San Francisco, CA
99 Red Balloons
By Ellen C McBarnette December 2024Take back joy, one pop at a time!
By AZUL December 2024Midwinter Magick Festival
By Luc Z and Sylvia Z November 2024Guns to Gardens Safe Surrender
By sterling sam October 2024The Mindful Maze: A Playful Path to Community Conn
By Jerreece Ann Jackson September 2024Homegrown Ceramics
By Ada King September 2024Bike locks for community bike shop users
By July Tenenbaum August 2024Hella Flowers
By Victoria Hendrix Oppenheimer July 2024The Little Letterpress Museum
By Don Buerer June 2024Wilderness Education for Immigrant Students
By Anneke Castro Vonk May 2024Artivism at the Border
By Maureen McGarry April 2024Wheelchair modding workshop
By Liz Henry March 2024Bubbles: 101
By Melinda Ramirez February 2024Young Riders Afterschool Program
By Aisha McElroy January 2024Rice Hull Chair
By Liam McArdle-Hankin December 2023Dance O Ween
By Elyse Lefebvre November 2023The Pick Me Up Project
By Julie Alland October 2023Rock and Roll Middle School
By Sarah C Nelson September 2023The Fourth
By Eirinie Carson September 2023Colusa Donation Based Garden Stand
By Nicole Day August 2023"Dazzling Lights Over Water"
By Mel Flores July 2023Lifting Fog
By Lani Fehr June 2023Food Picked with Love
By Audrey Lowell May 2023Crip Ecstasy
By Octavia Rose Hingle April 2023RAINBOW FALLS TO COSTUME-CON39!
By Melody Cooper March 2023StoryMap of California’s Water
By Sarita February 2023The Chicken of Change
By Kym Hansen January 2023Healing and Learning Garden Program
By Dheyanira Calahorrano December 2022Everyone Needs Underwear...and Maybe Glasses Too!
By Eliana Swerdlow November 2022BABELOGUE
By Axel Osterberg October 2022thirdspace
By Bria Goeller September 2022Rant Recital
By Chelsea Hollow August 2022Loud Cinema
By Isabella Parlamis July 2022TRAUMA, TRESSES, & TRUTH
By Lyzette Wanzer June 2022Recycled glass art
By Matthew Harvey May 2022Nothing is Poison, Everything is Poison
By Orly Politi April 2022We Drank Tea & Stars
By Josh Senyak March 2022Solar History Project
By Rachel Parish February 2022Winter in America: "State of Emergency"
By Pearl Ubungen January 2022Atrocity Hospital
By Kyra December 2021Claim the Space
By Nia Povroznik November 2021Kids gone camping! Together we rise!
By Jennifer Teguia October 2021MiniMuseums
By Sydney Parcell October 2021Once Upon a Time... Publishing
By nicole jenkins September 2021Music Box Orchestra
By Rick Darnell August 2021Clown Conservatory Documentary
By Abraham Dover July 2021We Are Water
By Heidi Quante June 2021Interactive Mural for School
By Anna Grossi May 2021Lou Harrison Archival Sample Packs
By Timothy Lillis April 2021Voices of the Golden Ghosts
By Mark Oliver March 2021Tenderloin Resident Art Exhibition and Quilt
By Mattie Loyce March 2021The People Who Make Elections Happen
By Anna Rotty February 2021The Vanishing Hardwoods
By Sarah Duryea January 2021Social Justice Financial Dominatrix
By Min Yoon January 2021Queer Cat Productions 2021 Commission
By Carson Beker, on behalf of Queer Cat Productions January 2021Reinvigorating several Community Gardens in BVHP
By Isaiah Powell December 2020The True Tale of Princess Kaguya
By Ai Aida November 2020Cirque Du Vote-leil
By Jenny Gottstein October 2020Helping the disabled look and feel good
By Still look good foundation September 2020Practice fundraising/Equipment
By Jason Taylor September 2020SF African American Senior Narrative Quilt Project
By William Rhodes August 2020Climate Resilient Schools
By Lil Milagro Henriquez July 2020Un Respiro de Vida / A Breath Of Life
By Belinda Hernandez Arriaga June 2020Bike Match: Free Bikes for COV19 Essential Workers
By Stephen Braitsch (written by Alicia Escott) May 2020Within the First 50 paces
By Frederick Green May 2020Something Labs
By Sam Haynor April 2020Engineering for Covid-19 PAPR Project!
By Zach Reed April 2020ICONIC HARVEY MILK
By Khoi Nguyen March 2020Acknowledgment Committee
By Acknowledgment Committee March 2020The Little Theater at the WSPS
By William Lewis & Lea Redmond February 2020Val-U-Mart
By Ad January 2020Fancy Phone Numbers - 16mm film
By Sequinette January 2020"Waiting for San Francisco to Vanish"
By Paul Wiley December 2019Solar-powered Internet for People's Park!
By Marc Juul November 2019Dirty Kid Prom
By Melissa Matheney November 2019Write vs. Wrong
By Hannah Rothstein October 2019Re-Introduction of Pacific Tree Frogs to FFACC
By Danielle L Fernandez September 2019Wildfire Progression Sculptures
By Adrien Segal September 2019Russell City, CA: Documenting a Town Now Gone
By Megan Wilkinson July 2019The Jellyfish Camera
By Jeremiah Barber July 2019Buried Ships Project
By Justin Oliphant June 2019Stoop Stories
By Ellie MacBride May 2019Project Kolateral in San Francisco!
By Mixkaela VIllalon April 2019We’re not going Anywhere
By Richie Rhombus March 2019The Sideshow
By Michelle Ibarra February 2019Star Stories Live, a Podcast
By Kay Matschullat January 2019Song of Songs Seder Celebrating Queer Sexuality
By Susala Kay January 2019Sonoma Poetry Festival
By Meg Hamill December 2018Robot 44
By Sean Cheong November 2018nègre
By Simone Bailey November 2018Tricyclolo
By Michael Arcega November 2018“Our Future Is Renewable”
By Alessandra Mondolfi October 2018Every Record Ever Recorded
By Hannah Blair October 2018mySight (Homelessness Blinders street theater)
By Jennifer M Johnson October 2018100 Jars of Jelly
By Robyn Waxman August 2018Ice on Ice: an Ice Capade!
By Andrew Miguel Fuller July 2018Whose World Is This
By Salvin Chahal July 2018Trace Evidence
By Rachelle Reichert and Annie Malcolm June 2018The Art of Survival
By Madi Pignetti May 2018Aaron Swartz Day VR Museum, Art Gallery, Fun House
By Lisa Rein May 2018NGALAC
By Mark Willson May 2018Liquid Loom
By Cere Davis March 2018Fresco Exchange
By Felipe Ortiz March 2018This land was made for you and me
By Katie Williams February 2018Food For Thought: A 5-Star Ohlone Banquet
By Malcolm Margolin December 2017Community Street Painting
By Melissa Dickenson November 201734 Trinity Arts & News
By Jackie Hasa November 2017Force of Nature: Women's Work Visualized
By Sawyer Rose October 2017Gilded
By Xandra Ibarra September 2017Insect Trading Cards
By David Garnick September 2017"you've got my eyes" - a dork-punk show-n-tell
By Mark Krawczuk August 2017The Artship at Playland at 43rd Avenue
By Susan Ryan July 2017Another brief History of the Sunset
By Alicia Escott June 2017Q-Finder: A view into the possible
By Edith Borrebach June 2017Drag Queen Story Hour
By Juliana Delgado May 2017Cyclecide Moving Fund
By Cyclecide Civetgrass April 2017First Female President
By Margaret McCarthy March 2017Nomadic Keyboard Trike
By Jennifer Murphy March 2017The Banana Peel
By Cody Frost February 2017Why Fish Don't Exist
By Lulu Miller February 2017Resurrecting Lou Harrison's Lost Electronic Music
By Ryan Page January 2017GollOrbs—Flying Wind-Powered Kinetic Sculptures
By Jeffrey Gollober November 2016Replacing Missing Piers of SF’s Embarcadero
By Julie Crossman November 2016Badass Boarders
By Kasley Killam October 2016World's Largest Nachos!
By Laura D'Asaro October 2016Mobility Scooter Cruise Control Circuit!
By Zach Reed September 2016The Period Party
By Meghan Freebeck August 2016Screen Queens Face Fail
By Harris David Harris July 2016Deej - community engagement campaign
By Robert Rooy and DJ Savarese July 2016Stellar Displacement
By Albert Kong June 2016Neighborhood Seeds
By Maren Salomon May 2016Gotta Give Us Hope
By Jamie Beckenstein April 2016LYFT for Seniors
By Jacqueline Zimmer Jones April 2016NOTAFLOF Collective
By Liam Kelly March 2016People's Open Network
By Marc Juul February 20161-855-LADYFUN
By Joe Veix February 2016The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival
By James Kennedy January 2016LuminoKinetic Artist / Engineer
By Carl Pisaturo December 2015Smuggling Nature: Walking Poems Across Golden Gate
By Leath Tonino November 2015San Francisco Moby-Dick Marathon
By Daniel Herman October 2015Project I AM
By Meghan Peter October 2015Re:Sound
By Jen Boyd September 2015Oakland FIGMENT
By Oakland FIGMENT Team September 2015homobiles app hackathon space
By Lynn Breedlove August 2015Litter Critters
By Debbie McCann and Althea Marie McCann Tabor July 2015Teaching Electronics to Visually Impaired Students
By Allen Pan July 2015Tangible Possibility: playful speed dating
By Lea Redmond June 2015Grow'n & Chef'n Proper in Lower W. Oakland!
By Justin Vandenbroeck May 2015Villainette: Bangs
By Dax Tran-Caffee May 2015War Gastronomy - Recipes of Relocation
By Justin Charles Hoover (胡智騰) and Chris Treggiari April 2015Swing Low Sweet Bicycles
By Anonymous April 2015Limbus Lab
By Andrew Maxwell-Parish April 2015Land Action Squatter House Prototype
By Marcus Owens February 2015Oakland students make the future!
By James Kealey & Nicholas Gilpinwright January 2015The Bayview Bus Project: Art Not Ads!
By Jericha Senyak (The Museum of Joy) December 2014Jam Buckets. Hosted by Mission Science Workshop.
By Kim Westberry November 2014O BEST BELOVED - 2014 Parks Tour Aboard FluxWagon
By Idiot String (Rebecca Longworth & Joan Howard) September 2014Capturing Pinball Physics
By Melissa Harmon August 2014Changing the world one love note at a time
By shannon Weber July 2014Wildcat Hauling
By Timothy Furstnau (with FICTILIS) June 2014Superheroes at Angel Island
By Neil Rivas June 2014Musical Peddles
By Alvin Shiu May 2014Automata Subterranea
By Nick Jones (aka Nick Knave) April 2014NMU, The Wire People
By Isabel Halpern and Lucia Sanchez March 2014Traveling Heart Hospital Bags
By Caroline Lovell February 2014A Portrait Project at the Zen Hospice
By Claudia Biçen February 2014A Stop to Bullying
By Vinnie Kang December 2013Awesöme Orchestra Collective
By David Möschler November 2013The Library of Joy (A Museum of Joy Project)
By Jericha Senyak October 2013Poetry with Elders
By Silvi Alcivar September 2013The Mobile Wishing Well
By Kari Marboe and Erin Johnson August 2013Sleep for Moms
By Suzanne L'Heureux July 2013StreetStage and Kids POP!
By Jeremy Shaw July 2013EOYDC summer Science class
By Ashaki Scott July 2013SF Postcard Project
By Hunter Franks May 2013Your Store
By Kathryn Kenworth and Sarah Klein April 2013Real Spider-Man Web
By Abel Melecio April 2013Youth Community Center and Garden
By Youth Revolution March 2013Growing Together: Neighborhood Orchard Project
By Mallika Nair February 2013Valentine's Day Love Letter Scavenger Hunt!
By Olga Nunes January 2013Today's Future Sound Presents: Beats4Lunch
By Elliot Gann December 2012"Walking on the Wall"
By Calen Barca-Hall November 201224/7 Bike Repair Vending Machine
By Marria Grace October 2012The Golden Hour
By Julie Crossman August 2012Sonic Kung Fu Battle
By Mike Lai August 2012OuterBody Games
By Jason Wilson July 2012Cardboard Castle Building Workshop
By Charlie Hufnagel July 2012Bathtub Street Gondola!
By Ray Oppenheimer May 2012Lunar Topographies
By Craig Dorety May 2012Come Out and Play San Francisco
By Jackie Hasa April 2012The Balloon-Powered Dance Party!
By George Zisiadis, Will Skinner, Isaac Shivvers April 2012Scents of San Francisco
By Zee Boudreaux February 2012Little Opera
By Erin Bregman November 2011Ourshelves Lending Library
By Kristina Kearns October 2011Inner Sunset Street Fair 2011
By Adam Greenfield September 2011Inquiring Minds: Science Camp for Adults
By Julie Ron June 2011Sidewalk Natural History
By Joel Pomerantz June 2011Panoranima / Spitting Image
By Finley Coyl May 2011Meanwhile, San Francisco Microcommunities
By wendy macnaughton April 2011100 Dinosaur Painting Scavenger Hunt
By Adam Davis February 2011Scarf-a-day
By Meredith Scheff January 2011Hoods To The Woods
By Anthony J. Carranza October 2010Papergirl San Francisco
By Heather Tompkins & Colleen Stockman September 2010Sounding the Waters (Sea Change)
By Claire Schoen July 2010Robotic Desk Lamps
By Jonathan Foote June 2010A History of the Sky
By Ken Murphy May 2010О нас
We're the San Francisco chapter. We love sparking laughter, discussion, action, participation. ⫸⫸
Side-scroll through past grantees ⤴
Want a $1000 grant? Please apply! We fund based on our personal reactions. We most love knowing your creative ambition!
NOTE: Profit-centered business projects will not be considered.
Who are we? See bottom of page ⤵︎ where you can also learn how and when to write to Joel, the Dean of Awesome for our chapter.
Our microgrants of $1,000 are given
⟁ with no strings attached
🗝 based on your awkward, inspired, short description
⦕ one per month, from usually 30–80 applicants, half of whom ignore the hints on this page, at their peril
⨳ preferentially to individuals—especially beginners—over organizations
Please tell us you have
🔦 an inspired way to address urgent issues or absurd ones
🎈while leveraging playfulness
⦿ and community cohesion
⚡with plans we'd find unpredictable!
Best projects are
⊱ informal
☂ easy to accomplish with just $1,000
✂ deviations from the main work of your life or your nonprofit or your bigger project
⚗ experiments subject to change as you go along
⥹ interactive or public in some way
➰ daring, odd, loose, too silly for a normal grant source to fund
⇅ within our region (very loosely defined)
Hints
∰ Rave about possibility rather than nailing down every detail. Vague budgets are OK, or skip it.
⏢ Represent an established organization? We probably are not your best backing source.
♨ Attempt something strange or something important using unusual methods.
⎌ Be unexpectedly political or wtf fanciful. Tap the mischievous genius of the unsuspecting public. Jostle patterns. Stimulate quaint solutions. Clarify or muddy, as necessary.
We view whimsy as an essential hacking tool and life as a wake-up call.
Break out! The world is serious and polarized. Grassroots political creativity is in short supply. It's time for ideas that tickle us free. As long as anyone is in danger from injustice, violence, or ecological crash, as long as short-term wealth priorities push sanity aside, as long as we're trained to fear, fit in, stifle creative urges, we feel that more awesome is desperately needed around here. Sometimes the best ways to tackle serious shit is by goofy whimsy or distraction.
Thank you for creating a more awesome world! ⫸⫸
When to apply ❓ ❓
Proposals are welcome any time. The grant is decided at our monthly meeting where we look through ideas that came during the previous calendar month. For example, apply in May and it'll be considered and announced some time in June. We only have funds for one project per month.
♬ Planning an event? Apply more than seven weeks ahead to give us time to discuss before your event. If time gets away from you, apply anyway. We may decide to support it, depending on what else we review that month.
Who are we ❓ ❓
The Awesome Foundation is a DIY operation—small clusters of people all around the world. Each chapter pools small personal donations then gives a local, collective, monthly gift from us. We’re informal, not some stuffy organization. Ask us questions or advice. Now. Whenever. Use sf@awesomefoundation.org to reach Joel, SF's 5th Dean of Awesome.
When to send an email to Joel ❓ ❓
℞ You have a question or want advice about applying
Ω You want to be a microtrustee (pitch in $100 per month, help decide grant winners)
⨕ You want to be on our community discussion list (Friends of Awesome)
⟥ You want to chat with Joel about something completely irrelevant