Igniting Awesome through Social Infrastructure
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I gave a talk at Ignite Melbourne 4 about the Awesome Foundation and what we have learned about the mysterious substance of Awesome in the Melbourne chapter. The full video of this presentation is available at http://ignitemelbourne.eventer.com/talks/1005.
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Igniting Awesome through Social Infrastructure
- 6. 1) Select Awesome 2) Contribute $100 3) Replace Yourself
- 7. Dinner photo
- 10. 10 trustees + 1 dean
- 14. instant
- 15. abundant
Editor's Notes
- This is Matt inspecting one of over 20 bee hives that has been installed on Melbourne's rooftops since February, to bring us great super local honey and also awareness of how vital bees are to our lives.
- This is Chantelle's Do it in a dress campaign that One Girl are running to raise $25,000 for girls in Sierra Leone through personal challenges.
- This is a peer to peer phone network that Paul built in the South Australian outback, that works without a telco meaning it can go beyond the grid and is also really great in a crisis when that infrastructure may be damaged.
- And this is a mini cooper covered in X macarons, say no more! So what do all of these Australian projects have in common? They're all really awesome, and...
- They were all funded by an institution called the Awesome Foundation, where we give $1000 no strings attached grants to an awesome project each month. There are many programs that can help you if you need 10s of thousands of dollars for a project but there is also a whole long tail of ideas that need much less and don't want any of the strings, and that is what our fine institution does.
- Each chapter has 10 micro-trustees who are all bound by three rules. Help select the most awesome project, contribute the cash, and replace yourself before you leave the country.
- This is what the very serious task of selecting a project looks like. We read through the applications over a meal and then collectively decide who should get the grant. The great thing about Awesomeness is that it is usually quite obvious what is the most awesome.
- Each of the trustees contributes $100 cash, and together this forms the $1000 grant. But does this look like a plan that can provide sustainable awesomeness? No not yet.
- What's missing from this chart is our Dean of Awesome, Leslie, who keeps us all organised and ensures that the cash arrives safely to the new grant winner. The Dean role contributes time to the group instead of cash.
- Giving the cash etc. Cash is of course awesome, but often the most value in a grant comes from the connections that are made. Whether that's press coverage or even helping to get a Kickstarter project going to take it to the next level.
- There's a whole group of them on there that you can follow and support.
- So what have we learned about this mysterious element that we call Awesome? There is a full report available from the Institute for Higher Awesome Studies, but here are three observations from the Melbourne chapter.
- First, Awesomeness is very hard to define. Every new chapter spends a lot of time on the question! The description I personally use is that a project needs to 'provoke a sense of awe'.
- Secondly Awesomeness is Instant. It is immediately obvious whether something is either Awesome or Not Awesome. There are no shades of gray, we only use bright pink.
- And thirdly Awesomeness is abundant, there is no limit to how much awesomeness there can be in the world, and we at the Awesome Foundation hope to unearth a lot more of this amazing substance.
- The San Francisco chapter released a report called the State of Awesome, which is available at Google. This provides detail and insights into this wonderful piece of Social Infrastructure that we are a part of. There is $250,000 per year at the current rate of Awesome.
- Began in Boston in 2009 and has now spread all over the world. Melbourne started in February, and Sydney has started since then as well, but they are all over the world. Paris, London, Berlin, Toronto, ...
- As awesomeness is abundant we are excited to see chapters beginning all over the planet and hopefully soon all through the universe. There is no end to how far a simple yet awesome idea can spread.
- We strongly believe that everyone has awesome ideas, and if $1000 can make yours a reality then you should write us an application. Tell us what your idea is and perhaps more importantly how $1000 will have a material impact and we will review your application at the upcoming dinner.
- You can apply at awesomefoundation.org Thanks for being awesome.