Portland, OR
Who We Are, Who We Can Be: Diverse Biographies
Par Wendy Gassaway March 2025
BLAQK
Par J Jackson January 2025
Community Installation
Par Mary Hlastala November 2024
Portland Songwriters Guild: Holiday Hits
Par Sam Pinkerton September 2024A Walk through Winter Wonderland
Par Erika Schnatz September 2024
The OK Challenge: A youth-led wellness movement
Par Kathleen Lane July 2024
The Banana Pitch Show
Par Michelle A Kicherer July 2024
H.O.P.E. (Honoring Our Precious Elders)
Par Hen V Truong March 2024
Hygiene for the homeless
Par DC Bonavoglia March 2024
WeBike Camping Trips
Par Madi Carlson January 2024
Selam Sunday
Par Edom Daniel and Bethy Temelso November 2023
Call Bubbie
Par Bee Sheeler September 2023
Pack Is Here
Par Sosha Belle May 2023
The Weary Wanderers Waystation
Par Jenka Soderberg March 2023
Push Movement
Par Stevie Moe January 2023
Kolyada: Slavic winter festival
Par Astra Davalos November 2022
Expressing Identity Through Self-Portrait
Par Caleb Bourgeois November 2022BIPOC Book Fair
Par K Tempest Bradford September 2022
The Grand Diwali Musical
Par Preeti Rao September 2022
Hygiene 4 All Mural
Par Dr. Sandra Comstock July 2022
Petals and Thorns: A Spoken Word Journey
Par La Toya A. Hampton aka The Poet Lady Rose July 2022
мазанка (mazanka)
Par Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. March 2022
Free English Classes - Afghan Refugee Community
Par Lauren Esula, Fund Specialist with Torus January 2022
Unity in Diversity: Community Dance Project
Par Prashant Kakad January 2022
Porch Pickles
Par Theresa Q. Tran November 2021
Sky Exchange II
Par Brittany Vega September 2021
Community Art Night
Par Tosha Sketo July 2021
Portraits of Them
Par Holly Haney July 2021
BIPOC in Portland
Par Humaira Tasneem May 2021
On the Inside book project
Par Nikki Weaver May 2021RISE & ROLL Open Air Roller Disco
Par William Best March 2021
Blooming Portland
Par Aubrey Russell January 2021
Escuela Viva community mural
Par Stephanie Renfro September 2020
Black Futures Farm
Par Malcolm Hoover July 2020Pedalpalooza
Par Meghan Sinnott March 2020
Colors of MS
Par Lindsey Holcomb January 2020Mississippi Street Farm Stand Market
Par Rachelle Dixon November 2019
Greenhouse startup
Par Michaela Freeby September 2019
Roots and Beats Project
Par Stephanie Collier September 2019
Wooden Cutout Scavenger Hunts
Par Mike Bennett August 2019
Miss Anthology
Par Emily Lewis May 2019Nat Turner Project: Drinking Gourd Fellowship
Par Melanie Stevens May 2019
OurBrella
Par Colin Platt March 2019
PPS Public Art Initiative
Par Ronnie Lawton March 2019
Paper Flower Installation at PDX
Par Jessica Pezalla January 2019
Learn to Build!
Par Josh Jannusch November 2018
Podcasting Program
Par Levi Eads September 2018
Domino Tournament in Dawson Park
Par Jessica Rojas August 2018
KB's Poise Parlor
Par Lakeesha C Wallace July 2018
Handmade Stories
Par Arcadia Trueheart May 2018
Finders Creatures
Par Phoenix McNamara March 2018
Brain Storm
Par Sarah Vitak January 2018
Hallway of 1,000 Cranes: An Interactve Display
Par Amelia Ralston-Okabayashi November 2017
Madison 34
Par Christian Gabriel September 2017Young Gifted Artists
Par Mulu Habtemariam August 2017
Curious Ear
Par Jocelyn Brady June 2017
Nightingale
Par Sana A Goldberg January 2017
Puzzled Pint 2017
Par Puzzled Pint Game Control November 2016
Making On-Demand Animal Law CLEs Accessible
Par Kate Fechter November 2016
Cat Traps for Clackamas County
Par Kate Northington November 2016
Project POOCH, Inc.
Par Joan Dalton November 2016
Spaceness 2017
Par Alison J Cole October 2016
Youth Making a Change Screen-Printing Series
Par Jennifer Phung September 2016Barter Market
Par Andrea Lim August 2016
The Johnson Creek College
Par Kristina Dutton July 2016
Cypher CURE
Par Quincy Davis June 2016
Parking Strips for Pollinators
Par Sherrie Pelsma June 2016
The Portland 'Puggy' Bank
Par Heather Hawkins April 2016
We Work We Win
Par Steffannie Roache February 2016
Taylor Electric Retrospective
Par Portland Street Art Alliance [Tiffany Conklin + Tomas Valladares] January 2016
The Numbers Community Studio
Par Aaron Ornelas-Montes December 2015
Teaching playwriting in MacLaren Correctional
Par Francesca Piantadosi September 2015
Portland Underground Grad School
Par Douglas Tsoi August 2015
Forest For The Trees
Par Gage Hamilton May 2015
The Incredibly Short Film Festival
Par Chris and Eddie barnhart April 2015
King School Neighborhood Museum
Par Lisa Jarrett March 2015No Really, We Want You to Laugh
Par Dave Mowry January 2015
Dignity Village Computer Lab + Storage Shed
Par Katie Mays, from Dignity Village January 2015
The Abundance Project
Par Oh Prema / Sweethome Teacup January 2015East Portland Bike Oasis
Par Larry Kotan November 2014
Futel
Par Karl Anderson October 2014
Diode Gallery for Electric Art - TUIO Jam
Par Josh Michaels August 2014
Street Books
Par Laura Moulton June 2014Shrink Circuits Nomad Lab
Par Travis Feldman April 2014Youth-Empowering Sewing (YES) (working title)
Par Sarah Dee Ditson March 2014
Dreamland
Par Amy Conway November 2013Billboards O'Joy!
Par Michele McKeag Larsen September 2013
Piano! Push Play!
Par Megan McGeorge August 2013
XRAY.FM
Par Jeff Hylton Simmons May 2013
Super Hero Awakening Campaign
Par Renee Mitchell March 2013The Gift that keeps on Giving (2.0)
Par Sam Smith March 2013
LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band
Par Jason Mauer January 2013
Farmworker Struggle Mural
Par Ranfis Villatoro November 2012
The Old Apple Tree
Par Farm School (Nolan Calisch and Molly Sherman) September 2012
Free the Billboards!
Par Nina Maria Montenegro July 2012
Schoolyard Farms
Par Courtney Leeds May 2012
A Propos
2025 grant deadlines:
- January 19
- March 16
- May 18
- July 13
- September 14
- November 9
How we work
Awesome Foundation Portland is made up of awesome individuals just like you who want to see Portland become even awesomer than it already is! We award a $1,000 grant every other month to a group or individual who is making an impact in our community.
We select five finalists from all applications and invite them to pitch their project in person or by video call. Trustees have a chance to ask questions, secret themselves away to vote, and then award the grant on the spot.
What we fund:
- Projects in the Portland, Oregon area. We will consider ideas from other areas in Oregon as well but keep in mind that this is the Portland Chapter. We are looking for projects that will make Portland Awesomer!
- We will consider all causes including art, culture, community, environment, animal welfare, human rights, diversity, & community events.
- Projects with a clear demonstration on how it will impact the Portland community.
What we don’t fund:
- Individuals and personal individual projects – this means funds for rent and bills, travel, or business start-up funds.
- Individual education/trainings
- General operating funds for nonprofits.
Additional tips
- Be sure to detail how your project will make Portland more awesome.
- Detail how you will spend $1,000. Project budgets are encouraged.
- Provide as many details as you can. Where will this project be located? Is it city-wide or in a specific neighborhood?
We prefer to fund projects that will make a difference, that demonstrate the ability to deliver, and where our $1,000 make a difference. We prefer applicants who are not able to acquire funds through more traditional funding streams because they are individuals or groups without non-profit status, completely new ideas that do not necessarily fit within other grant opportunities, and that are based on equity and inclusion.
Questions? Email us at info@awesomeportland.org.
Join us as an Awesome Portland trustee!
What’s a trustee? We’re glad you asked! Becoming a trustee is a low time-commitment, non-bureaucratic, and easy way to make a big difference. You get to decide where your funds go.
Contribution: Commit $100 every other month in the interest of awesome.
Participation: Help us review applications and decide who gets our $1,000 every other month and attend a total of 3 meetings every other month. Those are the basics, but if you want to do a little more, you can volunteer to help with the small amount of administrative and program growth work that we do. Due to COVID concerns, we’ve been meeting virtually since March 2020 — you don’t even have to take off your pajamas.
What's the time commitment?
While we prefer it, we do not require that trustees participate in all 6 funding cycles. If you want to talk about how you would be comfortable participating, we definitely want to hear from you!
Each cycle, we have 3 meetings:
- In the non-grant month, we hold a general business meeting.
- In the grant month, we have a meeting to decide which projects will be the 5 finalists.
- Next, we hold a meeting where the finalists to give a 3-minute presentation and answer our questions. We then go into a private room and vote. The project with the most votes is the winner!
Interested?
Sound like fun? Tell us a little about yourself...
A trustee will email or give you a call to give you background on our group.