Comments for NathanielJames.org

Comment on Mapping Trends in Philanthropy by marcia sharp

marcia sharp — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:34:32 +0000

This is good stuff. Succinct and on point. Is there a further iteration?

Comment on Seattle Needs Awesome and Awesome Needs You by Why I’m Psyched about Awesome Foundation Seattle – The Awesome Foundation

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:30:24 +0000

[...] Coming home inspired by Suzanne and her yarn bomb, I wanted to reflect on my personal motivation for launching Awesome Foundation Seattle. [...]

Comment on Reading Roundup: Philanthropy – 6/29-7/5/11 by Brigid

Brigid — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:22:33 +0000

Thanks for the shout out!

Comment on Mapping Trends in Philanthropy by nathanj5

nathanj5 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:56:15 +0000

I agree! I didn’t explain my reasons in depths, but I tucked transparency under “Communities and Crowds.” It might need to be elevated to its own heading. Thanks for pointing out the podcast. Listening now.

Comment on Mapping Trends in Philanthropy by Tommer Peterson

Tommer Peterson — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:04:47 +0000

I’d nominate “transparency” to your list. Jeff Jarvis has a pretty succinct summary here: http://grantspace.org/Multimedia-Archive/Podcasts/Talking-Philanthropy-The-Radically-Transparent-Foundation-2011-04-27

Comment on Why I’m Psyched about Awesome Foundation Seattle by Sean McGuire

Sean McGuire — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:23:18 +0000

One of the reasons I moved to Seattle was art. Not just art museums and galleries and staged plays and big parades, but monoliths on Greenlake and buskers and scores of brides marrying the Hammering Man and zombies on the street (not necessarily the same street.)

So in one sense, I’m excited about the Seattle Awesome Foundation for purely selfish reasons: it’ll help make Seattle more like the city I want it to be. It’ll make it more like the city I want my kids to grow up in. It’ll make it more like the city I want to talk to my friends about.

Comment on Why I’m Psyched about Awesome Foundation Seattle by Shana Glickfield

Shana Glickfield — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:02:25 +0000

Only one word to describe both the knitting project and the Seattle launch – AWESOME!!!

I’ve been on the Board of the DC Awesome Foundation since its inception last fall and it has been such a tremendous experience!! Enjoy!

Comment on Why I’m Psyched about Awesome Foundation Seattle by Christina Xu

Christina Xu — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:06:20 +0000

Christina Xu here, trustee of AF-Boston and Chancellor of the Institute on Higher Awesome Studies.

This time last year, I wasn’t even involved with Awesome Foundation. Now, I’m starting a nonprofit dedicated to spreading its model as widely and usefully as possible. You can say that I really chugged that kool-aid!

A few things that I find remarkable about the Awesome Foundation:

1) The Fellowship of Awesome: Just the act of gathering 10-15 trustees within a community can be incredibly powerful, especially when those trustees are all powerful and creative leaders within their own communities. Even if they did nothing else, strengthening these bonds seems to increase cross-pollination of ideas and create a core group who can mobilize many different communities; a really rare thing in most places!

2) The experimentation: Because the worst thing that can happen when an Awesome grant fails is that you have to wait a month before getting the same chance again, Awesome Foundation seems more prone to giving grants that fall way outside the scope of the tried-and-true. This not only encourages first-time innovators and creators, but also highlights the many eclectic ways people can give back to their community.

3) The encouragement: Every month I get to read hundreds of applications, many of which sound like intimate prayers. Most average joes don’t just come up with $100,000 ideas, but everyone has small projects they’d love to do. Encouraging those people, many of whom have never thought themselves as changemakers, is a great way to bolster the ranks of problem-solvers in the world!

Comment on Why I’m Psyched about Awesome Foundation Seattle by Jesse Taggert

Jesse Taggert — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:50:37 +0000

Hi, I’m Jesse Dean of the Awesome Foundation, San Francisco. I first heard of AF from the Boston folks and loved loved loved the rapid nature of funding and the opportunities it affords people to try small-scale interesting stuff that might become larger scale (although not required).

The AFSF is a little over a year old now and I am constantly delighted by the people I am honored to work with on the board and the wonderfully challenging conversations we have when reviewing applicants. We all learn about each other through these discussions.

Also, I have been humbled by the gratitude people have expressed when receive a grant. It is a huge vote of confidence for someone developing a project and also concretely helps them reach that goal. We are currently in the process of vamping up our outreach to increase submissions that we would like to declare “awesome” for the Bay Area.

Comment on Seattle Needs Awesome and Awesome Needs You by Ellen Chisa

Ellen Chisa — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:37:30 +0000

I’m so excited about this- I’ve been wishing for a Seattle addition of the awesome foundation. Looking forward to meeting people at the dinner =)

A ton of awesome things already come out of Seattle- we have a million meet up groups, I’m currently obsessed with the Seattle-based “Healthmonth,” and there’s lots of talent.