Awesome Without Borders Sunsets Weekly Grant Program After $550,000+ Distributed

The microgrant fund celebrates over a decade of doing AWESOME work

NEW YORK, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Warning: explosive awesomeness ahead! This spring, the Harnisch Foundation celebrated over a decade of distributing microgrants, which is the formal term for "giving talented people cold, hard cash, no strings attached!"

Each week, the foundation awarded $1,000 to projects in need as a chapter of the Awesome Foundation in a program called Awesome Without Borders. The Harnisch Foundation—with the backing of its co-founder Ruth Ann Harnisch—has distributed almost $600,000 in individual grants to hundreds of awesome projects.

Awesome Without Borders championed projects that tend not to attract the attention of other grant-giving institutions. Think: off-beat street symphonies, lost language revivals, quirky ceramics projects, sensory experiences, documentaries, refugee resettlement programs, traveling circuses, public art installations, drag shows, flying cheese sandwiches, and more. It backed individuals with dreams and fledgling organizations in need of help for experimental programs. It has given grants here at home and across the globe, from Nigeria and Mexico to Montenegro and Serbia. It's drawn attention to Indigenous rights, language and seed preservation, and the disability community. Throughout this past decade, Awesome Without Borders has seen—and rewarded—goodness. Its grantees have illuminated just how much there is of it in the world. And don't lose hope just yet! The Awesome Foundation's work continues, with its dozens of chapters across five continents.

"Our Awesome Without Borders grantees are the good people putting love and extraordinary effort in to making the world a little bit brighter, and these microgrants were just one small affirmation for their hard work and awesome ideas!" said Jenny Raymond, executive director of the Harnisch Foundation. 

"Because the Harnisch Foundation started with a relatively modest budget, our grants were small," said Ruth Ann Harnisch, founder of the Harnisch Foundation. "Nonetheless, the results were outsized! Thanks poured in from grantees for whom $500 made a powerful difference. So we knew that microgrants were effective, and could be AWESOME!"

About the Harnisch Foundation: Since 1998, the Harnisch Foundation has invested in creative, progressive, spirited philanthropy. Its vision for social change rests on three pillars: leadership, which it supports through its signature Funny Girls curriculum, storytelling, and convenings. Its founder Ruth Ann Harnisch began her career in Nashville, Tennessee, as a television news reporter and has since remained committed to the power of media to influence and drive ideas and policy. In its two-plus decades, the Harnisch Foundation has distributed millions of dollars and written thousands of grants.

About the Awesome Foundation: The Awesome Foundation is a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1,000 at a time. Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, which are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects.

Contact Information:
The Harnisch Foundation
212.904.0454
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theharnischfoundation/
Awesome Without Borders: https://awesomewithoutborders.org/

SOURCE The Harnisch Foundation