Amherstburg
Sobre Nós
WELCOME TO THE AWESOME AMHERSTBURG CHAPTER!
The Awesome Foundation is a global community devoted to advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1000 at a time.
As we work to put the finishing touches on our new Awesome Foundation Chapter, mark you calendars...The volunteer Trustees of the Awesome Amherstburg Chapter will hold a Pitch Night, each third Wednesday of the month. Our very first ever Pitch Night will take place on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 7pm. Location in Amherstburg to be announced. Cut off for submissions is midnight, January 5, 2025.
HOW TO APPLY FOR AN AWESOME GRANT Each month a $1000 no-strings attached microgrant will be awarded in order to bring an awesome idea to fruition. After applying for the grant by clicking link at the bottom of this page, finalists will be notified and invited to take the stage to give a 90-second "elevator pitch", as well as take questions from the trustees and the audience. At the end of the night, trustees will deliberate, and one of the projects will walk away with the $1000. It's that easy!
Everyone is welcome to our Pitch Nights. Cheer on your favourite idea, or get inspired to pitch your own concept the following month.
WHAT ARE THE TRUSTEES LOOKING FOR? Great question... We're looking for awesome ideas. Whether they come from individuals, organizations and groups, teams, classrooms, or companies, the idea should be something new, exciting, unique, clever. Our desire is to support thinkers, tinkerers, innovators, and change makers. The idea should not be a re-occurring or an already existing project. If it positively affects Amherstburg and Windsor-Essex County, all the better!
WE DO NOT FUND: Projects outside of Essex County, long-term established projects, overhead, marketing, or administration costs. We're looking for small, agile adventures where $1000 is not a huge sum of money, but an amount that can have a direct impact on the project.
We’re looking for inventive, innovative, and inspiring ideas!
HOW DOES AWESOME AMHERSTBURG WORK? Our Trustees: are made up of community-minded individuals who understand the impact and sense of joy in contributing to make our county, even more awesome. Each of the trustees provide $100 to make up the $1000 microgrant every month. The venues for Pitch Nights are provided to us at no charge allowing us to put all monies collected from the trustees into the grant. It is as simple as local people helping to get local ideas off the ground to keep our region Awesome!
Our Trustee Community Groups: defined as a family, employees of a business, members of an organization, or a group, can query to become a Trustee Community Group of the Awesome Amherstburg Chapter. The group will collectively contribute $100. monthly for a minimum of 12 months. Although the group does not have voting rights on chapter activities or business, everyone in the Trustee Community Group is invited to attend monthly Pitch Nights and each group is given one vote, to help decide the monthly Awesome Amherstburg $1000 grant winner.
IS YOUR IDEA AWESOME? As word spreads about the newly forming Awesome Amherstburg Chapter, trustees are being asked what type of ideas are eligible. Let's be fair, the specifics of awesomeness can be pretty hard to nail down. But what we do know is, we want you and your project to succeed, and we also want to be realistic about expectations. So we've provided some submission guidelines below.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Consider the “10 Awesome Indicators” by Rich Cooper from Awesome Toronto via Awesome Kingston, as your vetting process for an awesome application:
- Newness – Is this idea totally new?
- Niceness – Is this idea one that makes people happy or helps people?
- Bigness – Potential to reach many people.
- Inclusion – Can anybody join?
- Hilarity – Does it make us laugh?
- Wow-ness – Does it make us say “Holy crap, that’s awesome”?
- Utility – Does the $1000 make a difference between the project happening or not?
- Value – Is Awesome Amherstburg getting real “bang for its buck”?
- Staying Power – Can the project endure? Will it start a movement or annual event?
- Environmental Impact – Needless waste is not awesome.
OTHER IMPORTANT CRITERIA: Applicants must live in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. Pitch Nights take place in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. Finalists who want to be considered for the $1000 microgrant must attend and pitch.
Want to be a volunteer, a community partner, or provide us with some space to hold a Pitch Night, or become a Trustee, or Trustee Community Group member? Get in touch at amherstburg@awesomefoundation.org
Thank you for your interest in Awesome Amherstburg. We look forward to hearing about your awesome idea!
Visit our socials to purchase our awesome Awesome Amherstburg T-Shirts!