April is national poetry month, jazz appreciation month, child abuse prevention month, autism awareness month, financial literacy month, and more. Do you have an idea of how the Pittsburgh region could be more awesome in any of these issues?  Or maybe for increasing our community’s awesomeness in an entirely different issue? Then check out our…

Just a quick note to say we received 42 new submissions for our January 15 deadline.  That’s 42 new ideas for making the Pittsburgh region a more awesome place to live, play, work, and more.  We’ve added those to many that we held over from November and are busy reading them through and testing them…

We have $12,000 to hand out in 2012 for ideas that make the Pittsburgh region even more awesome.  Could your idea win one of our monthly $1,000 awards? The last time around, we received an amazing number of interesting proposals from organizations and individuals with awesome missions, and the ones that stood out for us…

Wow! We received over 70 amazing submissions for our first grant and have finally selected a winner. Projects ranged from the entrepreneurial to the outrageous to those that generously helped others to meet their basic human needs. It was not easy to choose from among the many worthwhile projects, but we did it and we want to…

Fabled sports teams. Beautiful hills and rivers. Pride in neighborhoods. World-renowned universities, employers, and nonprofits. All this and more makes the Pittsburgh region awesome. But most importantly, it’s the hundreds of daily, unseen acts of people being good neighbors and mentors. It’s the inspiring ideas fermenting in people’s garages and backyards, in their workrooms and…

We’re here! We’re LIVE! As of Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 – Awesome Pittsburgh Day, according to the City of Pittsburgh – we are officially live and ready to begin accepting proposals for all of your amazing, inspiring, creative ideas. If this is the first you’ve heard about us, please look around the site to learn…

9 Trustees. That’s where we stand. Thanks to the Pittsburgh Business Times, Twitter, and the grapevine, we’ve had a lot of interest in Awesome Pittsburgh over the past several weeks. We’ve met for coffee with some of the most interesting, driven, passionate people who share our excitement for ideas, both big and small, and our…

“I want to see how awesome $1,000 can be.” Nathaniel James of the Seattle chapter of the Awesome Foundation nails it with his post: Why I’m Psyched About the Awesome Foundation.  He lists his personal reasons for starting the chapter, and they echo our reasons for starting Awesome Pittsburgh, even if he says it more…

Thanks to the Pittsburgh Business Times for featuring us in this week’s print edition! The Pittsburgh chapter of the Awesome Foundation (which we just call Awesome Pittsburgh, because, well, it is) is getting even closer to launch. We have a lot of interest from people who want to become Trustees or submit project ideas. Thanks…

I’ve long been impressed with the talent, passion, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit of people in Pittsburgh. It’s a city where someone with an idea, a little money, a few connections, and some motivation can start a company, develop an urban garden, open a restaurant, stage a production, launch a non-profit, or release a mixtape that…

So many great projects have been funded by the Awesome Foundation at chapters around the world. Here is one of my recent favorites: Jeffrey Waldman installed 50 swings all over L.A. The project is simple, fun, and moving, but what I really like is how Waldman used the money to try an experiment and “accidentally…