A Propos

We are a group of individuals who collectively give $1,000 no-strings-attached grants for projects in the Santa Cruz County area that are brave, creative and inspiring. We especially love art-based projects that inspire kindness and compassion within our community.

What we're looking for in an AWESOME proposal:

• What portion of the Santa Cruz County community will your project impact? How? When?

• Does your project bring people together? Physically or virtually or both? How?

• How does your project inspire kindness and compassion?

• Does your project have staying power after the grant money is gone?

• Is your project a stepping stone that will launch into something bigger?

• Include cost details showing that your project (or a specific key component of your project) can be fully funded with $1000.

We generally fund one project every month, but we reserve the right not to award a grant in any month during which we don't receive a proposal that meets our standards. We don't fund requests for personal expenses (e.g. rent), small business operations (e.g. admin or startup costs), or for projects within an established organization.

We want to focus our money on supporting creative endeavors of individuals and small groups. We only will consider projects that can be either principally funded or a component of a larger project can be fully funded with the $1,000 grant.

We want to be a part of your awesomeness so we’d love for you to keep us informed of your progress with photos and updates we can include on our website.

If we choose your awesome project, we take you at your word that 1) your project will be finished within a reasonable amount of time, 2) your project will not violate any applicable law, and 3) you will acknowledge whenever possible the support you received from the Awesome Foundation Santa Cruz Chapter.

Except for the part about not violating any applicable laws, these aren't strict rules, just guidelines. We might just throw away everything we mentioned earlier for any project that makes us stop in our tracks and say “Whoa! That's awesome!”

Proposals are due the last day of every month. We typically meet during the second week of the month to discuss grants received in the previous month and award a winner. The winner will be announced shortly after that. Winners must have a Paypal account to receive funds.