When I founded TC Jewfolk four years ago because the Twin Cities needed a local website that connected young Jews in Minneapolis and Saint Paul to each other, to our Jewish community organizations, and to our Jewish identities, nobody said, “Here’s $1000, Make it Happen.” I wish, right?
Instead, with the help of friends and family, and hundreds of donors, we’ve moved TC Jewfolk from an idea to a Facebook group, and then to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and daily Jewish news and commentary site featuring the work of several dozen volunteer writers on everything from Israeli politics to Jewish recipes. And it’s thanks to all of you that we’ve been able to do that, and that we’re still growing and changing and have a super exciting 2014 in the works.
But it would have been AMAZING to have $1000 when we started! When you’re doing something new, sometimes it takes a little cash, and the innovative Jewish ideas don’t always come from people who have an extra $1000 to spend.
That’s where Schusterman’s “Make It Happen” grants come in.
THIS WEDNESDAY, January 15, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation is selecting the last batch of innovative ideas for Jewish experiences from around the world, with 50 ideas receiving micro-grants of up to $1,000 each, and five ideas receiving up to $5,000. In addition, the Schusterman Foundation is partnering with the Minneapolis Jewish Federation to provide up to 10 additional micro-grants of $1000 in the Twin Cities. These aren’t grants to existing Jewish organizations (aka TC Jewfolk can’t apply) – these are grants for individuals like YOU. People who have awesome ideas to throw an Israeli film night, or a Jewish deli party, or a Twin Cities-wide progressive Shabbat dinner. Whatever. Something awesome and different. Something you think our Jewish community needs.
All the details are at http://makeithappen.schusterman.org/ (make sure to read the “Terms and Conditions”), plus a ton of amazing ideas from other people who’ve already submitted their “experience” ideas from all over the world. And the online form to submit your idea is right on the site, and shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes to fill out. Especially if you’re super excited about your idea and type really fast. Here are the Minnesota Ideas submitted so far!
The only catch? You only have four more days to apply. Submissions will be accepted through January 15th at 5:00pm. I know that’s not much time, but come on, IMHO you were going procrastinate until the last minute anyway, right? 🙂
So what are you waiting for? Go online and submit your idea at http://makeithappen.schusterman.org/. Then post the link to your #MakeItHappen idea in the comments to this post, and we’ll FB & Tweet about it!
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