These days innovation is motivated by marketability. Funding goes toward products people know will sell, leaving little cash for the more eccentric projects.
Where does that leave those who invent for innovation’s sake?
Who will fund passion, fun and originality?
The answer is right here in Boston. It’s name? The Awesome Foundation: a mysterious organization that doles out cash for the creative, funny, colorful, and exciting. Essentially, funding an idea based upon how cool it is. At its heart is a group of trustees who love to be wowed, and happily write checks for ideas that evoke the phrase “that’s awesome.”
I first heard about The Awesome Foundation while talking to one of its trustees at a local tech event. He didn’t mention he was a trustee at the time, just slipped me a black business card, the only text on which was pink, and read “$1,000 No strings attached” along with a web address. They don’t make it easy to contact them, but after a couple weeks of emailing various trustees, I managed to track down the founder and got the inside scoop on these champions of awesomeness.
Born in Boston, The Awesome Foundation awards a $1,000 grant every month, along with a month of working space at Betahouse. All you need to do is submit a 500 word (max) description of why your project is awesome and you could be awarded the Awesome Foundation grant, complete with giant check and an award ceremony. Only six months old, The Awesome Foundation has already funded several projects in the Boston area, and through volunteers, sprouted chapters in New York and Providence.
So what’s an example of an awesome idea? You won’t be disappointed. The very first idea, which won the grant in June, was a design for a giant hammock to be constructed in Boston Common. Concepts funded since include a cotton candy launcher, wearable social interaction tools (which you have to see to understand), and a giant playable guitar – maybe not the most marketable products, but awesome nonetheless. All projects can be seen on the Awesome foundation’s blog.
It all started when founder, Tim Hwang (23), realized that there exists a class of Boston innovators who have great ideas and “don’t need much” financially to get these ideas off the ground. Even a small grant would do it, but Tim explained to me that the problem with most grant opportunities is that the rules and regulations are so strict that applicants basically “need to lie about their project to get funding.” While talking with some friends, Tim decided there should be a way for fun new projects to get cash without all the red tape – and so The Awesome Foundation was born.
Tim easily convinced a group of friends to sign on as trustees, and through word of mouth he quickly had a group of ten people willing to fund Awesomeness. With that kind of board, each only needs to donate $100 per month to keep funding flowing. They don’t expect anything in return for their donations, which Tim considers a “return on awesome.” At first he feared someone was going to “take [them] for a ride”, and exploit their generous offer, but so far they’ve only encountered genuine people with great ideas.
As for the future, the word of awesome is continuing to spread. The Awesome Foundation is soon to go international, with chapters set to start in London and Melbourne. In respect to the process Tim intends to “keep it very lightweight,” which, in many ways, is the beauty of the organization.
So what are you waiting for? If you’ve wanted to build something but didn’t have the cash, consider yourself out of excuses. The deadline for February is 11:59PM on Valentine’s Day, so get those submissions in and you could receive $1,000 to make something awesome!
For more information on The Awesome Foundation, check out their website, AwesomeFoundation.org. You can also follow them on Twitter @awesomefound or check them out on Facebook.
