmet Symphony’s Taste Your Music Project
Par Dr. John Devlin April 2018Good In Our Neighborhood Film Festival
Par Yolanda R. Whitted March 2018The Genesis Intergenerational Program
Par Elizabeth Miranda February 2018Plants and Blooms ReImagined
Par Kaifa Anderson-Hall February 2018LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT
Par Nyjia July December 2017Awesome Weekend
Par Awesome Foundation DC November 2017All One City Meetups
Par Justin Rood October 2017Prescription Ey
Par Nick Farano October 2017dc1968 project
Par Marya McQuirter September 2017The Protégé Project
Par Clementina Maduforo September 2017DC hosts the AweSummit
Par Awesome DC July 2017Mindful Mama Support Circle Scholarship
Par Katy Cribbs June 2017PrintShop at New Community ArtSpace
Par Rachel Dickerson May 2017Literature & Laundry
Par Donna Lewis Johnson April 2017Elementary School Vertical Gardening
Par Dee Dacey Emory April 2017Tightshift Laboring Cooperative
Par Juan Reid March 2017Women in Horror Month- D.C.
Par Caroline Carr Gould January 2017Children of Promise
Par Sandra Bears December 2016Beat & Beans
Par Carl Walker November 2016Community Bus Stop
Par Umair Ahsan November 2016Theatre Prometheus presents CYMBELINE
Par Natalie Thielen Helper (Managing & Development Director, Theatre Prometheus) October 2016NHDA Youth and Young Adult Hand Dance Symposium
Par Beverly Lindsay-Johnson August 2016Anti-Bullying Movement
Par Tyler McClendon July 2016Teen Food Action
Par Rebecca Davis July 2016Punk Shot
Par Naoko Wowsugi June 2016Tour De Bike Lane
Par David Confer June 2016SOULAR SUNDAY in Marvin Gaye Park
Par Christine A. Rhone May 2016DC Youth to Flint
Par Samantha Davis April 2016Black Broadway on U: A Transmedia Project
Par Shellée M. Haynesworth March 2016District Displaced
Par Mark Thomas February 2016Design.District: Identity Lounge
Par Somos Thompson January 2016Up Top Acres
Par Jeffrey Prost-Greene December 2015CODE + YOGA
Par Alexis Irias November 2015Rebuilding Re-entry Hackathon - DC
Par Laurin Hodge October 2015COMEDY HACK DAY DC
Par Kelli Herod September 2015The DC Wheels -Summer Santa-
Par Jimmy Pelletier - The DC Wheels August 2015ATTIC DC
Par Tarek Anandan July 2015Lead the Way Expedition
Par Bonnie Johnson June 2015RightRides DC
Par Zosia Sztykowski May 2015Day of Archaeology Festival
Par Alexandra Jones April 2015Ward 8 Farmers Market
Par Nathan Harrington February 2015Just Be
Par Shannon Quinn January 2015Lincoln Road Looks
Par Tia Thompson December 2014The Day of Learning
Par Danny Harris September 2014STEAMfwd ™Creating socially responsible innovators
Par Christine Johnson (DiversiTech) July 2014Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden
Par Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden June 2014Peace Camp Scholarships for Refugee Kids
Par Mary Liepold March 2014Funk Parade
Par Justin Rood March 2014Floor Charts
Par William Gray November 2013Fair Trade Music DC
Par Chris Naoum September 2013Radio CPR Transmitter Repair
Par Radio CPR August 2013More Sound Bike
Par Rafi Bortnick July 2013THE MOBILE LANGUAGE MUSEUM
Par JOHN-JOSEPH SMITH, PRESIDENT May 2013The DC Neighborhood Portal
Par Jim Webb April 2013myDeanwood Polaroid Project
Par seshat Walker January 2013The EarPhone Project
Par Malauna Steele October 2012Wangari Gardens
Par Michael Durante September 2012Connecting Communities Through Wireless Networks
Par Ann Millspaugh August 2012Outfit Our Kitchen Classroom
Par Frances Evangelista July 2012Make a low income farmers market awesome
Par Michael Segal July 2012CodeNow
Par Ryan Seashore December 2011Bluebrain's 'The Living House'
Par Ryan Holladay December 2011DC Sound Garden
Par Jocelyn Frank December 2011Audio Warhol
Par CounterPoint December 2011Awesome Students Reinvent the World
Par Katie Kindle December 2011Arts Mentoring: Spring 2012
Par Katrieia Snipes August 2011Indiana Jones and the Alley of Doom
Par Laurenellen McCann August 2011One Night Stand
Par Randall Scott July 2011GirlTrek
Par Vanessa Garrison May 2011Petworth Jazz Project
Par Thomas Pipkin March 2011DC Diaper Bank - Nonprofit Fees & Website Launch
Par Corinne Cannon January 2011Fab Lab DC
Par P. D. Klein December 2010A Propos
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.
- Kristin Tracz is an Awesome Foundation DC Floater Trustee AND a Behind the Scenes Trustee sponsoring one of our Full Trustee positions to help us better represent the diversity of the DC community. She grew up in the DMV and is excited to be part of the Awesome Foundation making our DC community even more awesome.
- 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
- Krystal Thomas
- Frank Tobia
- Sarah Wald
- Kali Wasenko
- Kevin Webb
- Erica Williams
- Catharine Young